OXFORD, Miss. — A program at the University of
Mississippi’s Overby Center for Southern Journalism and
Politics Monday (Nov. 12) highlights the opening of an
exhibition of more than 50 pieces of work by the late
Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Doug Marlette.
The exhibition is to be unveiled at a reception following
the 5:30 p.m. program in the Overby Center Auditorium.
Marlette’s widow, Melinda Marlette, is expected to attend.
Both events are open to the public.
The program, a remembrance of Marlette and his work, opens
with remarks by Ed Williams, editorial page editor of The
Charlotte Observer, where he and Marlette worked together
and became close friends. Williams is a former editor of
the Ole Miss student newspaper, The Daily Mississippian.
Oxford High School students are slated to perform several
numbers from their production of “Kudzu,” a musical comedy
the artist had spun from his cartoon strip. Marlette, who
was 57, was killed in an automobile accident last July
while on his way to help the students with their
production. The group performed the play at an
international event in Scotland in late summer. Despite
Marlette’s death, the show went on with the blessings of
his family.
The Overby Center retrospective, on display until January,
comprises more than 50 pieces of work and covers Marlette’s
35-year career, from his early drawings for The Charlotte
Observer to his last cartoons this year for the Tulsa
World. By the time of his death, Marlette had seen his work
syndicated in newspapers across the country, and “Kudzu,”
the cartoon strip he created, published in hundreds of
newspapers.
Marlette spent part of his childhood in Laurel, as well as
in North Carolina and Florida. His son Jackson attended Ole
Miss during his freshman year before starting art school in
France.
“Marlette’s cartoons won attention from the outset of his
career in 1972,” said Curtis Wilkie, holder of the Kelly G.
Cook Chair of Journalism at UM. “His work was provocative
and sharply drawn, and he used the medium to lance
politicians, televangelists and celebrities over the years.
He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. He also wrote
two novels and contributed columns to several magazines.”
“The breadth of his talents was breathtaking,” said
Marlette’s friend Pat Conroy, the novelist. “He made the
world funnier.”
Many of Marlette’s most famous cartoons will be included in
the exhibit at the Overby Center.
“We’re grateful to Melinda Marlette for not only lending us
Doug’s work, but for helping us select the cartoons,” said
Charles Overby, chairman of the Overby Center.
It is the first exhibit at the center, which opened this
fall.
For more information or assistance related to a disability,
call 662-915-1692.