- Frank Merriwell
Frank Merriwell was the fictional creation of Gilbert Patten, who wrote under the pseudonym
Burt L. Standish .The model for all later American juvenile sports fiction, Merriwell excelled at football, baseball, basketball, crew and track at Yale while solving mysteries and righting wrongs. [http://www.uga.edu/honors/curo/juro/2001_10_13/Turano6.html] He played with great strength and received traumatic blows without injury. [http://www.uga.edu/honors/curo/juro/2001_10_13/Turano6.html]
A biographical entry on Patten noted dryly that Frank Merriwell "had little in common with his creator or his readers." Patten offered some background on his character: "The name was symbolic of the chief characteristics I desired my hero to have. Frank for frankness, merry for a happy disposition, well for health and abounding vitality."
Merriwell's classmates observed, "He never drinks. That's how he keeps himself in such fine condition all the time. He will not smoke, either, and he takes his exercise regularly. He is really a remarkable freshie." [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11115/11115-h/11115-h.htm] .
Merriwell originally appeared in a series of magazine stories starting
April 18 ,1896 ("Frank Merriwell: or, First Days at Fardale") in "Tip Top Weekly ", continuing through 1912, and later in dime novels and comic books. Patten would confine himself to a hotel room for a week to write an entire story.The "Frank Merriwell" comic strip began in 1928, continuing until 1936. Daily strips from 1934 provided illustrations for the 1937 Big Little Book.
Characters
There are at least three generations of Merriwells: Frank, his half-brother Dick, and Frank's son, Frank Jr. There is a marked difference between Frank and Dick. Frank usually handled challenges on his own. Dick has mysterious friends and skills that help him, especially an old Indian friend without whom the stories would not have been quite as interesting.
Radio
"The Adventures of Frank Merriwell" first ran on
NBC radio fromMarch 26 toJune 22 ,1934 as a 15-minute serial airing three times a week at 5:30pm. Sponsored by Dr. West's Toothpaste, this program starred Donald Briggs in the title role. Harlow Wilcox was the announcer.After a 12-year gap, the series returned
October 5 ,1946 as a 30-minute NBC Saturday morning show, continuing untilJune 4 ,1949 . Lawson Zerbe starred as Merriwell, Jean Gillespie and Elaine Rostas as Inza Burrage, Harold Studer as Bart Hodge and Patricia Hosley as Elsie Belwood. Announcers were Mel Brandt and Harlow Wilcox, and the Paul Taubman Orchestra supplied the background music. ]Film
A film serial entitled "The Adventures of Frank Merriwell" was created by Universal in 1936.
Listen to
*InternetArchiveOTR|id=AdventuresofFrankMerriwell|title=The Adventures of Frank Merriwell
References
External links
* [http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/dp/pennies/texts/standish1_toc.html "Tip Top Weekly" (January 6, 1900): "Frank Merriwell's Limit" (full text)]
* [http://catnyp.nypl.org/record=b7890504 Adventures of Frank Merriwell collection] , at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
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