'Frank and Ernest', 2002.
Bob Thaves was an American newspaper cartoonist, best-known as the creator of the long-running gag-a-day comic 'Frank and Ernest (1972- ). At the time, 'Frank and Ernest' drew attention for its novel look and setting. Each gag was either a single-panel cartoon, or two one-panel cartoons without borders that separate the individual sequences. In each episode, his main characters found themselves in a different era, environment or physical shape. This offered endless possibilities for jokes and storylines, ensuring the series' longevity. 'Frank and Ernest' is additionally notable for a famous quote about Hollywood actress and dancer Ginger Rogers, which is still often quoted in media today. Another newspaper gag comic by Bob Thaves was 'King Baloo' (1988-1989). Thaves was additionally a pioneer in webcomics.
Early life and career
Robert Lee Thaves was born in 1924 in Burt, Iowa, as the son of a local small-town printer who owned, edited and published various weeklies. The family later moved to Minnesota, where Thaves received most of his education. From an early age, he was interested in comics and cartoons, making his first gags for his high school paper. At age 13, Thaves' father died and his mother went to work as a home healthcare attendant. During World War II, Thaves served in the U.S. army's 89th Infantry Division and fought in Europe.
Back in civilian life, he studied psychology at the University of Minnesota, and graduated both with a bachelor's and master's degree in the field. As a student, he published cartoons in the student newspaper The Minnesota Daily and the humor magazine Ski-U-Mah, often shortened to Skum. A collection of his Ski-U-Mah cartoons was published under the title 'This Is Madness! A Defiance of Bostonian Manners & Morals' (Sewall Glinternick, Elliot Baron and Allen Doerr, 1950). Even when he found a job as an industrial psychologist in L.A., Thaves still pursued his goal of creating his own newspaper comic. In 1957, he and his wife moved to Manhattan Beach.
'Frank and Ernest', 1994.
Frank and Ernest
In the late 1960s, Thaves developed the gag comic 'Frank and Ernest'. It ran in a few Los Angeles magazines, including the publication True, before being picked up by the Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan and Saturday Review. On 6 November 1972, the Newspaper Enterprise Association (nowadays Universal Uclick) started syndicating 'Frank and Ernest' all over the United States, and abroad. At the height of its circulation, the series ran in nearly 1,300 papers worldwide. In Spanish, it is known as 'Justo y Franco'. Starting on 1 April 1973, a Sunday comic was added.
'Frank and Ernest' stars two beggars who roam the world. Frank is the tall one and usually does most of the talking. Ernest is his more soft-spoken sidekick, who occasionally throws in a funny line. Hence their names, alluding to "being frank and being earnest". Since the duo are tramps, they have no permanent home, jobs or goal. In each episode, the characters are in different locations or historical eras. Sometimes they apply for a vocation. Other times they work. Most of the time, they simply wander around. Sometimes they aren't even humans anymore. Thaves regularly reimagined Frank and Ernest as animals, plants, objects, extraterrestrial aliens or other creations. Secondary characters are their girlfriends, Francine and Ernestine. Most of the comedy is provided by corny puns. Thaves was such a fan of wordplay that The International Save the Pun Foundation named him "Punster of the Year" in 1990.
Together with Morrie Brickman's 'The Small Society' (1966-1999), 'Frank and Ernest' was the first known American newspaper gag comic where the sequences are told in one long panel. Thaves typically didn't use panels to separate each individual scene, making 'Frank and Ernest' a hybrid between a traditional comic strip and a single-panel cartoon feature. Thaves wasn't fond of speech balloons either. He preferred writing the dialogue in block-print texts floating above the characters' heads. Thaves showed the same innovative spirit when the Internet went public in 1992. 'Frank and Ernest' was one of the earliest newspaper comics to become available as a webcomic. Thaves was additionally one of the first cartoonists to launch his own official website and make his archives searchable by keyword. In 1995, 'Frank and Ernest' became one of the first U.S. newspaper comics to use digital coloring for its Sunday pages. Thaves also experimented with 3-D formats and interactive storylines.
