Frank King was a well-known cartoonist best remembered for his comic strip ‘Gasoline Alley.’ He was a highly innovative artist who pioneered numerous innovations in the field of comic strip creation. His most popular work was a comic strip in the style of a soap opera about a group of automobile enthusiasts who meet in an alley. What set King apart from other cartoonists of his generation was his willingness to experiment and try new things. He experimented with color combinations and page layouts, and for the first time in comic strips, he introduced the concept of cartoon characters aging in real time. He was an artist by birth, having begun drawing as a small child. He once won a country fair drawing competition as a teenager; one thing led to another, and he was soon offered a job at the ‘Minneapolis Times’ at the age of 19. Recognizing that art was his life’s calling, he attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts before embarking on a career as a comic book creator. He created numerous popular comic strips, but the one that cemented his immortality was ‘Gasoline Alley,’ which was so successful that it ran for decades.
Childhood & Adolescence
Frank King was one of John J. King’s two sons with his wife Caroline. His father was self-employed as a mechanic. When Frank was four years old, his family relocated to Tomah, Wisconsin, to operate a general store.
He was an artistic child who began drawing when he was quite young. In 1901, he graduated from Tomah High School.
Career of Frank
He entered a country fair drawing competition as a teenager and created a sign for a hotel bootblack. His father’s acquaintance noticed the sign and arranged for him to meet with an editor of the ‘Minneapolis Times’.
He was hired as a cartoonist at the ‘Minneapolis Times’ for $7 per week. At the time, King was only 19 years old. He spent four years with the newspaper.
He delivered a chalk talk on St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in 1905. Chalk talks are artist-led monologues delivered while they draw with chalk, crayons, or pastels. In those days, chalk talks were a popular act in vaudeville. He enrolled in the 1905-06 session of the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.
He worked briefly for an advertising agency and then for the ‘Chicago American’ before joining the ‘Chicago Examiner’. He spent three years there, working alongside cartoonist T. S. Sullivant.
He began his career in 1909 at the ‘Chicago Tribune,’ where he collaborated with Dean Cornwell, Clare Briggs, and Garrett Price. The following year, he created the comic strip ‘Jonah, a Whale for Trouble,’ which lasted only a year.
His next comic strip, ‘Young Teddy,’ ran from September 1911 to October 1912 as a Tribune Sunday strip, while another Sunday strip, ‘Hi-Hopper,’ ran from February 1914 to December 1914.
The ‘Chicago Tribune’ introduced a page called ‘The Rectangle’ that featured cartoons and serial features. The page was typically printed in black and white and was published on a regular basis beginning in 1914.
King was the creator of several comic strips, including ‘Tough Teddy,’ ‘The Boy Animal Trainer,’ and ‘Hi-Hopper.’ During World War I, he drew war scenes for publication in American newspapers.
King created a strip titled ‘Gasoline Alley,’ which began appearing on Sundays in November 1918 in the bottom quadrant of ‘The Rectangle.’ It featured the characters Walt, Doc, Avery, and Bill having automobile-related conversations.
The strip’s characters were based on King’s real-life acquaintances, and the plot revolved around the mild humour of everyday life. The strip quickly gained popularity and was converted to a daily comic strip in August 1919.
In the strip, King pioneered the concept of real-time continuity, in which the characters age in lockstep with the passage of time. Skeezix, one of the main characters, was introduced as a baby and grew up to be a young man before retiring as a grandfather.
The ‘Gasoline Alley’ was so successful that King became a millionaire. He left the Sunday strip in 1951 and the daily strip in 1959. Bill Perry and Dick Moores, two of his assistants, assumed control of the strip.
Significant Works of Frank
Gasoline Alley is the second longest running comic strip in the United States, having appeared in over 300 newspapers. The strip received critical acclaim for its avant-garde ideas and was honored by the National Cartoonists Society with several awards.
Awards and Accomplishments
Three awards from the National Cartoonists Society were bestowed upon him: the Silver T-Square Award (1949), the Humor Comic Strip Award (1957), and the Reuben Award (1958). (1958).
Personal History and Legacies
In 1911, he married Delia Drew. They were the parents of one son, Robert Drew King. He retired to Florida in his later years and spent his time gardening, sculpting, and collecting maps. In 1969, he was discovered dead in his bathroom at the age of 86.
Estimated Net Worth
Frank King’s net worth is estimated to be $7million.
Trivia
Two feature films have been adapted from the comic strip ‘Gasoline Alley.’ In Florida, the King’s Highway is named in honor of this legendary cartoonist.