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20- PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, June 1, 1999 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" by Paul Arculus Sketches of Scugog is a historical column written by local resident and historian Paul Arculus and published in the Port Perry Star each month. --UNDAY, JUNE 13 marks the 51st anniver- sary of the death of one of Scugog's most noted and beloved citizens; Jimmy Frise. James Llwewllyn Frise was born on a farm on Scugog Island in 1891. He was the only child of John and Hannah Frise and spent his childhood on the farm and attended the Head School, now the main building of Scugog Shores Museum. During his lifetime he gained national status as Canada's foremost cartoonist. His only art training was that which he received through the encouragement of his teachers at the Head School. In 1910, at the age of nineteen he ventured to Toronto to find a job that would afford him the oppor- tunity to draw. His first job was with Rolph, Clark and Stone, a printing and engraving company. He helped in the production of immigrant settlement maps in Saskatchewan for the Canadian Pacific Railway. At that time, a feud was being waged on the editorial pages of the Toronto Daily Star between the editor and a farm hand in Cobourg. The latter was extolling the virtues of rural life. Fascinated by the topic, Frise drew a cartoon of an obviously frustrated editor trying his hand at milking a-cow. He sent the cartoon to the newspaper. } Two weeks later the cartoon appeared and Jimmy was hired into the art department of the Star. His assignments there were somewhat mundane; pasting layouts, lettering and drawing simple diagrams. These tasks were frustrating for the 19 year old, so he | resigned from the Star and made his way to Montreal | wr. to work for an engraving company | This was in 1916 at the height of the Great War. Like every patriotic Canadian, he enlisted and was soon on his way to France. His farming background gave him an advantage in the horse- drawn artillery. While driving a team of two pack mules, carrying ammunition to the front lines at Vimy Ridge, his team was blown out from under him and he lost part of his left hand in the explosion. Fortunately he was right handed so that at the cessation of hostilities he was able to return to his love of drawing. His parents meanwhile had bought a farm at Columbus. They invited him to return to the farm, We -- ER, A ag , " «LE SERRE : ARIEL AR A fe. + Jimmy Frise shows off his catch after returning home from a day of fishing on Lake Scugog. ---Photo courtesy the Toronto Cartoonist Jimmy Frise was one of Scugog's most noted personalities = JST A THe 0 AINNT TILL 1 BoRROWIN OR z= = L "THY'EIRE Sigil 01d) 7 A { FINISH THIS ' = Vid A [ zee £3 ERE, CORN HAS GOTT Stef, Ve ve vo |B 25211 | ; 45 \ IN ils Ni 4: ) NET LL 2 INT Nea U1}, --= = (7 2, . 22 » PPE P LA MN nl Ej 10 IN A 72/7 = qi Cartoon penned by Scugog native Jimmy Frise for the June 16, 1934 edition of The Toronto Star Weekly. Frise along with writer Greg Clark produced the Birdsye Centre cartoon for The Toronto Star for many years. ird Cent Birdseye Center but Jimmy was intent on establishing a career'in art and returned to work at the Toronto Daily Star so that he could be reasonably close to his parents. 'He married Ruth Elizabeth Gate and the happy union produced four daughters and one son. Upon his return to the Star, his talents were acknowledged and he was given a full time illustrating position. By 1921, he had a regular half page cartoon assignment entitled "Life's Little Comedies". Within a year the title was changed to "Birdseye Centre." The cartoon was based on characters and events which he had encountered in the Scugog area. Many of the buildings are quite readily identified in Seagrave; the store, the Station House Hotel, the bridge and the Nonquon river. When asked about the source of his fictional village he was quoted as saying, "It's any Canadian village with a hotel, a gasoline station, a barber shop and a town pump." His characters included, Pigskin Peters, Eli and Ruby Doolittle, the Chief, Wes Clipper the barber and Old Archie with his pet moose. Recalling the earlier days of steamboats on Lake Scugog, a fre- quent subject was the excursion steamer, "the Noazark". Frise remained with the Toronto Star until 1947 when the Montreal Standard offered him the oppor- tunity to have his cartoons printed in colour. "Birdseye Centre" had been copyrighted by the Toronto Star so that his move to the Montreal Standard necessitated a change in title. At the Standard, it was "Juniper about his cartoons. Junction" but the characters and their whimsy Frise died in Toronto when only 57 years old in remained the same. "Juniper Junction" became a 1948. weekly syndicated feature of the Standard's Weekend Birdseye Park at the north end of Port Perry's Magazine, and was carried by newspapers in the waterfront was named after Frise's cartoon when the northern United States as well as Montreal. owners of the property, Edward and Hilda Michel, Frise's characters and their setting attracted the obtained permission from the Toronto Daily Star to attention of the commercial world and he was awarded use the name in 1944 a lucrative contract using his immensely popular car- In September 1971, a plaque honoring the life of toon style to advertise for Supertest Gasoline, The Jimmy Frise was dedicated at the Scugog Shores British American Oil Company and Borden's. Milk. Museum. Frise's son John was present at the unveiling ; Jimmy Frise' closest friend was Canadian writer and Greg Clark, unable to attend, sent an essay on and humourist Gregory Clark. The careers of Clark Frise to be read at the dedication. Greg Clark died in and Frise had many parallels. Clark was born in 1977. 1892 and went to work as a reporter for the Toronto Frise's cartoons have been shown around the globe. Star in 1911. He won the Military Cross at Vimy Scugog Shores Museum has several of his original Ridge almost at the same time that Frise was wounded. drawings, cartoons and paintings. Recently, Daphne Clark also worked for the Montreal Standard. Mitchell, owner of Port Perry's Settlement House . Their partnership began at the height of the gave a donation to the Museum to finance the restora- depression when Clark, with Frise in tow, set out in tion of some of the Frise originals in the collection. search of a humourous story. Clark took a $1,000 This generous donation will enable the Museum to bill and attempted to buy a 99 cent necktie at several keep examples of Frise's work available for public downtown Toronto stores. viewing on a permanent basis. Clark and Frise teamed up to produce a weekly illustrated humourous story in the Toronto Star Weekly, the magazine portion of the weekend version of the newspaper. Clark wrote a series of short stories which combined autobiography and fiction and featured Frise and Clark as the main characters. Jimmie and Greg became household names for a whole generation of readers. They produced many popular books of the time including collections of their work. The work of Frise and Clark breathed humour into a tragic period of history. Frise's easy going manner and lifestyle made him extremely popular at the Toronto Star and then the Montreal Standard. According to Clark; "With his office studio a rendezvous for characters from morning until night, it was a wonder he got any work done....100 percent of Frise's cartoons were pro- duced either to the accompaniment of idle and homely conversation or else in the still watches of the long night. He had no sense of time and was never flus- tered... While editors went frantic, Jimmie dawdled along unruffled, assuring everybody that all would come out well at the end." Frise frequently returned to the Lake Scugog area to visit family and friends. He particularly loved to go fishing on Lake Scugog and usually brought Clark along with him. Frise's exploits with a casting rod regularly made the front pages of the Port Perry Star. He also loved to return to Port Perry to give talks