A new documentary on the work of Herblock debuted last weekend at the Tribeca Film Festival. The Atlantic has a good write up of Herblock and the documentary. Entertainment Weekly has video of Jon Stewart extolling the power that Herblock had with his pen.
In his slugfest with McCarthy, however, Herblock took an incredible risk, given how powerful the junior senator was. “Interviewee after interviewee said again and again that no one was on the McCarthy case before Herblock?and that it was indeed, a monumental act of courage to be out there alone in that environment,” Stevens said. “Herblock had cartoons on the fear and scare tactics in Washington going back as far as 1948. He then coined the term ‘McCarthyism’ in 1950. And Edward R. Murrow’s famous ‘See It Now’ [exposing McCarthy] was not broadcast until 1954.”
What a man.
I saw the trailer for this at the Herblock Awards last week. This is something my fellow cartoonists (and anyone else, for that matter) do not want to miss! It’s a film by George Stevens, Jr. (son of the epic movie director) superbly done with interviews and insights on the great Herblock. I feel honored to have met Herblock on several occasions over the years with the highlight being the opportunity to sit and have coffee with him in Baltimore in the early nineties ? about 10 years before his death. He was a genuinely warm, generous, affable, and humble man.
Gotta retract something in earlier post. George Stevens Jr. is the Producer. Michael Stevens is the director.
Looks like a “must see.”