Editorial Cartoons -- The Bulldog's Bark -- Metuchen High -- Spring/Summer 1972

The Metuchen High School musical in the spring of 1972 was The Man of La Mancha, starring Kevin Campbell, Emily Schlein and Danny Segal.   For the school newspaper, I decided to plug the musical and do my editorial cartoonist thing at the same time.  

By the end of May, graduation was looming, and the two likeliest prospects for post-high school education were college or Viet Nam.

Below, my last editorial cartoon for The Bulldog's Bark, June 16, 1972.  I'd been a friend and classmate of Bulldog's Bark Editor-in-Chief Larry Goldman since first grade.  This was his final edition as well.   Larry gave me some extra room on the page for this last cartoon, so I went with multiple panels. 

I saw Larry and a bunch of  my Metuchen High School classmates a few weeks ago at our class reunion.  What an awesome group!  What incredible individuals!   

And Larry brought along every edition of the Bulldog's Bark... things I hadn't seen in decades.  ( I think Larry has the only copies of some of those!)    

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Editorial Cartoons -- The Bulldog's Bark -- Metuchen High -- Summer/Fall 1971

More editorial cartoons from Metuchen High School's The Bulldog's Bark. 

Apparently the open campus concept from last spring did not survive into the autumn at MHS.  That's vice-principal Tim Lear manning the rack.  

In the autumn of 1971, women's sports became a hot topic, and the female athletes at MHS would soon  become full member of the previously all-male Varsity Club.   Hard to believe that hadn't happened back in the early 70's, but it hadn't!  

 

Caricatures include Bruce Rockman, Patty Germain and Karen O'Shea. 

Editorial Cartoons -- The Bulldog's Bark -- Metuchen High -- Winter/Spring 1971

More cartoons from Metuchen High School's Bulldog's Bark.  

Here's the cartoon that accompanied a smart and insightful editorial by MHS senior David Welkowitz, from the January 29, 1971 issue.  

Caricatures from left:  Diane Ziemer, followed by Pete Carney and Pat Bailey.

Perhaps the funniest of all the editorial cartoons I drew for the Bulldog's Bark,  here's one that appeared in print after a series of bomb scares at the school.  I'm sort of surprised they printed it.  

April 13 1971, The Bulldog's Bark,  Metuchen High School

This next one didn't get printed as originally planned.  I don't remember what my original caption was, but the day before publication it was deemed "inappropriate."  My caption was whited-out and a new one was scratched in by the editor.  I think the editorial was something about loosening the rules and having a more "open" campus.   That's a caricature of Vice Principal Timothy Lear (not Leary) on the left, and I suspect he may have had a voice in the change of caption. 

May 21 1971,  The Bulldog's Bark,  Metuchen High School

Editorial Cartoons -- The Bulldog's Bark -- Metuchen High -- Spring/Summer/Fall 1970

More editorial cartoons from the Metuchen High School student newspaper, The Bulldogs Bark, from 1970.  

Being a proud member of the Metuchen High School track team under coaches John Novak and Pete Schuder, I couldn't let our team victory's at the annual Middlesex County Track Meet go unnoticed, especially since our little school knocked off some very big schools to seal the win.  It was MHS's first Middlesex County Track Championship ever. 

June 5, 1970, The Bulldog's Bark, Metuchen High School

These next two cartoons seem to comment more on student mores and changing attitudes than anything too political.    

September 25, 1970, The Bulldog's Bark, Metuchen High School

 November 25, 1970, The Bulldog's Bark, Metuchen High School

And in the December holiday issue, it appears I was still pretty freaked out about the prospect of shipping out to Viet Nam if the war didn't get wrapped up in the next year or two.  

 December 23, 1970, The Bulldog's Bark, Metuchen High School

Editorial Cartoons -- The Bulldog's Bark -- Metuchen High -- Winter/Spring 1970

From the February 27, 1970 edition of  Metuchen High School's newspaper The Bulldog's Bark, the following cartoon accompanied an editorial on chronic tardiness.

Environmentalism was starting to make its presence felt.  The very first Earth Day was less than one month away -- April 22, 1970 -- when the following editorial cartoon ran in the March 26, 1970 edition of the school paper.

 

Editorial Cartoons -- The Bulldog's Bark -- Metuchen High -- 1969

Directly below is my first illustration for the Metuchen High School newspaper, The Bulldog's Bark.  This cartoon was published the week before the big Thanksgiving Day football game against arch rival Highland Park.

We lost the game.

The following month, my first cartoon on the editorial page referenced the holiday season, the ongoing war in Viet Nam and Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon earlier in the year.