Frank King (cartoonist)
| Frank King | |
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| Born | Frank Oscar King April 9, 1883 Cashton, Wisconsin |
| Died | June 24, 1969 (aged 86) Winter Park, Florida |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist |
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Notable works
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Gasoline Alley |
Frank Oscar King (April 9, 1883 – June 24, 1969) was an American cartoonist best known for his comic strip Gasoline Alley. In addition to innovations with color and page design, King introduced real-time continuity in comic strips by showing his characters aging over generations.
Born in Cashton, Wisconsin, King was the oldest of the two sons of mechanic John J. King and his wife Caroline. When Frank was four years old, he moved with his parents to 1710 Superior Avenue in Tomah, Wisconsin, where they operated their family general store. He started drawing while growing up in Tomah, where he graduated from Tomah High School in 1901.
He entered country fair drawing competitions; a sign he drew for a hotel bootblack earned him only 25 cents, but it was seen by a traveling salesman who learned it had been drawn by the son of one of his customers. The salesman arranged an interview for King with a Minneapolis newspaper editor. King began earning $7 a week at the Minneapolis Times, and during his four years there, he doubled his salary while creating drawings and doing retouching. On March 17, 1905, he gave a chalk talk at a Minneapolis St. Patrick's Day celebration.
In 1905-06, he studied art at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. After a spell at an ad agency and a brief time at the Chicago American, he spent three years with the Chicago Examiner, where he worked next to cartoonist T. S. Sullivant. In 1909, King left the Examiner to work at the Chicago Tribune, where, according to his friend, Chicago cartoonist Lew Merrell, he increased his weekly pay 50 cents. At the Tribune he worked alongside Clare Briggs, Dean Cornwell and Garrett Price. In 1910, he began a short-lived daily comic strip, Jonah, a Whale for Trouble, which ran in the Tribune from October 3, 1910 until December 8, 1910. He followed with a Tribune Sunday strip, Young Teddy, which was seen briefly from September 10, 1911 to October 6, 1912. His funny frog Sunday strip, Hi-Hopper, ran from February 1, 1914 until December 27, 1914.
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