Dr. Morbius (Bill Weber) RIP

such a beautiful photo up there^

Visiting friends in NYC in 2015 to see Complete play at Union Pool. I’m in my very early years of posting here and a friend points to this fellow clad in Mets apparel and says that’s Dr. Morbs. To this day, I don’t know if that’s true or not but I always liked to believe it was. RIP yr work is done

It’s been years since I’ve seen Bill or logged in here, but this is obviously the place to be tonight. He was my favorite curmudgeon, and also a caring and thoughtful friend. I’m flooded with memories of derby parties, films, and nyc hangs. Of waiting to meet up while he made his way to a pay phone to check messages and find out where we were. Of the autographed 8x10 headshot from his stand up days he gifted me for my birthday one year. I enjoyed watching him get under others’ skin although I somehow never managed to tangle with him. I’m so sorry I didn’t get to see him in recent years but I will remember him fondly. Rest well, Morbs.

Just seeing all these old names again wow

RIP - among many other things, Morbs' commitment to seeing new films was inspirational, and definitely motivated me to 'keep up' with modern film culture too.

it’s lovely to read that so many of you hung out with him irl frequently, going to baseball games and movies and bars. im sure he appreciated your company tremendously.

it’s nice to hear that he was a sweetheart irl. im not surprised; i always saw his whole persona on here as an incredible extended bit and was in awe of his ability to always be locked and loaded with a barbed witty reply. dude was genuinely funny in a way that very few people alive are anymore

Horrible news, rest in peace bill. I have v fond memories of that ny fap, he was such a sweet guy. I know we made fun of him for being an old* but surely way too young

* haha is it true that he didn’t actually have a twitter account but just went there every day to check Dennis Perrin, Doug henwood and that terrible Richard Nixon account?

horrible news to wake up to, rip morbs - absolutely one of the cornerstones of this place, it won’t be the same without his uniquely irascible style

So sad to hear. RIP.

I think our only direct interaction was him calling me "boringly anti-canonical" on the horror poll thread but he was a reassuring and strong presence. Such sad news - RIP

Waking up to this , fuck. I’d sometimes post in the movie threads and at back of my mind I’m wondering what would Morbs think. Loved to hear him talk about Bill Forsyth or Jerry Lewis. Such a prescence here, just wish I could have met him irl as he sounds utterly charming.

shit. this is fucking awful. i teared up when i saw this. deeply sorry i never got to meet him.

Such a loved member of this community and often equally right, interesting and funny. So sorry for the loss. RIP

Fuck, one of the only ones with any real sense here. A lovely and gentle man with a sharp and furious sense of fairness. I'll miss his great knowledge of films, his passionate politics and confusing taste in hot guys.

I will miss his trenchant opinions and articulate, caustic discourse. Won’t be the same without him. Fuck cancer.

God if there was one thing I was on the exact same page as Dr Morbius on it was Adam Driver being hot

No

But bless you both

I didn't want to know what Morbs looked like but that's somehow exactly what I imagined.

― flappy bird, Thursday, October 22, 2020 12:44 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yes!

RIP Morbs. Feeling very sad.

This is horrible news to wake up to. It's beautiful how many of you knew and cherished him in real life. I only knew him online but I cherished him too and I'm gonna be very sad today.

RIP Morbs ❤️

How lovely to read all the stories from people who knew him in real life. Even as someone who was only familiar with him from here, it was always apparent how many posters knew (and loved) the man behind the persona. I was on the end of a few of his (rightfully dismissive) barbs in the occasional film thread down through the years and always considered it some small honour. This place will genuinely be diminished without him. RIP

Unlike a lot of people I never really interacted with him that much on here but I remember having a beer with him and most of New York ILX in the run up to Christmas nearly 13 years ago. Like many of the internet's proudly irascible cranks he was lovely in person, but before then I don't think I'd appreciated the obvious and visible love and affection in which he was held by a group of people much younger than him, and I always read his posts differently after that.

I wish I could remember the details of our conversation but hey it was the week before Christmas and not really the kind of night you remember the details of. RIP, and condolences to the people who knew him well.

Just got the news and haven’t read these posts yet but I will. This is some shit fucking news.

RIP Morbs, I always enjoyed his inimitable ILX stylings, and it's evident from this thread that behind his veneer of irascibility he was a great guy. Condolences to all his friends & family here and elsewhere.

a beautiful thread worthy of a champion poster whose artfully-pitched interjections and the reactions they got so often delighted me. always had a soft spot for him. love you morbs x

really sad news. RIP morbs

I'm glad I met him when he came to London a few years ago, as everyone said he was lovely in person in a way that coloured my reading of his posts afterwards.

Society for American Baseball Research

They could definitely make this a bit easier - am I right in thinking that the final page is nearly entirely blank apart from a link to a pdf of your invoice?

Oh man, fuck.
I only know him from his presence here and we never interacted (as I’m mostly a lurker in the non-ILM part of town), but this hits me hard. His curmudgeonness notwithstanding, it was always clear how lovable he was and how much affection the people here who knew him irl held for him.
I was genuinely happy when he announced his return recently, and I feel like a fool now for not telling him so then.
Rest in peace, Morbs. May your spirit live on here.

Fuck... RIP Morbs, you beautiful cranky bastard.

I didn't want to know what Morbs looked like but that's somehow exactly what I imagined.

