After his first wife's death in 1953 he married, secondly, Barbara Estella Barb, who had previously been married to cartoonist Charles Addams, in 1956.
In addition to Luckey, Murphy was a long-time friend of fellow trombonist and Disney animator Ward Kimball who created many memorable caricatures of Murphy and Charles Addams creator of The Addams Family.
Charles Darwin | Charles Dickens | Charles, Prince of Wales | Ray Charles | Charles II of England | Charles I of England | Charles Lindbergh | Charles de Gaulle | Charles II | Charles | Charles I | Prince Charles | Charles V | Charles Scribner's Sons | Charles Aznavour | Charles University in Prague | Charles Stanley | Charles Bukowski | Charles Mingus | Charles Ives | Charles Bronson | Charles Babbage | Charles III of Spain | Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis | Charles Baudelaire | Charles Sanders Peirce | Charles River | Charles Manson | Charles Laughton | Jane Addams |
Much of the book is devoted to anecdotes about his best-known colleagues, such as cartoonists Peter Arno, Charles Addams, and James Thurber; writers Truman Capote, John Updike, S.J. Perelman, and John O'Hara; critics Wolcott Gibbs and Robert Benchley; and editors Katherine White, Harold Ross, and William Shawn.
Besides politicians, he also was friendly with many cultural icons, such as Edna Ferber, E. B. White, Groucho Marx, Compton Mackenzie, Al Capp, Charles Addams, Grandma Moses, Heywood Broun, and Margaret Bourke-White.
A close friend and co-worker with cartoonist Charles Addams (The Addams Family), Sam Cobean has influenced cartoons and cartoonists for several generations.
Charles Addams, Bill Hoest, Virgil Partch, Gahan Wilson and other top cartoonists of that decade drew cartoons showing Volkswagens, and these were published along with amusing automotive essays by such humorists as H. Allen Smith, Roger Price and Jean Shepherd.