Rubbed at the Edges, but otherwise Good Condition!

I spent last weekend visiting my Uncle Marty Murphy in La La Land California and had a fabulous time! We wined and dined, saw the sights by getting irrevocably lost from time to time and generally acted like the tourists we were.

My Uncle as many of you readers know is a cartoonist. His numerous and famous works range from Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, Hong Kong Phooey, Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, Maja the Bee to the choice primo spot after the centerfold in Playboy. Yep Mom, I know the secret! Marty draws for Playboy and he is funny as hell! So, lets get over that little peccadillo!

He also has collaborated on many books containing his work and several other work of very talented cartoonists. Here is where I get to my title of this blog. My cherished Tom, having had many long wonderful conversations with Marty, wanted to take part in that famous past time of Google-ing Marty. He found many articles including blogs by other luminary cartoonist such as Roy Delgado, http://roydelgadoblog.blogspot.com/ and Mike Lynch, http://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/ . Stop by these two sites - Very Funny Works!

He also stumbled upon sellers of some of Marty’s books. Most notably, ‘Teachers Are Very Funny People’ and ‘That Was the Church That Was’ both of these gems are hysterical and I remember as a child always thinking that Marty was such a star!

Here is the kicker. These books range from 98cents plus shipping to a whopping $2,475!! Now the higher price is because there is an inscription by Marty saying "To Russ from Marty Murphy Thanks for bringing your energy and talent to the sat morning class!” It also says that the book has some wear but the pgs/binding are tight…… Other descriptions of his books are “mild wear”, “rubbed edges” etc. And this got me thinking.

Does “Russ” know that “Rebecca (Rebrosa)” is selling a tight mildly worn book to the public for an enormous amount of cash? Did Russ enjoy the book? Did he know what a stellar man my Uncle is? Does Rebecca know what a gem Marty is? Does she care?

When in our golden years do we get reduced to a selling point? When did a funny, loving, cuddly, intelligent and massively talented man become “rubbed at the edges”?

I know that a book that Marty worked on that is selling at such a huge amount should be a testament to his talent but for some reason I felt a bit sad. In my long conversations over the years and especially this past weekend, I realized that this wonderful Uncle that always supported my dreams are having his sold and no pennies are coming his way. So I want to shout out to the world that Mr. Marty Murphy is still kicking in L.A. Still drawing his fabulously and irreverent cartoons and is as sharp as ever!

Marty Murphy may be a little rubbed at the edges but Damm he is still in good condition and to me that is priceless!