Amazing unsigned original sketch by Jim Morrison from circa 1957-58, which depicts Alfred E. Neuman, of Mad Magazine fame, as a smoking mummy pierced with an arrow and two swords and decorated with various objects such as a blood transfusion bag, a time bomb, a spigot, a light bulb, and a Tic-tac-toe game. Accomplished in pencil by the 14-year-old future rock star on an off-white 8.75 x 11.75 sheet, with Morrison naming the ‘mummy’ in the lower left: “Alfred E. Neuman.” Attractively cloth-matted and framed with a plaque to an overall size of 19 x 23. In fine condition.
Accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Jeff Gold of Recordmecca, who states that this “is one of a small group of Morrison drawing[s] sold by his childhood friend Girard ‘Fud’ Ford at Christie’s Auction House in New York in 1994. Ford and Morrison met when the Morrison family moved to Alameda, California and they attended school together. The two boys spent many hours drawing together in an attic room at the Morrison house at 1717 Alameda Avenue. The friendship between Ford and Morrison and the Morrison drawings have been widely discussed and published, most notably in the books ‘No One Here Gets Out Alive’ by Danny Sugarman and Jerry Hopkins, ‘Mr. Mojo Risin’ by David Dalton, and ‘Morrison’ by Frank Lisciandro.”
Provenance: Christie’s, Pop Memorabilia and Guitars, November 11, 1994.