ABSTRACT
Gustavo “Gus” Arriola (1917–2008) was born in Arizona of Mexican parents. He learned English from reading the Sunday newspaper’s comics, and his parents moved to Los Angeles when he was 8. After high school, he became an animator and sketch artist for Screen Gems and later at MGM doing Tom and Jerry. There he met and married cel painter Mary Frances Servier. During WWII while directing training films, Gus created his comic strip Gordo, which made him famous. Although today its stereotype jokes makes one feel uncomfortably un-PC, Gordo was the first comic strip that introduced Mexican culture to many average Americans. Gordo introduced the public to now popular phrases like, “compadre,” “muchacho,” and “hasta la vista.” Gus even had Gordo cook Mexican cuisine in his comic strip, and printed the recipes. Here is one brought to me by Hector Cantu, the co-creator of the comic strip Baldo.
