Monday, June 26, 2023

Editorial Cartoonist Bill Baron: "Portrait of a Newspaper Cartoonist"



 Photo by Nathan Burton for Taos News.

 

Used to be every big and middle-sized newspaper had a staff editorial cartoonist. Here's a short video depicting award winning Bill Baron's routine as the Tao News cartoonist. He retired this past fall, and the video was posted on Friday.

From The Taos News:



"After nearly a quarter-century of illustrating the folly and foibles of local politics and culture, Taos News editorial cartoonist Bill Baron has sharpened his last editorial pencil.


"Those who felt the sting of Baron's editorial cartoons, which lampooned officials in Taos, Taos County and on local school boards, along with utility providers, hospital administrators, animal control officers and even, for a time, the town's parking enforcement officer, know how pointed his pencil could be.



" ... Before settling in Taos, Baron, who is originally from Chicago, spent many years in the business of designing toys. He's perhaps most well-known in that regard for co-creating, with cartoonist Paul Kirchner, Mego Corporation's Eagle Force action figures in the 1980s. He also designed World Wrestling Federation merchandise during the boom years of Wrestlemania.


" ... Taos News Publisher Chris Baker said Baron will 'always will be remembered for his incisive, humorous commentary on Taos current events,' and characterized Baron as 'fearless at times, but never mean.'


"'I would look at his cartoons before we would go to press and say to myself, 'ouch, the phones are going to ring tomorrow,'' Baker said. Someone asked me how much in ad dollars Bill Baron's cartoons cost us over the years — I said I lost count after $50,000.'"



Directed by Geoffrey Plant and Nathan Burton; filmed and edited by Nathan Burton Executive Producer: John Miller

 


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