― flappy bird, Thursday, October 22, 2020 12:44 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yes!

At the very east I'm glad he was taken care of by his amazing sister, who did everything and more for him, so my condolences to her as well.

I'm glad he was loved by so many. Great tributes for a great one.

wow. RIP Dr. M. you were one of my favorites here

RIP Morbs. He looks familiar, I'm sure we were at certain events together, WFMU things maybe, sorry I never got the chance to say hello.

RIP. Have always loved hearing his variegated and amusing opinions on film. A lovely thread that captures the impression he left on the people here.

he didnt suffer fools which means he didnt suffer me when i was preferring to be daft on here but that huge knowledge of something increasingly bygone was a motherload to be cherished and defended -- i'm barely even a tourist new york-wise but i like and feel i recognise j0rdan's description, of BW as a holdover from an otherwise vanishing city, a connection to something real but threatened, and a great implacable bulwark against that threat

and as everyone correctly says, he was a sweetheart and a heartbear in person -- were you actually older than me? who can say? sleep well old dude we will not see the like ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rest in Peace Morbs - one of those people i never interacted with really here, but I liked his style. Condolences to those around him.

a fundamental part of this place has closed. rip to a legend. rename detrius morbius imo

This is extremely sad. RIP Morbs.

fuck fuck fuck

He was definitely one of the first personalities that jumped out at me when I started lurking here years ago and indelible to the character of this place. Next WFMU donation will be in his honor.

Very sad news to wake up to. His knowledge of film was astounding and his curmudgeonly presence always delighted me.

I was very lucky to meet Morbs when he came to London. We didn't know what the other looked like (there must've been some description), he didn't have a phone so I spent about 10-15 minutes walking around this full pub in central London on the lookout but right enough we spotted one another and went on to drink and talk for a few hours over film, politics and lots of gossip of course. Really sweet, although I detected some irritation at my request at the end of the evening to contribute to whatever film poll we were going to do next when he said he wasn't going to. But of course he did contribute - his grouchiness at the film poll results became a highlight of sorts for me. Like people say it came from a place of knowledge, he always wanted you to know more, to not forget that what we liked about this film was a thing already made by someone or other decades ago. Nevertheless (as Ward noted) he was always watching new stuff and engaging with it.

At the end of that evening I wish I had made plans to watch a film together, but of course there was no time. A couple of years later he posted a thread on Ritwik Ghatak, and he opened by citing my posts and that we'd see many films together if we were in the same place and its really, really true we would have.

Thanks John for posting the thread and condolences to all his family.

Rest in Peace, Bill.

Goddamn, just waking up to see this. What sad news.

I clashed with him more often than anyone else on this board, which I regret, but he was a great ILXOR and seemed like a great person I really wish I could have met in real life. RIP Morbs, this really sucks.

So sorry for all of you who have just lost a friend, its been good to read your stories. RIP morbz

he didnt suffer fools which means he didnt suffer me when i was preferring to be daft on here but that huge knowledge of something increasingly bygone was a motherload to be cherished and defended -- i'm barely even a tourist new york-wise but i like and feel i recognise j0rdan's description, of BW as a holdover from an otherwise vanishing city, a connection to something real but threatened, and a great implacable bulwark against that threat

Mark S's comment is very good. One of the things I liked most about Dr Morbius was how, from the off, he was deeply invested in things that seemed slightly old-fashioned (and the more charming for that): moviegoing (especially old black & white movies), baseball (New York Mets), maybe even newspapers.

The way Mark S describes him here strongly reminds me of Jonathan Lethem's character Perkus Tooth in CHRONIC CITY (2009). Which is more apt the more I think of it - Perkus, who eventually dies of illness, breaking his friends' hearts, is eccentric, irascible, expert in old obscure things and especially in New York, to which he has a backward-looking, dissident political commitment. Did Dr Morbius read that novel? Possibly.

Dr Morbius riled people a lot on, especially political, threads here, but I couldn't especially see why. I suppose it wasn't my world. I quite liked the fact that he insisted, not merely that politicians were all always bad, but rather that something specific and historical and had gone wrong: that US politics up to Carter or the end of the 1970s had operated within different ideological norms from what developed later. (Perhaps that's a misrepresentation of his thought, but I think he would have been one to make the point that even Nixon did things that would have appeared progressive by later standards.)

I saw Dr Morbius briefly in August 2019, on the Lower East Side with Jody. In this very passing encounter, he mentioned his experiences with cancer. Touchingly, he remembered when we'd met before and where it was: the back garden of Boxcar Lounge, East Village, June 2008. I have a couple of pictures from him from that night. I remember him commenting on his ILX name - something like 'Well, what d'you expect from a galactic villain?'. When he left, we (or maybe it was just I) called: 'Bye, Dr Morbius!'.

Bye, Dr Morbius.

Really sad to hear this. As a bit of a lurker we never crossed paths but he seemed like a good dude and he really knew his cinema. Condolences to all who knew him, RIP Dr. Morbius.

Sad to hear the news. We didn't interact much on here and I never met him but I'll miss his posts - even the snarky politics ones, some of which I used to bristle at but have increasingly come to realise that he was right all along. There are so many great stories on this thread; thanks everyone for sharing your memories.

RIP Dr Morbius and condolences to his friends, family, and verbal sparring partners, on ILX and off.