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Frank Merriwell is a fictional character appearing in a series of novels and short stories by Gilbert Patten, who wrote under the pseudonym Burt L. Standish. The character appeared in over 300
dime novel The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century American popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term ''dime novel'' has been used as a catchall term for several different but related form ...
s between 1896 and 1930 (some between 1927 and 1930 were written by other authors with the same pen name), numerous
radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the liste ...
s in 1934 and again from 1946 through 1949, a
comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
from 1928 through 1936,Stripper's Guide: A Frank Merriwell Bulletin!
May 30th, 2006.
a comic book (four issues) ''Frank Merriwell At Yale'', and a 12-chapter serialized film in 1936. The book series was relaunched (with a different author) in 1965, but only three books were published.


Character

The model for all later American juvenile sports fiction, Merriwell excelled at football, baseball, basketball, crew and track at
Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...
while solving mysteries and righting wrongs.
He played with great strength and received traumatic blows without injury. 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 Health effects of tobacco, smoke, either, and he takes his exercise regularly. He is really a remarkable freshie." American Olympic champion boxer and bobsledder Eddie Eagan commented in his autobiography: "To this day I have never used tobacco, because Frank Merriwell didn't. My first glass of wine, which I do not care for, was taken under social compulsion in Europe. Frank never drank." 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. There are at least two 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 handles challenges on his own. Dick has mysterious friends and skills that help him, especially an old
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
n friend without whom the stories would not be quite as interesting.


Syndicated comic strips

The McClure Newspaper Syndicate distributed ''Young Frank Merriwell'', written by Patten and illustrated by John Hix; it debuted on March 26, 1928, and ran for six months. The comic strip was resurrected in July 1931 as ''Frank Merriwell's Schooldays'' (this time syndicated by the
Central Press Association The Central Press Association was American print syndication, newspaper syndication company based in Cleveland, Ohio. It was in business from 1910 to 1971. Originally independent, it was a subsidiary of King Features Syndicate from 1930 onwards. ...
and illustrated by Jack Wilhelm) and ran for three years.


Radio

'' The Adventures of Frank Merriwell'' first ran on NBC radio from March 26 to June 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 Saturday morning show on NBC, continuing until June 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. Yale's alma mater, " Bright College Years", was the theme song.


Film

A film serial entitled '' The Adventures of Frank Merriwell'' was created by
Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...
in 1936.


Broadway

A Broadway musical called ''Frank Merriwell, or Honor Unchallenged'', opened at the Longacre Theatre on April 24, 1971. It closed after one performance.


1965 relaunch

In 1965, a new book series was launched by author Mike Frederic, with cover tagline "The thrilling sequel to the all-time best-selling American sports series." Only three books were published: ''Frank Merriwell Returns'' (baseball theme, 1965), ''Frank Merriwell Quarterback'' (American football theme, 1965), and ''Frank Merriwell At The Wheel'' (sports car racing theme, 1967).


Book titles


Listen to

*
Zoot Radio, free old time radio show downloads of 'Frank Merriwell'


References


External links


''Tip Top Weekly'' on Nickels and Dimes
Northern Illinois University's dime novel online database.

* ttp://catnyp.nypl.org/record=b7890504 Adventures of Frank Merriwell collection at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts * {{DEFAULTSORT:Merriwell, Frank 1896 in literature 1896 introductions Book series introduced in the 1890s Characters in American novels of the 19th century Characters in American novels of the 20th century Literary characters introduced in 1896 Frank Merriwell Frank Merriwell Frank Merriwell