As an animation artist, Morton started working at the Fleischer studio in Miami, Florida, in 1937, working on such legendary cartoon series as Felix the Cat, Betty Boop, and Popeye. He also wrote about 25 episodes for a new series: Superman.
Part of that job was to describe the superhero in a few sentences. He discarded his first effort, “faster than a streak of lightning, more powerful than the pounding surf, mightier than a roaring hurricane, this amazing stranger from the Planet Krypton, Superman!” in favor of something a little more succinct and memorable: “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.”
After leaving Fleischer, Morton became a newspaper publisher, running several papers. He died September 6 from a brain aneurysm is North Carolina. He was 92.