Frank Hemensley Beck was born in Tacoma, Washington, in 1894. He studied art at the Chicago Art Institute and was employed as a cartoonist by the New York Tribune. During the first World War, Beck served on the Western front in Europe and was the staff artist for the Army Evacuation Ambulance Company No. 2, and after his return he created popular comics such as 'Hem and Amy', 'Down the Road', 'All in a Lifetime' and 'Gas Buggies'.
'Hem and Amy' was later renamed to 'Barbara', after the birth of his first born child, Barbara. At one point, he drew 13 cartoons a week: 6 strips, 6 panels and 1 Sunday page in color. At the end of the 1920s, Frank Beck bought an English bloodhound and based a new strip on its antics - 'Bo' became the most popular strip he ever did, and Beck retired to San Diego where he died in 1962.
1944 War Bonds Drive by cartoonists of which Beck is a member.
© United Airlines
Frank Beck playing pool in the 1940s