1950'S - Page 2

Ellie was the perfect foil for Frank, matching his powerful personality with one that was quietly tenacious. "I'd sit for hours watching him play ball," she remembers, "because we couldn't go out until his games were over. I didn't mind. I talked him into buying a motorcycle because my old boyfriend had had one, and Frank and I would go riding when he was finished." After four years of dating they were married on November 17, 1956.


Frank met Eleanor Kelly in 1952. They were wed on November 17th, 1956.
1952 was a pivotal year for Frazetta: Thun'da was published, he met his future wife, and he began drawing his own newspaper comic strip, Johnny Comet. "McNaught Syndicate had seen advance pages from Thun'da ," Frank explains, " and they offered me a strip. I was excited, even though I wasn't thrilled with the subject matter, automobile racing. But it was my own comic strip and I remember thinking, "Jeez, I'll have a steady job. I'll make a lot of money." During the late '40's and early '50's car racing had become a popular pastime and Johnny Comet was created to appeal to the sport's growing number of fans. Peter DePaolo, winner of the 1925 Indianapolis 500, was credited as the strip's writer, but his name had only been licensed to add credibility to the racing storyline: Earl Baldwin was the actual scripter. Johnny Comet (which changed its name to Ace McCoy in the middle of its run) never really found an audience and was canceled after a little over a year.

In 1953 Al Capp hired Frazetta as one of the uncredited ghost artists for the popular Li 'l Abner. " I shouldn't have done it, " Frank confesses, "but I was lazy. All I could think of was that I loved to tell stories and do comics and Al Capp came along and made me an offer I couldn't refuse. The pay was wonderful and it took me only a day to pencil his Sunday page and I had the rest of the week off! What more could I ask for? On a couple of occasions I went up to his Boston studio and he paid me $100 a day, which was really big money back then." Frazetta worked for Capp for the better part of eight years, burying his own style under that of his employer. Although he did freelance assignments for several comics publishers in the mid-1950's, after the depression in the comic book industry following the notorious senate investigation into juvenile delinquency Frank devoted his full attention to Li 'l Abner.

When Capp attempted to cut Frazetta's salary in half in 1961, Frank angrily quit, believing that he could take up his comic book career where he had left off. Because of Capp's strong style of drawing, I had all but lost all the things I had learned and developed on my own. " states Frank. " I had to get away. " ( Even after a year away from Capp, his own work looked awkward). He then went on to work on a series for Playboy Magazine titled "Lil Annie Fannie."
Newspaper comic strips by Frazetta, circa 1952; Sweet Adeline, Ambi Dexter and Johnny Comet

Frank Frazetta playing it cool in Brooklyn, New York, circa 1953 .

FRANK FRAZETTA BIOGRAPHY
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