The Futurists and Dada artists are often dragged in as progenitors for mail art, but until RAY JOHNSON (1927-1995) developed it as a distinct verbal-visual activity, from his early beginnings in the mid-forties, correspondence as art (cc) was incidental and did not warrant separate treatment as a distinct form of art. "...I think the New York Correspondence School was truly communicative simply because I was able to wheel the ping-pong paddle and to keep the ball on the move..." - Ray Johnson.