Jimmy Frise

Canadian cartoonist Jimmy Frise was born James Llewellyn Frise on Scugog Island, Ontario. It was a stroke of fate that Frise would endure in cartooning as long as he did, after maiming his left hand in a munitions accident during the Battle of Vimy Ridge in World War I.

His career began during a heated debate in the pages of the Toronto Star, then later a wager, between a Toronto Star editor and Toronto area farmhand. Frise submitted a cartoon of the editor milking a cow from the wrong side. Though the cartoon immediately captured the attention of the Star editor, Frise had neglected to send along a return address. After responding to a published request for the artist to come forward, Frise was welcomed on staff at the Star.

Frise's first comic strip creation was "Life's Little Comedies" in 1920, which he renamed "Birdseye Center" in 1923. Frise was wooed away from the Star by the Montreal Standard in 1947, but the embittered Star maintained all publication rights to "Birdseye Center". Unfazed, Frise created the feature "Juniper Junction", which featured strongly similar characters and situations. The occasional gag was even borrowed, which Frise argued was his creative property in the first place.

During his stay at the Star, Frise struck up a friendship with columnist Greg Clarke, then illustrated a series of Clarke's articles featuring misadventures of the duo. The friendship lasted until Frise's death in 1948. Clarke eulogized that Frise "gave a whole generation of 30 years smiles and laughter and never hurt a soul in all that time".

After Frise's death, a young Montreal cartoonist named Doug Wright took over the reins of "Juniper Junction".

References

* [http://www.canadacomics.ca/frise.html Brief biography of Jimmy Frise]

* [http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/200/301/ic/can_digital_collections/scugog/frise.htm Scugog Archives of Frise cartoons]

* [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-68-2352-13617/arts_entertainment/canadian_comics/clip1 Greg Clarke recalls Jimmy Frise in 1972 CBC Radio interview]