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oldmilwaukee6er
A True Collector
USA
1615 Posts |
 Posted - 07/22/2005 : 1:29:08 PM
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I thought the information coming out of these auctions is worth preserving in a thread... Yours, OM
THE HISTORY OF MORSE FUNNIES
(Source http://albertmorse.net/funnies/index.html)
While an attorney on the Walt Disney v Air Pirates case, in 1972, Bobby London gave Albert the original of a cartoon he had drawn (about him) and which was published in a comic entitled Merton of the Movement. The original cartoon drawing hung in his office and inspired other cartoonists to give him pages.
When he had 14 pages, they were taken to the local speedy printer and first he printed the first edition of 100 comics, which had 14 pages, printed on one side. Fifty copies were on card stock, with card stock pages, and 50 copies had a card stock front cover and 20 pages, including the back cover. When he had 22 pages, off to the printer he went, there he printed 100 copies. Fifty copies were on card stock, with cardstock pages, and 50 copies had card stock covers and 20# pages, printed on both sides , 11 total pages. The third edition was limited to 12 comicbooks. It has 78 pages, plus the original Crumb cover. The insides were xeroxed. The quality is not very good, particularly of the photos. and the self portraits. This edition includes self portraits of 31 underground cartoonists of that era, as well as Albert's photographic portraits of 22 of them.
There was only one printing of each edition, and that was in the 70's (exact dates are uncertain).
IN HIS OWN WORDS...
First Edition:
"To the best of my recollection, the first edition of Morse's Funnies was photo offset printed on one side. It was bound by two staples. There were a total of 100 books printed, 50 on index card stock, and 50 on 20# paper with index covers front and back. It contained the following pages , in the following order, by these artists:
Cover: R. Crumb
2. Simon Deitch
3. Larry Todd
4. Trina Robbins
5. Dan O'Neill
6. Ken Barteleme
7. Bobby London (horizontal placement)
8. Dave Sheridan
9. Art Spiegleman (horizontal placement)
10. Gary Halgren
11. Ted Richards
12. Patricia Moodian
13. Sharon Rudahl
14. Toby Cleyman"
Second Edition:
"The second edition was photo offset printed on both sides, with a total of 11 sheets / 22 pages. The covers were index card stock, and the pages were 20#. It was bound with 2 staples. 100 books were printed.
Cover: R. Crumb
Inside front cover: Ken Barteleme
3. Patricia Moodian
4. Ted Richards
5. Greg Irons
6. Spain
7. Trina Robbins
8. Dan O'Neill
9. Willy Murphy
10. Guy Colwell
11 Bill Griffith
12. Jay Kinney
13. Sharon Rudahl
14. Toby Cleyman
15. Gary Halgren
16. Dave Sheridan
17. Simon Deitch
18. Larry Todd
19. Art Spiegleman (vertical placement)
20. Bobby London (vertical placement)
Inside back cover: Leslie Cabarga
Back Cover: Justin Green"
Third Edition:
"In about 1985, I found out that the young son of a close friend was facing many difficult challenges. He was a big fan of underground comics I hoped that this would cheer him up. While I was compiling the book I decided to make 10 copies. I gave one signed copy to my friends son, to the best of my recollection two copies were sold. One was signed by me and the other one was not signed as per the buyers request. I later heard from two well known collectors that they had purchased 2 unsigned copies, this leads me to believe that those 2 copies were pirated.
This edition had the Crumb cover on heavy paper, which was from leftovers from the original printing. The insides were xeroxed. The quality is not very good, particularly of the photos. They are spiral bound , with black plastic binding.
These comics were created purely as an exercise in egomania, to give as gifts to friends and clients, therefore almost every authentic Morse's Funnies was at least signed by me, and possibly inscribed . Between 1973 and 1976, other combinations were created for individual people. I don't know the combinations or how many were created this way, but they were always signed and inscribed by me." |
Edited by - oldmilwaukee6er on 07/22/2005 1:41:54 PM
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oldmilwaukee6er
A True Collector
USA
1615 Posts |
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oldmilwaukee6er
A True Collector
USA
1615 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2005 : 1:34:46 PM
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| "Morse's Funnies was a unique event in the world history of comic book art. Never before or after has anyone been in tune enough with his own egomania and sense of the surreal and bizarre reality of existance to commission ( it has never been clear as to why the artists participated in this endeavor) the creation of a comic book to celebrate his own naked madness." - - Avo Zazek, Marxist Psychoanalyst, from his long out of print and untranslated Slovenian treatise entitled Art and Egomania. |
Edited by - oldmilwaukee6er on 07/22/2005 1:43:31 PM |
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drbenway25
Journeyman
148 Posts |
Posted - 07/25/2005 : 12:43:20 AM
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| It seems the price on the original R Crumb art is a bit steep. If you want to get some great original Crumb art go to deniskitchen.com. You'll save about 170K. |
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roymichael
A True Collector
USA
712 Posts |
Posted - 07/27/2005 : 6:49:22 PM
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Drbenway - No doubt a little step. Me thinks some one smoking crack and logging on to ebay :P
peace & goodwill |
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oldmilwaukee6er
A True Collector
USA
1615 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2006 : 07:49:40 AM
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Albert Morse -- lawyer, collector, self-publisher
Marianne Costantinou, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Albert Morse, an intellectual property lawyer for underground cartoonists, was many things: self-publisher of a pioneer book about tattoo art, collector of 17th and 18th century chastity belts and Oceanic sculpture, son of Man Ray's model of erotic photographs, a self-described voyeur, Bohemian and bon vivant.
