Paul Conrad: Drawing Fire Documentary Screening

"PAUL CONRAD: DRAWING FIRE" DOCUMENTARY PBS FILM TO BE SHOWN AT APRIL 1 FREE PUBLIC SCREENING BY PUBLIC ART PEACE SCULPTURE THAT HE DONATED AND WHICH HAS BEEN STANDING IN SANTA MONICA'S CIVIC CENTER SINCE 1991.

FREE PUBLIC SCREENING, FOLLOWED BY GUEST SPEAKERS AND DISCUSSION, TO TAKE PLACE AT VIDIOTS IN SANTA MONICA.

Date:  Sunday, April 1, 2012
Time:  3:00PM
Location:  Vidiots
302 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, 90405

The one hour PBS Independent Lens documentary film is by Barbara Multer- Wellin and Jeffrey Abelson, who will both be at the screening to introduce the film. The film is narrated by Tom Brokaw.

The following is from the film's 2006 PBS Home Video DVD liner notes:

"The film celebrates the career of this legendary 3-time
Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist. Over his remarkable 50-year career, Conrad has drawn and quartered eleven American presidents- from Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush- and fearlessly tackled every major social and political issue.

During his 30-year reign at the Los Angeles Times, Conrad's work was controversial and often shocking, but always thought provoking. An extraordinary artist and journalist, Conrad epitomizes the fiercely independent voice that has been vanishing from American news media in recent years."

The following quote is also from the DVD liner notes:
"Whether loved or hated, agreed with or scoffed at, whether subject of glowing awards or winning an honored spot on the White House enemies list, it's broadly agreed that Paul Conrad is, in his field of editorial cartooning, a genius" - Shelby Coffey III, former Editor and Executive Vice President of the Los Angeles Times

Paul Conrad died on September, 4, 2010 of natural causes, surrounded by his family at his home in Rancho Palos Verdes.

The message Mr Conrad inscribed at the base of "Chain Reaction" reads: "This is a statement of peace. May it never become an epitaph."