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Farley creator Phil Frank dies after a months-long illness
It's hard to explain Farley to outsiders. Part comic strip, part editorial, part "horizontal column." He turned our rather weird little corner of the world a further 90 degrees. When the Fog City Diner was the hot place to eat, Phil gave us the Fog City Dumpster, "Where the Elite with Four Feet Meet to Eat!" - run by four bears (one a rabid Giants fan who made an offering of a Polish Kiełbasa and garlic fries at second base at the end of every season.) Twice Phil had animal characters run for Mayor.. and in both case they out-polled actual humans! Bruce the Raven (a true right-winger) ran under the slogan "Give City Hall the Bird!" Bruin Hilda (one of the bears) ran with "Bruin Hilda: Fur A Change."
When Willie Brown was our beloved leader, he was known for his rather imperious style. Phil completed the image, drawing Willie as a king, complete with crown, ermine robes, scepter, and a sedan chair labeled "MUNI 1" The best part? Willie appeared at the 25th Anniversary of Beach Blanket Babylon looking exactly like his Farley doppelganger.. down to the pose as he sang "It's Good to be the King."
I could go on.. Irene the Meter Maid being given her own call sign by DPT (Department of Parking and Traffic, better known as "Don't Park There."), the political operas, Baba's annual predictions at Ocean Beach, Velma Melmac.. and of course, Il Gatto di tutti Gatti, Orwell the Feral Cat.
Damn. This as bad as losing Herb Caen and Art Hoppe.
Check out the archives
Phil Frank, whose cartoons graced the pages of The Chronicle and other newspapers for more than 30 years, died Wednesday only a few days after he announced his retirement because of illness.
Frank, a longtime resident of Sausalito, was 64 and had been ill for months with a brain tumor.
His alter ego was a newspaper reporter and sometime park ranger named Farley, the central character in his "Farley" comic strip that he once described as "really a horizontal column, documenting the life and times of the characters in the Bay Area." It was the only local comic strip in the country.
It's hard to explain Farley to outsiders. Part comic strip, part editorial, part "horizontal column." He turned our rather weird little corner of the world a further 90 degrees. When the Fog City Diner was the hot place to eat, Phil gave us the Fog City Dumpster, "Where the Elite with Four Feet Meet to Eat!" - run by four bears (one a rabid Giants fan who made an offering of a Polish Kiełbasa and garlic fries at second base at the end of every season.) Twice Phil had animal characters run for Mayor.. and in both case they out-polled actual humans! Bruce the Raven (a true right-winger) ran under the slogan "Give City Hall the Bird!" Bruin Hilda (one of the bears) ran with "Bruin Hilda: Fur A Change."
When Willie Brown was our beloved leader, he was known for his rather imperious style. Phil completed the image, drawing Willie as a king, complete with crown, ermine robes, scepter, and a sedan chair labeled "MUNI 1" The best part? Willie appeared at the 25th Anniversary of Beach Blanket Babylon looking exactly like his Farley doppelganger.. down to the pose as he sang "It's Good to be the King."
I could go on.. Irene the Meter Maid being given her own call sign by DPT (Department of Parking and Traffic, better known as "Don't Park There."), the political operas, Baba's annual predictions at Ocean Beach, Velma Melmac.. and of course, Il Gatto di tutti Gatti, Orwell the Feral Cat.
Damn. This as bad as losing Herb Caen and Art Hoppe.
Check out the archives
