Tonight on my way home, I was listening to a trivia podcast (have I mentioned how much I love random podcasts? Such a nerd...), and they started telling the story of a man named Antonio Prohias.
Prohias was a political cartoonist in 1960 in Cuba before Fidel Castro closed down the free press there. In fact, it was an accusation by Castro himself that Prohias was a spy (many of the subjects of his cartoons were Castro-related, as you could imagine) that sent him to the United States to seek a safer place to live. He had won many awards for his cartoons in Cuba, but was pretty much an unknown in the U.S.
Although he spoke no English, Prohias was looking for a place to publish his cartoons in New York when he stumbled upon a little publication called Mad Magazine. The cartoon he submitted was "Spy Vs. Spy". It has been a part of Mad ever since. I'm sure all of the dads out there (and some of the moms too, I'll bet) can testify that this strip always brought a smile with their simplicity.
As is pretty manifest, the whole thing was a metaphor for the Cold War. The reason it has always been completely wordless is because he didn't speak any English when he first moved here.
I love the American success story. I always love when I learn about another one.
Prohias was a political cartoonist in 1960 in Cuba before Fidel Castro closed down the free press there. In fact, it was an accusation by Castro himself that Prohias was a spy (many of the subjects of his cartoons were Castro-related, as you could imagine) that sent him to the United States to seek a safer place to live. He had won many awards for his cartoons in Cuba, but was pretty much an unknown in the U.S.
Although he spoke no English, Prohias was looking for a place to publish his cartoons in New York when he stumbled upon a little publication called Mad Magazine. The cartoon he submitted was "Spy Vs. Spy". It has been a part of Mad ever since. I'm sure all of the dads out there (and some of the moms too, I'll bet) can testify that this strip always brought a smile with their simplicity.
As is pretty manifest, the whole thing was a metaphor for the Cold War. The reason it has always been completely wordless is because he didn't speak any English when he first moved here.
I love the American success story. I always love when I learn about another one.
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