On this Day 1981: ‘Unknown sketcher’ gifts pubs endless Mario Lanza drawings

OTD, January 8th 1981…

The Phantom – an unknown artist was bombarding Black Country public houses with his drawings of Mario Lanza.

One landlord, Gerry Grosvenor, of the Old Cat Inn, Stourbridge, told John Swallow that he has received numerous drawings and letters and believes it to be the work of a local who goes by the signature AJW. Peter Murdoch, a brewery official, said that he has received postcards from the Isle of Wight, Torquay, Tenby, York and Portugal.

“He’s obviously a Mario Lanza fan…” – Gerry Grosvenor, landlord

The drawings sent to the midland boozers were of the late Mario Lanza an American tenor and actor who became a popular Hollywood movie star in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Lanza died on October 7th, 1959 aged 36.

ATV Today carried another report on January 16th 1981 and again on January 21st, when John Swallow finally spoke to him face-to-face, however under a disguse.

The Mario Lanza artists antics spanned over forty years, with artwork still being noted as left in public places across Stourbridge – after a gap of several years – in 2009. This incident saw Lanza artwork on beermats left in shops and even the public library. In 2016 local newspaper The Stourbridge News finally caught up with AJW and interviewed him about his decades long sketching hobby. He, of course, kept himself from being identified.

In the newspaper interview it was revealed he was in his 70s and people knew he was the original Phantom of the Lanza as terrible ‘fakes’ were easy to spot. Over the years AJW said he must have drawn up and dished out three quarters of a million calling cards. The Stourbridge News note ‘he was born in Woodside in the 1940s, went to school in Dudley and lived in Wall Heath for about 45 years’. At the time of the interview he resided in Standhills Road, Kingswinford.

However, the mystery was finally solved in 2019 when things took an unfortunate turn of events. John Arthur Wheeler was named as the illusive AJW when he went to court following, the then 75-year-old, being charged with outraging public decency. Wheeler had distributed a series of rude calling cards in Wordsley Community Centre and other pubs, libraries and public toilets. He admitted the offence in April 2019 and was sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court the following month.

Sophie Murray, prosecuting, said: “He had been leaving sexually lewd drawings showing male and female genitalia.” He had also been accused of similar artwork two years earlier, but he shrugged it off. Speaking to The Stourbridge News he noted, “Pablo Picasso was doing rude stuff but he was crackers.”

The judge made him the subject of a two-year community order, noting, “You believe you have ability as an artist – that may be – but the way you have set about displaying your drawings is offensive. You regularly left lewd drawings in public houses, public stations and libraries for people to see who would not wish to see them… It would not be right to describe yourself as the Banksy of the Black Country as Banksy makes drawings of public importance – attracting social comment. What you are doing is drawing matters that show a perverted mind.”

In more positive news The Old Cat Inn in Stourbridge continues to operate as a pub, without an abundance of Mario Lanza artwork.