Frank King (Frank King)

Frank King

Cartoonist. He is remembered for his cartoon strip “Gasoline Alley” which first appeared in November 1918 and continues to run in syndicated newspapers to this day, and is currently is the second longest running comic strip in the US. Born Frank Oscar King, his father was a mechanic and at the age of for, he moved with his family to Tomah, Wisconsin where they ran a general store. He became interested in drawing at an early age and often entered county fair drawing competitions. Following his graduation from Tomah High School in 1901, a traveling salesman became interested in his artwork and arranged a meeting for him with a Minneapolis, Minnesota newspaper editor and he began working as a cartoonist for the Minneapolis Times. From 1905 until 1906 he studied art at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago, Illinois and began working for the Chicago Examiner. In 1909 he was hired by the Chicago Tribune and started a short-lived daily comic strip “Jonah, A Whale for Trouble” followed by a Sunday strip “Young Teddy” that ran from September 1911 until October 1912. In February 1914 he created a strip “Hi-Hopper” about a funny frog, but it only lasted until December of that year. In 1915 he created his first successful full-page comic strip “Bobby Make-Believe.” After the US entered World War I in April 1917, he traveled to Europe and drew war scenes for publication in American newspapers. On Sunday, November 24, 1918 his first “Gasoline Alley” comic began in the Chicago Tribune’s “The Rectangle” page titled “Sunday Morning in Gasoline Alley.” The following year, he began running “Gasoline Alley” as a daily comic strip and it would eventually appear in over 300 daily newspapers with a daily combined readership of over 27 million, with inventive color and page design concepts. Additionally, he introduced real-time continuity to comic strips by showing his characters as they grew to maturity and aged over generations. During the latter part of his career, he received the National Cartoonists Society’s Silver T-Square Award (1949), the Humor Comic Strip Award (1957), and the Reuben Award (1958). He was also honored by the Freedom Foundation on two separate occasions. He died at his home at the age of 86. (bio by: William Bjornstad)  Family links:  Parents:  John J. King (1853 – 1903)  Irena Caroline Harris King (1859 – 1950)  Spouse:  Delia Drew King (1883 – 1959)*  Children:  Robert Drew King (1916 – 1982)*  Sibling:  Guy B King (____ – 1880)*  Frank King (1883 – 1969) *Calculated relationship

Born

  • April, 09, 1883
  • USA

Died

  • June, 06, 1969
  • USA

Cemetery

  • Oak Grove Cemetery
  • Wisconsin
  • USA

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