B.A. in Theatre Arts, University of California, Los Angeles (1968)
Studied music at Manhattan School of Music and Mannes College of Music (ca. 1968-75)
BMI Musical Theatre Workshop

Paul Morse was born in Newark, New Jersey. He grew up in Los Angeles and earned a degree in theatre arts from the University of California, Los Angeles. Four of Morse's plays were produced at UCLA while he was a student: Coming of Age, The Maiden Bagel, The Slave of Love, and Christopher. His three-act play Coming of Age won first prize in the Samuel French National Collegiate Playwriting Contest in 1967.

After graduating in 1968, Morse moved to New York. He studied music at the Manhattan School of Music and Mannes College of Music, and toured with the Broadway musical Zorba, in the role of Pavli, during the 1969-70 theatrical season. He founded Paul Morse Productions to publish and produce his work, and became a member of the Dramatists Guild, BMI, Actors' Equity, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

Six of his plays and musicals were produced Off-Off-Broadway, including Dirty Ferdie Comes Clean, The Slave of Love, What's In It For Me?, The Memory of You and Morse Code, a revue of his music. Among the companies to produce his work were The Wyckoff Group, New York Theatre of The Americas, and the Nat Horne Musical Theatre at the Library of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.

In 1976 Morse returned to Los Angeles, where he taught, wrote and directed for such organizations as the Los Angeles Unified School District, the Los Angeles Children's Museum, The Performing Tree, and The Los Angeles Music Center. In 1977 two of his theatre songs, "In Your Eyes" and "Can I Walk a Line?," received recognition from the American Song Festival competition, and his song "The New York Man" was featured in a revue for the opening of Citicorp Center in New York.

Morse became the Performing Arts Administrator for the Los Angeles United School District in 1988, and for a year worked as freelance writer and reviewer for the bimonthly Los Angeles Theatre and Entertainment Review.

He is best known for his plays and musicals for young people. Ten of his productions toured extensively in southern California during the 1980s.

Letters to Harriet Tubman, his most popular work, was written in 1982. Tom Bradley, the Mayor of Los Angeles, commemorated February 26, 1982 as "Letters to Harriet Tubman Day" in honor of the show. In 1988 Morse was honored with the Excellent Rating Award from the National Association of Dramatic and Speech Arts for Letters to Harriet Tubman, and the work was performed at the 1991 American Alliance for Theatre and Education conference in Washington, D.C.

In 1986 his musical Children of the Universe, the story of a space-age search for peace, was presented at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. Other titles by Morse include Two Friends: Dos Amigos, about the value of learning another language and building tolerance and cooperation, and Roughing It, based on the novel by Mark Twain.

In 1992 the City of Los Angeles again paid tribute to Letters to Harriet Tubman. By the time of its tenth anniversary, the show had been performed over 900 times in such places as San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas, and Washington D.C.

Paul Morse died of complications from AIDS in California at the age of 45 on August 7, 1992.

—Nurit Tilles

WORKS:
Book, music and lyrics by Paul Morse unless otherwise specified. Song titles follow each work.

MUSICALS

The Glass Menagerie: A Musical

The Gospel According to Charlie Allan
    In The Beginning
    Charlie Allan
    Hey! Hey! Hey!
    Sun
    American Bucks
    Hearts Lead The Way
    Masque Of The Masks
    Waiting Around
    Machines
    Holding You In Mind
    I Don't Believe
    The Magic Fountain
    The Magic Fountain
    Let's Meet For Lunch
    The Outside Looking In
    Bedroom
    Don't You Know Who I Am?
    Ballet
    Look At That
    Every Little Minute
    A Whole Lot of World
    What's The Use?
    Tomorrow Can Wait

The Memory of You
    Cake'n My Cares Away Rag
    Lazy Woman
    In Your Eyes
    Last Day At Appomattox
    McKinley March
    If Nobody Wants Me Around
    Crying The Blues Over You
    I Dream Of Going To America
    McKinley March
    Diamonds
    The Chicago Cakewalk The Memory of You

