Morrissey letter to Tony Wilson: "...The Smiths need a manager" (1986) - Cerysmatic.Factory

Link from Mike via The Last Of The Famous International Playboys:

You Handsome Bastard - Cerysmatic.Factory

40520_morrissey-ahw-manager-letter-311.jpg


"Anthony

Ah well. The Smiths need a manager. Do you know any handsome bastard willing to tackle haughty and unmanagable swines such as we?

Guess the rest.

Thank you for g-mex; the sandwiches were great.

Too Sincerely

MORRISSEY"

--

Undated letter from Morrissey to Tony Wilson. Presumably, from the G-Mex reference, it was written shortly after FAC 151 The Festival of the Tenth Summer in 1986. Is Morrissey really asking AHW if he would like to be the manager of The Smiths?
 
It's a neat alternate history to think about but its probably for the best he didn't accept
 
It's a neat alternate history to think about but its probably for the best he didn't accept

Yeah, something tells me it would not have lasted long with Morrissey speaking even more vitriolically about Tony. Didn't Morrissey refer to him as a "pig in a man's body" ... or something like that?

Well, I wish they'd found that much-needed manager - it could have helped to ease tensions and the load on J. Marr.
 
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Yeah, something tells me it would not have lasted long. Didn't Morrissey refer to Tony Wilson as a "pig in a man's body" ... or something like that?

I wish they had found that much-needed manager - it certainly could have helped to ease tensions and the load on J. Marr.

I don't know about the pig in a mans body comment I just don't think he would have been able to give them his whole attention with everything else he was doing. If his running of his record label is an indication of his management style I don't think it would've worked out. Plus would they have been signed to factory and made part of the crowd. I think morrissey enjoyed being rough trades main interest
 
And still they don't believe us?
And after all this time
They don't want to believe us
And if they don't believe us now
Will they ever believe us?
 
Yeah, something tells me it would not have lasted long. Didn't Morrissey refer to Tony Wilson as a "pig in a man's body" ... or something like that?

I wish they'd found that much-needed manager - it could have helped to ease tensions and the load on J. Marr.

"Didn't Morrissey refer to Tony Wilson as a "pig in a man's body" ... or something like that?"

Yes he did but after Tony Wilson said Moz was "a woman trapped in a man's body."

Don't know what exactly caused the animosity and why Tony Wilson said that.
I know this, Tony Wilson was a very influential guy in the music scene and had favours to give.
He was seen as someone behind the popularity of many "new", upcoming bands at that time and he was proud of that.

Apparently he somewhat missed the appeal Moz and The Smiths draw and felt he should have them under his wings.

He said something like that he was aware of Moz as something, a shade in a corner of his eye while it was focussed on other interesting new bands that might get big.

Still wonder what caused all the friction and Moz even got that much resentment as to write " Tony the Pony". Which is hilarious but also hitting hard, I guess. :rolleyes:
 
Is Morrissey really asking AHW if he would like to be the manager of The Smiths?'

nah, he's asking for someone 'handsome'.
 
Yesterday was 10 years since Tony died, he had a massive influence on the Manchester music scene and is sorely missed by a lot of people.
 
Its odd that he signed it Morrissey when Tony always referred to him as Steven in interviews ive seen. I ve previously seen a lovely clip of the smiths early days when Tony goes to see them practice but cant find it on youtube but found this which may be worth seeing

 
Did anyone notice the Elvis Presley photo from the Shoplifters sleeve on the notepaper?

I always found Tony Wilson's and Morrissey's relationship interesting. They were absolute frenemies. I know Tony pulled Morrissey up for being a diva but I worked once with AHW at Granada Television and he was a ponce of the highest order. Had grown men tiptoeing around him. Great man though.
 
Thanks for posting. Interesting, indeed. I love to read Morrissey's old letters. :)

That's a great blog, by the way.
 
Venlo is just the house name, all the houses on that street have names as well as numbers because the residents think they are posh. Venlo is a place in the Netherlands I think. Doubt Moz had anything to do with the name.
 
He started off civil in Autobiography:

"The summer of 1986 brought Anthony Wilson’s Festival of the Tenth Summer, which took place at Manchester’s G-Mex with a roundabout intent to salute Anthony Wilson as Manchester’s occupying power. At first I said no to the event, because I thought the ticket prices were too high, when in shuffles a typed letter from Anthony H. Wilson:
This isn’t about Factory, this isn’t about Tony Wilson or Steven Patrick Morrissey; it’s about Manchester, and Manchester only. I know you’re worried about a Smiths fan having to pay thirteen pounds to see the Smiths. But this isn’t a Smiths concert. It is designed as an event which reflects the achievement of the youth of this city, and the ticket price merely reflects our achievements. Our only reference in pricing was to go as we all do in our concerts for the lower end of the norm, but with regard to that norm.
It would have needed a fifteen pound ticket to have financed properly but we felt that thirteen pounds ... was as far as we could go. I felt rather in the mood to call the whole thing off. I have summoned up my energies one more time because I think the young people of this area deserve to know themselves, to understand how important they are. I think City Fun’s greatest hits and Shy Talk and Out There should be reprinted, and have Cummins pic of the Electric Circus hanging on the wall; I think the works of Garrett and Saville and Mulvey and Boone should be displayed and ...Yakkety-yak, thud.
In fact, the G-Mex event is a great day, and theatrician Wilson is at his best master of ceremonies scarf-flowing staginess. He calls everyone ‘darling’, but it’s all a part of the public relations aspect of his showboat routine and not at all disingenuous."


Then the claws come out :)

" You must call your next album Steven,’ says Manchester luvvie Tony Wilson, and I stare back at him – wondering if he had ever actually had a good idea in his life.
Wilson repeatedly turns up at Morrissey concerts and then automatically lambasts me in print or on radio almost as if he enjoys his hatreds more than he enjoys his joys. ‘Let’s face it,’ he says on Australian radio, ‘Morrissey really IS a horrible person.’ Weeks later I am behind the wheel of my sky-blue Jag in Los Angeles, stalled at traffic lights. I spot whom I think to be Jerry Springer walking across the street in front of me (Miller Drive, should you care), but of course it is Urmston’s answer to nothing, and Wilson bows his head towards me and offers a smile – as three-faced as ever he was."

Regards,
FWD.
 
Moz had a strange taste in houses in 1986. Link

Don't think it was strange at all
He bought it in 1984 and would have been first house he owned
Traditional British detached house in a very well heeled part of Cheshire - frequented by Man Utd footballers etc.
If the purchase of this eventually led to the house he bought in Los Angeles then fair enough
 

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