J. P. Morgan - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

• A contemporary literary biography of Morgan is used as an allegory for the financial environment in America after WWI in the second volume, Nineteen Nineteen, of John Dos Passos' U.S.A. trilogy.
• Morgan appears as a character in Caleb Carr's novel The Alienist, and in Steven S. Drachman's novel, The Ghosts of Watt O'Hugh.
• Morgan appears in E. L. Doctorow's novel Ragtime, and in the Broadway musical of the same name.
• A satirical version of Morgan appears in Matt Fraction and Steven Sanders' graphic novel The Five Fists of Science
• In Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman, Morgan is mentioned as an example of how one does not have to be likeable to be successful in business, which runs counter to protagonist Willy Loman's ideas.
• Morgan is believed to have been the model for Walter Parks Thatcher (played by George Coulouris), guardian of the young Citizen Kane (film directed by Orson Welles) with whom he has a tense relationship—Kane blaming Thatcher for destroying his childhood.
• In his satirical history of the United States, It All Started with Columbus, Richard Armour commented that, "Morgan, who was a direct sort of person, made his money in money... He became immensely wealthy because of his financial interests, most of which were around eight or ten percent... This Morgan is usually spoken of as 'J.P.' to distinguish him from Henry Morgan, the pirate."
• According to Phil Orbanes, former Vice President of Parker Brothers, Rich Uncle Pennybags of the American version of the board game Monopoly is modeled after J. P. Morgan.