Morse Code
    Swept Away
    Recession Blues
    World On A String
    Lazy Woman
    I Want To Get Into Pictures
    I Dream Of Going To America
    Over The Ocean
    Things Are Getting Better
    In Your Eyes
    Voice In The Park
    The Moonlight, Miami And You
    Spare Change
    My Lord
    The Memory of You
    Unify
    Hello To An Old Tomorrow
    Can I Walk A Line
    Dance Slow
    Long Ago

Poof
    It's Only A Dream
    Unemployed Princess
    Rabbit Minuet
    Redundo

Roughing It
Based on the novel by Mark Twain
    Roughing It
    You Need A Gun
    The Overland Stage
    Cowboy Life
    Abide With Me
    A Mormon Wife
    I'm Glad I'm Not A Mormon
    Far From Home
    Under Western Skies
    Carson City
    Diamond In The Rough

The Slave of Love
    Quiet Night Beyond Myself Alone
    Happiness Is Happening
    When She's In My Arms
    Wedding Days
    I Could Just Cry
    Sad
    The Wind
    Who Is Me?
    Romantic Inclinations
    Long Ago
    Sadness Underneath Your Smile
    You Are You
    She Isn't There
    Ballet
    Anyway
    Young Little Boy
    So Many People Alone

What's In It For Me?
    The Subway Song
    The American Dream
    What's In It For Me?
    Spare Change
    Everyone's Leaving The City
    Burger Thrill
    I Must Be Getting Old (A Pickle's Lament)
    You Don't Do Anything For Their Taste Anymore
    Hurry Up, Ketchup
    Who Will Serve Us Today?
    In The Beginning
    Last Night I Had Me A Wonderful Dream
    Goin' to New York City
    A Little Ketchup, A Little Dill
    Competition
    Don't Put Your Eggs In One Basket
    Holding You In My Mind
    This Is It
    Don't Turn Away
    Montage
    Can I Walk A Line?

World Here I Am
    Good Morning and
    Welcome to Lancertown
    To Take Care Of You
    Friends
    Hooray for the Scarlet A
    Indian Dance
    World Here I Am

You Don't Know Me But I'm Famous
    Opening
    You Don't Know Me But I'm Famous
    Pictures Intro
    I Want To Get Into Pictures
    You Never Had It So Good
    I Wanna Be In A Band
    A Summer I'll Remember
    Summer Farewell
    Curtain Call

Zorba On The Roof: A Musical Adaptation

MUSICALS FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES

Children of the Universe
    The Call
    We're Walking
    Space Walk
    One Gigantic Show
    Sector's Arise
    Children of the Universe

Christopher
    Opening March
    Getting Married
    Long Ago
    The Spirit of Adventure
    Whatever You Want to Be
    A New Tomorrow
    Goodness
    So Many People Alone
    The Rape Dance
    There He Goes!
    When She's In My Arms Again
    Being Old
    Let's Live Today
    I Slew (So What?)

Dirty Ferdie Comes Clean
    A Mother's Advice
    A Speck of Dirt
    The Laundry Bag Song
    I'm Doctor Disease
    Who Wants to Be Clean
    Dirty Ferdie
    A Rat
    The Suds Song
    Where

If I Were President
    I'm In The Fifth Grade Now
    If I Were President
    The Woman Behind the Man
    Inflation, Energy and Crime
    Who Cares About Bessie
    Everyone, But You
    Class Dismissed
    Finale

Lexington Green
    Overture
    In Lexington
    Interlude I and II
    The British Are Such Gentleman
    Heaven Preserve The Colonials
    Prologue
    Hymn to Peace
    Recitation I, II, and III
    Ever I Pledge . . .
    Interrogation
    Call to Arms I and II
    See the British on the Green
    The Battle of Lexington
    The Death of Harrington
    Epilogue
    Curtain Call

The Maiden Bagel
    Overture
    We're the Sailors of the King
    Sailors' Jig
    I Hear The Fish Calling Up To Me
    Encore, I Hear . . .
    What Are You Doing On My Father's Ship?
    The Daisies Sing of Coming Spring
    How Dare You Do a Thing Like That To Me?
    Now What Am I To Do?
    Sailors Ahoy! Drop What You're Doing
    Today (Finale)

El Nacimiento Del Pueblo
    San Gabriel
    La Jornada
    Vayamos A California
    Fanfare

Rabbit Hood
    A King Can't Be A King Without A Crown
    Drink, Drink, Drink
    Take Hands
    Save Me
    Over the Ocean
    Let The Joyous Bells Ring Out

Rapunzel N' The Witch
    A Child To Love
    Incantation Scene
    Rapunzel, Sweet Lettuce
    Lullaby
    Wicked Witch Intro
    A Wicked Witch Like Me
    Witches Brew
    Spirits Dark and Spirits Gray
    Love's Call
    Rapunzel, Rapunzel
    Harp Music
    Finale

Santa Hangs Ten
    Rock and Roll Daddy
    A New Image
    Grindstone
    Skateboard Heaven
    Santa Hangs Ten

PLAYS

Coming of Age
Cut the Meat Off, Rebecca, If You Can't Handle the Roast
The Desert Campaign
The Drought
Gunfight: or, The Rules Governing
A Life Wasted for a Tree
The Los Angeles Music Center in Song
New York's Back In Town
An American Life: One Man's Road to Watergate
The Second Coming
Some of My Best Friends Are People
A Song to Remember
The Story of Curly McGumdrop
The Rites
The Magicians
Day In . . . Day Out
The Voluptuous Blonde In Apartment 3B
When You're In Love, The Whole World Is British
We're All So Happy

PLAYS FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES

Clean Campus Assembly
Conquistador
Doctor's Dilemma
Everyman
How to Succeed in School (In More Ways Than One) Without Really Trying
I Have A Dream
Letters to Harriet Tubman
Nobody Cares for Jaime McLaughlin
The Thanksgiving Day Feast
Tom Sawyer Variations
Two Friends: Dos Amigos

UNCOMPLETED WORKS:
Unknown

WRITINGS:
Articles and reviews written for the bimonthly Los Angeles Theatre and Entertainment Review (October 1988-November 1989).

DISCOGRAPHY:
No professionally released recordings. Numerous live recordings in the archive.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Masters thesis by Berta Stevens (see Musical Executor).
• "Assessing Anglo and Hispanic Children's Perceptions and Responses to Theatre: A Cross-Ethnic Pilot Study" by Johnny Saldana, Youth Theatre Journal vol. 7, no. 2 (1992). See discussion of Two Friends/Dos Amigos, pp. 3-14. Published by American Alliance for Theatre and Education, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.
• Two Friends/Dos Amigos(scene for one Caucasian or African-American man, and one Hispanic), in Multicultural Theatre: Scenes and Monologues from New Hispanic, Asian, and African-American Plays, ed. by Roger Ellis, Meriwether Publications (1996). ISBN: 1566080266.
• Two Friends/Dos Amigos and Letters to Harriet Tubman in The Audrey Skirball-Kenis Theatre Play Collection (A Collection of Unpublished Plays in the Los Angeles Public Library), ed. by Tom Harris (1995). See Section entitled "One Act Plays," p. 97.

PERFORMING RIGHTS AFFILIATION:
BMI

RESOURCES:
Paul Morse Productions
P.O. Box 5331
West Covina, CA 91791
Tel: (626) 576-0040
Fax: (323) 256-3236
paulmorseprods@earthlink.net

MUSICAL EXECUTOR:
Berta Stevens (sister)
1757 Aspen Village
West Covina, CA 91791
Tel: (626) 919-5776
Fax: (626) 917-1004
xbertax@earthlink.net

OTHER CONTACTS:
Unknown