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Chapter 5: The Fall June of 1932 marked the beginning of a long series of difficulties that would eventually end with the closing of Undertoad itself. In 1929 Clara had created a beautiful, ethereal comic starring Lillian Gish and utilizing the text of one of Edgar Allan Poe’s last poems, the 1848 version of To Helen (not to be confused with his 1831 poem of the same name). The comic was a moderate success, more widely praised by critics than the public at large. To Clara and Aloysius’s surprise, however, the estate of Poe came forward with a lawsuit claiming the poem to still be under copyright. After a lengthy court battle, Poe’s estate was determined to be in the right and Undertoad was fined $10,000 in restitutions. While the fine did little overall harm to the successful company, the press was quite damaging.
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 one of the many billboards for Undertoad c. 1931 |
Aloysius’s troubles didn’t stop there, however.
In his relentless pursuit of publicity for Undertoad, he managed to run
afoul of a number of top celebrities primarily during his ambitious nationwide
“quote campaign” during which he took out ads featuring “direct
quotes” from a number prominent persons. The campaign was a gigantic
success in spite of the fact that each and every quote was written by
Aloysius himself. He managed to anger a great number of people across
the spectrum, including Greta Garbo, Carl Sandburg, Amelia Earhart, Shirley
Temple, Frank Lloyd Wright, Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald and many
more. Though many other lawsuits were threatened, most never came to anything
at all or were settled out of court. |
On top of this, any and all allegations were pushed considerably farther by the articles of prominent opinion writer Oliver Exonia. In a widely syndicated column, he regularly blasted Undertoad for corruption, mismanagement, unethical practices, libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. Ironically, Oliver remained a lifelong fan of the comics themselves and would frequently offer unfettered praise in the same damning articles. Undertoad, and Aloysius in particular, were certainly feeling the strain. |
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Things got even worse in 1935 when famed American Scene painter Edward Hopper sued Clara for “theft of intellectual property” claiming that many of her photos were near copies of several of his paintings. The case went to court where Clara won. It was determined that the photos were either different enough to warrant individuality or in the case of multiple panels from the 1934 comic The Empty City, the photos were taken before the similar paintings were displayed. In reference to the aforementioned comic, Aloysius pushed Undertoad to counter-sue, turning the tables and claiming that Hopper stole his compositions from Clara. The case again went to court where in perfect symmetry it was determined that Hopper’s paintings were different enough or painted before The Empty City had been released (but also before the paintings had been displayed). The length of the two lawsuits (well over four years to the end) took a tremendous toll on both Clara and Aloysius but the breaking point was still to come. |
 opinion writer Oliver Exonia c. 1934 |
In 1938 with World War II looming and the second Hopper lawsuit in full swing, the final blow was to come for Aloysius. In November a dying 28-year-old woman by the name of Veronica Iles arrived at the Global Street offices of Undertoad Comics with a pair of identical twin boys, aged 8. She demanded that she be shown to Aloysius’s office where she thrust the children into his care, explaining that she was dying and that the children were his. Aloysius, having had a relationship with Veronica at the appropriate time, took the children in immediately and took care of his former lover who spent her last few weeks at the (now defunct) Milwaukee Hospital on Milwaukee’s near west side. Aloysius appeared to be the model of fatherhood for the two boys (Jasper and Casper) until December 1939 when he mysteriously disappeared. Clara took charge of the children while a fruitless search was made for Aloysius. |
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After weeks of worry, a letter came informing the new family that Aloysius had broken under the pressure. Deciding he “couldn’t live this life anymore,” he left the country, falsifying documents in order to join the British military in the fight against the Axis powers. Unfortunately, he was killed in June of 1940 trying (unsuccessfully of course) to defend Norway against the German invasion.
The loss of her beloved brother was another serious blow to poor Clara.
She suffered a nervous breakdown and probably would have immediately
sunk into complete oblivion if it hadn’t been for the children
who she soon legally adopted. In order to focus her attention on her
newfound parenthood, Undertoad Comics was closed down once more. Production
of new comics stopped (though Clara is known to have done a few through
the years, primarily starring Jasper and Casper) and most of Undertoad’s
considerable assets were sold off at a staggering profit for Clara,
now the sole owner |
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