He died last Sunday after a long battle with kidney disease. He was 67, and lived for nearly four decades in Sausalito aboard a Larkspur ark houseboat called the Pickleweed.
Bald with a long flowing beard, ponytail and deep, dark eyes, Mr. Morse topped off his striking look with a flowing cape, hat and vintage Dunhill pipe. He could be simultaneously flamboyant and reclusive, hilarious and impatient, said his longtime companion, Christine Valenza.
"Albert was someone really interesting to be around," she said.
"He was extroverted and introverted," said Michael Krasner, an attorney who worked for Mr. Morse. "He could be sophisticated and crass. He was a character."
For a man so clearly eccentric, he had the most proper of childhoods. He was born in Manhattan and raised in Great Neck, Long Island. His parents were filthy rich, courtesy of his grandfather, Adolph Levitt, who reportedly made $25 million a year during the 1920s and 1930s, selling his patented automatic doughnut machines to bakeries, including Krispy Kreme.
The family's car was chauffeur-driven, and its vast collection of Japanese erotic art was displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Young Albert attended prep schools throughout New England, including the progressive Cherry Lawn School in Darien, Conn.
Upon graduation from high school, Mr. Morse attended Boston University for both his bachelor's and law degrees. He earned his law degree in 1963 and practiced law in the Boston for about five years while living on Beacon Hill.
Susan Beskind, a younger cousin, said that his apartment was dark but simply and elegantly furnished with antiques, as befitted someone of money. He taught her how to eat lobster during one visit and then, to her surprise, jumped on an old motorcycle and took her on a wild ride through Harvard Square. Even in his youth, Mr. Morse was an enigma.
In 1968, he moved to San Francisco. He studied for the California Bar at the nudist section of Muir Beach, Valenza said, and joined the law firm of Rohann and Stepanian, at 819 Eddy St., where Michael Stepanian, a law school buddy, was already making a name defending such clients as the Grateful Dead in drug cases. The firm's clientele included such underground comics as R. Crumb and Art Spiegelman, and Mr. Morse developed an expertise in copyright and trademark law.
After a few years, Mr. Morse moved to another office in the building and started his own law practice, with Crumb as his major client. He hired attorney Krasner to help him.
Crumb's "Keep on Truckin' " big-footed character had become an icon of early 1970s counterculture, and the firm was busy suing manufacturers, distributors and retailers who used the comic's image without permission or royalties.
With the fees Crumb paid him, Mr. Morse was able to work mostly pro bono for other, less successful comic illustrators, Krasner said, often accepting artwork in lieu of payment. Many were so grateful they made him a character in their strips. Mr. Morse compiled these strips and created a book called "Morse's Funnies."
While working with cartoonists, he noticed a similarity in their art with that of tattoo artists. Mr. Morse had been collecting postcards, posters and photographs of carnival folks and circus freaks for years, so he decided to photograph and write a book about them. He found tattoos both fascinating and appalling, Valenza said.
At the time, tattoos were still mostly found only on bikers, sailors and the like. Publishing houses told him there was no mainstream interest in tattoos, so in 1977 Mr. Morse published "The Tattooists" himself. The photographs were also displayed in the Oakland Museum and at the Pompidou Center in Paris.
Married briefly in his 40s, he met Valenza after answering a personal ad in the Pacific Sun, a free paper in Marin County. They were companions for 10 years, though for the last five he suffered from renal failure and was on dialysis.
For a man who insisted on being in control, this sense of helplessness infuriated and saddened him, she said, making him withdraw more and more from his beloved jaunts through Marin and San Francisco. Around the holidays, he terminated his treatment.
A celebration of his life, including a show of his various collections, will be held within the next two months. |
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