Local gallery honors former Appeal-democrat cartoonist
Current and former members of the Yuba-sutter community packed Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture Center for the Arts on Saturday morning for a retrospective gallery showcase featuring a once prominent figure in Marysville and someone who used to work as an editorial cartoonist at the Appealdemocrat from 1946 to 1983, according to Chuck Smith, a former Appeal-democrat reporter from 1975-1986.
Stan Gelling, who died in 1983 one day after his last published work, was a cartoonist,
caricaturist, boxer, veteran, hunter, and fisherman. Gelling quickly became known as someone who would spotlight local politicians and anyone who made news in Yubasutter in a weekly editorial cartoon that would be published Saturday on the “Making the Local Scene” page.
“He knew all these characters, most of them were his friends, but if they screwed up, he wouldn’t be afraid to put it in the paper,” said Dave Barbieri, a former friend, neighbor and drinking buddy of Gelling.
Barbieri said if a local attorney got arrested for driving under the influence, Gelling would characterize the event in a cartoon with the attorney and the cop who arrested him that following Saturday.
“There was no politically correct stuff, if you screwed up, he was going to nail ya,” Barbieri said. “It was mostly fun.”
Gelling loved to have fun and party in Marysville back in the day. In fact, Barbieri said he would get most of his cartoon ideas by hanging out at the Eagle’s Nest, which is now the Caltrans District 3 building.
Barbieri said he and Gelling used to have a drink or two, not only at the Eagle’s Nest, but also at their homes in East Marysville in an area known as “whiskey row.”
Whiskey row was an area on Divver Street between 12th and 13th streets where many people, including Barbieri, Gelling and others, would walk back and forth to each other’s homes and have a drink.
“A lot of these guys that you see paintings of today would be over there every night,” Barbieri said. “It got a reputation as being a party street.”
Gelling also did a lot of good for the community as well, Barbieri said.
Every year, Gelling would draw a wildlife painting that he’d later donate to an auction to raise money for Ducks Unlimited, a prominent national chapter devoted to duck hunting, Barbieri said.
“The money would go toward Ducks Unlimited,” Barbieri said. “(Gelling) was an amazing, gentle, wonderful guy.”
He was also a family man who shared his time with other families in the area, according to Katie Hennessy.
Hennessy, who loaned some of Gelling’s artwork to the gallery, said
Gelling and his wife spent many holidays with the Hennessy family
“I remember my family having such a great time,” Hennessy said.
Gelling was also a devoted journalist, who loved the news. Smith, who is now a public information officer with Sutter County, met Gelling a number of times when he would bring his weekly cartoon into the office as a retired advertising representative with the Appeal-democrat who remained on staff as an editorial cartoonist.
“He covered everything and managed to do it in cartoons,” Smith said.
Smith recalled one cartoon that featured a talking head shouting at a judge following a headline that read “Court calendar heard today.”
“It’s whatever popped into his head,” Smith said.
Smith said there will soon be a website up and running dedicated to Gelling’s artwork. Saturday’s gallery show was hosted in part by the Yuba County Historic Resources Commission in collaboration with Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture.