dbo:abstract
- The Canadian cartoonist James Llewellyn Frise (/fraɪz/, 16 October 1891 – 13 June 1948) is best known for his work on the comic strip Birdseye Center and his illustrations of humorous prose pieces by Greg Clark. Born in Scugog Island, Ontario, Frise moved to Toronto at 19 and found illustration work on the Toronto Star's Star Weekly supplement. His left hand was severely injured at the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917 during World War I, but his drawing hand was unhurt, and he continued cartooning at the Star upon his return. In 1919 he began his first weekly comic strip, Life's Little Comedies, which evolved into the rural-centred humorous Birdseye Center in 1923. He moved to the Montreal Standard in 1947, but as the Star kept publication rights to Birdseye Center, Frise continued it as Juniper Junction with strongly similar characters and situations. Doug Wright took over the strip after Frise's sudden death from a heart attack in 1948, and it went on to become the longest-running strip in English-Canadian comics history. (en)