Spooky nerds across New Orleans are in mourning tonight. Dr. Morgus the Magnificent has left the lab and transitioned to the old icehouse in the sky.
Sid Noel, actor behind local celebrity Dr. Morgus, died of natural causes yesterday at the Christwood Retirement Community in Covington. He was 90 years old. Born in 1929, Sidney Noel Rideau was a Loyola grad who spent his youth performing, hosting radio shows, and serving in the US Navy Reserve. He first wielded Morgus’ signature wig and teeth in 1959 for WWL TV, creating the madcap mad scientist character as a host for a weekly horror movie broadcast. (The show’s first episode featured “Frankenstein,” so Noel took the crazed doctor theme and run with it.) Noel’s Dr. Morgus was overconfident, disheveled, lacked scientific rigor, but had a good heart...and so obviously won over New Orleanians in a BIG way. His penchant for philosophizing out loud was said to be a nod to Don Quixote.
Morgus was assisted by Chopsley, a mute lab assistant, and E.R.I.C., a talking computer, through all manner of questionable experiments. He mixed explosive potions, extracted musical talent from legends like pianist Pete Fountain, calculated the speed of dark, penned the book “Molecules I Have Known,” and generally captivated intoxicated adults and children up past bed time for years. “The Wacky World of Dr. Morgus” film even made its debut as a feature film in 1962. For a time Dr. Morgus retreated from the public eye—“sabbatical,” Noel once called it—but by the late 1980s he was back hosting late night screenings of B horror flicks, and audiences were delighted.
Morgus made his last appearance in public in the early 2000s, but his memory has lingered on through t-shirts, Cox Communications ads, Mardi Gras costumes, and COVID-19 memes ever since. Our hearts go out to Chopsley, E.R.I.C., and Noel’s children. We hope you’ll conduct an ill-advised scientific experiment this weekend in his honor.