Thaves correctly assumed that his innovative approach would make 'Frank and Ernest' stand out among its rivals. Indeed, since the series had no narrowly-defined setting, he had unlimited possibilities for gags. According to his daughter, the comic was a reflection of her father's knowledge and "wide-ranging interests." The only downside was that general audiences were unable to pigeonhole him, offering a possible explanation why 'Frank and Ernest' didn't enjoy the same kind of mainstream success and merchandising as other newspaper comics. 'Frank & Ernest' has been collected in several books, such as 'Batteries Not Included' (Henry Holt & Co., 1983), 'Are We There Yet? A Frank and Ernest History of the World' (Topper Books, 1988) and 'Assemble the Hyenas - I Feel a Pun Coming On!' (Pharos Books, 1991). With Jim Rosenzweig, Monty Kast and Terry Mitchell as authors, 'Frank and Ernest' livened up an overview of management principles in the book 'The Frank and Ernest Manager' (Crisp Pub Inc., 1991). Their cartoons were also used to visualize Tom Greening's how-to guide on career management, 'Frank and Ernest Career Advice: How To Make Your Job Work For You' (Pharos Books, 1991).
The famous 'Frank and Ernest' episode praising Ginger Rogers as an equal to Fred Astaire, 3 May 1982.
Ginger Rogers quote
'Frank and Ernest' also originated a very famous quote about iconic Hollywood actress and dancer Ginger Rogers, best-known as Fred Astaire's most frequent dance partner. On 3 May 1982, Thaves drew his characters while they observed a poster for a Fred Astaire film festival. A woman says: "Sure, he [Fred Astaire] was great, but don't forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did... backwards and in high heels." This observation has frequently been quoted in numerous articles, books and documentaries about Rogers, often without crediting Thaves. As a result, many people have no idea that the quote originated from a comic strip. When the Hollywood icon died in 1995, the quotation was already famous enough to be featured in newspaper obituaries of Ginger Rogers all over the world.
King Baloo
With Scott Stantis as scriptwriter, Bob Thaves created a second newspaper cartoon, 'King Baloo' (23 May 1988 - 16 April 1989). Unlike 'Frank and Ernest', it was a more traditional gag-a-day comic. Set in the Middle Ages, the single-panel gags revolve around a monarch, Baloo, his family and his people. Despite the historical time frame, the comedy was deliberately anachronistic, with frequent nods to 20th-century society and culture. However, 'King Baloo' didn't catch on and was discontinued even before the end of Thaves' and Stantis' contract with the United Media syndicate.
'King Baloo', 12 November 1988.
Assistance
Gags for Thaves were often provided by readers of the magazine Writer's Market or scriptwriters John Allen and Joel Thingvall. According to Alan Holtz's 'American Newspapers Comics' reference book, comics collector, historian and comedian Joel Thingvall also provided graphic assistance on 'Frank and Ernest' between 1976 and 1978. However, there is no specific information available whether this was drawing backgrounds, lay-out, inking or doing pencils.
Recognition
Thaves frequently received prizes for his work, including the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award (1983, 1984, 1986) and the H.L. Mencken Award for Best Cartoon (1985).
Later years and death
Starting in 1997, Thaves' son Tom Thaves started assisting his father on 'Frank and Ernest'. When Bob Thaves passed away in 2006 in Torrance, California, from respiratory failure, Tom officially took over 'Frank and Ernest'. As of today, he still continues the feature with help of a production team. Among the contributors in later years are Duck Edwing, Sam Hurt and Don Dougherty. Bob's daughter Sara Thaves is founder and co-owner of The Cartoonist Group, a licensing company representing editorial cartoonists and comic strip cartoonists.
Bob Thaves was an influence on Darrin Bell and Jimmy Johnson.
'Frank and Ernest', 2004.