Leopoldo Morey y Pena was born October 24, 1899 in Lima, Peru. His parents were Mr. & Mrs. Adolfo Morey. They were a family of aristocrats with European education. His father was an industrialist. They had two children, Leopoldo and his younger sister, Estefania. They lived at 340 Paseo Colon, Lima, Peru.
His parents frowned upon his ambition to be an artist. Instead of going to art school he was sent to America in August 1918 to study engineering at Louisiana State University. He lived at 561 Middle Street Baton Rouge, LA. During the World War he registered with the US Draft Board as a citizen of Peru. He was recorded to be medium built, medium height, with brown eyes and "Negro" hair. By the time he graduated in 1922 with a degree in engineering, he was also the chief illustrator of the college year book.
After graduation he returned to South America and worked as a commercial illustrator for a Buenos Aires newspaper. In 1926 he returned to America when he was hired as a graphic artist for a New Orleans newspaper.
In 1930 he began to sell freelance story illustrations and cover paintings to Amazing Stories and Astounding.
He painted covers for Secret Agent-X, Short Stories,Terror Tales, Thrilling Detective, Thrilling Mystery, Western Aces, Wild West Stories and Complete Novel magazine.
He was too old to serve in WW2, so he was among the few pre-war pulp illustrators to continue working during the war years. He drew interior story illustrations for Amazing, Analog, Detective Novel Magazine, Dime Sports, Popular Football, Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, and Science Fiction Quarterly.
After the war he was a pencil artist for many golden age comic books. He worked with Funnies Incorporated for Fiction House's Planet Comics, and for Ned Pines' Better Publications he drew Starling Comics and Thrilling Comics.
In the 1950s he worked for Standard comic books as a penciler, and for Atlas Comic Group's Forbidden Worlds and Adventures Into The Unknown. He also drew Beware! for Trojan Comics.
According to the artist, "I think the best cover I ever illustrated was for Amazing Stories Beyond the Planetoids, by Edwin K. Sloat. My favorite author is Bob Olsen. I also like the work of A. Hyatt Verrill, Dr. E. E. Smith, and Harl Vincent."
Leo Morey died at age 66 in 1965.
© David Saunders 2009 |
