Frank Buck

The date of Frank Buck's birth is a bit obscure, and published dates range from 1881 to 1888. Most often you read it was 1884. If so, then Frank was 66 when he died in 1950.

However, there is evidence - Frank's passport according to one source - that the earlier date is correct. That sits a bit better with today's audiences since in 1901 Frank married an older woman named Lillie West. Lillie was 46, and if Frank was born in 1888 that means he was thirteen. As Eliza Doolittle said, "Not bloody likely." The earlier birth date, on the other hand, would put Frank's age at 20 and by no means an unusual age for a man to marry in the early 20th century. True, the gender of the much older partner does raise a few eyebrows, but that's really no one's business but Frank's and Lillie's.

In his lifetime and well past the mid-twentieth century, Frank was extremely well known, but the reality of Frank has faded somewhat. Today some people think Frank Buck is a Hollywood or television creation such as some people believe - so CooperToons found - that real life T-man and "Untouchable" Eliot Ness and real life saloon keeper, gambler, and occasional deputy law officer Wyatt Earp) are made-up heros. One author in the 21st century stated that Frank Buck was a fictional character who appeared on radio's Pet Parade. True, some of the portrayals of Frank are so heavily fictionalized that they shouldn't even use his real name, but Frank Buck was a real man, and he did exist.

So yes, Virginia, there really was a Frank Buck, and he was the most famous of the world's wild animal collectors. Or if you get down to it, he's probably the only animal collector anyone really knows about. But during his days of active collecting, he was pretty much unknown to the public, and it was only after his business went bust that he became a writer, filmmaker, and performer. That was when he became known as the man who would bring 'em back alive.

Frank originally started his collecting rather modestly. He began catching birds for sale and later added small mammals, first from South America and then in Asia. He established a business arrangement with Ansel Robinson who ran "Robinson's House of Pets" in San Francisco. Ansel's business was a family business and had been in operation since the California Gold Rush. As Frank's own business grew, so did the size of the animals, and when dealing directly with the larger zoos - New York or Philadelphia, for instance - Frank would handle all business and delivery arrangements himself. For smaller zoos, he would supply the animal to a middle man or dealer such as Ansel whom the zoo would contact. In any case, if today you live in a city with a zoo that goes back into the early 20th century or before - whether Minneapolis or Dallas - Frank likely supplied your zoo with animals.

In his books Frank is pretty up front in how he collected his animals. Yes, he trapped some himself, but he also purchased a good portion from the locals. He established good connections with high placed officials of the countries, and Lowell Thomas said he usually saw Frank sitting in the swank hotel bars trading zingers with the Sultan of Jahore. But making the right contacts, too, was part of the business, and once the Sultan (who Frank called "H. H." - short for "His Highness") gave Frank a whole menagerie of animals for free. Frank made a nice bit of change in that transaction.

Still the business had expenses which Frank had to fund from his own pocket. A typical arrangement would be for a zoo or dealer to contact Frank for a particular animal or group of animals. They would sign a contract for delivery of the animal for a given sum of cash. Frank would then have to go to Asia and bring 'em back alive. Any costs - travel, intermediate purchases, and shipping - had to come out of the prearranged figure. The payment was usually on delivery of the animal, so expenses during the trip had to be born by Frank.

Of course, Frank didn't make trips just to bring back one animal and when he headed for home he would have cages full of animals ranging from tiny mouse deer to full grown elephants. Still with some of his most famous acquisitions (such as when he acquired two Indian rhinos - one for the Philadelphia Zoo and the other for the Bronx), the costs were so high, at best he broke even.

So as adventurous as Frank's job sounded, the business end was touchy, and sadly Frank did not bring 'em all back alive. Of the animals that were lost, most succumbed to disease. But in at least one case he had to euthanize a group of animals because of new quarantine restrictions. Enough of those mishaps, Frank said, and an animal collector could go bust.

Sure enough, after enough mishaps, high and unexpected expenses (not to mention the stock market crash of 1929), Frank found himself penniless. Rebuilding a new career from the old, Frank found a man with a fluent typewriter, journalist Edward Anthony, and they put together Bring 'Em Back Alive which was published in 1930. The book became one of the best sellers of the 20th century, and the latest edition was published in 2006. Frank and Edward followed this book with Wild Cargo, and Frank's new career was off and running.

Today with new standards of animal protection and conservation, it's easy to be critical of Frank and argue that Frank's book should have been named Kill Half of 'Em Along the Way. Certainly the implied percentage is unjust to Frank, and we can really afford to be a bit more charitable. After all, we really can't blame Frank for being born in a time when there were no climate controlled shipping environments or veterinary antibiotics. From the standards and capabilities of his time, Frank did the best he could. Frank himself, though, was not one to romanticize or anthropomorphize animals, and the last section of this book sounds a bit cynical to those raised on movies ranging from Bambi to Marley and Me.

Bring 'Em Back Alive brought Frank a new livelihood, and to Frank's even greater fortune, 1930 also began the golden age of Hollywood. Films as a massive popular entertainment had been around for about fifteen years, and the first really successful sound film was released in 1927. This was also the time when the public began hankering for tales of the romantic orient. With his sharp business acumen Frank was able to get financial backing and in 1932, Bring 'Em Back Alive (the movie, that is) was released.

Frank's films were popular whether he played himself in Bring 'Em Back Alive or if he assumed a fictional role in the serial Jungle Menace. In the latter film Frank played Frank "Hardy", who for all practical purposes was Frank Buck. Frank sometimes made personal appearances with the films' showings and performed live in Ringling Brothers and other circuses.

Some of the movies which featured Frank (like Africa Screams with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello) reinforced the idea that Frank did a lot of his collecting in Africa. Actually virtually all of his work was in Asia. In the 1940's, Donald Ker, who ran a well known and successful Safari business, replied to a reporter's comment that Frank had never gone to Africa. At the time Donald was relatively young (36) and felt he was simply correcting a misimpression.

Later Donald was a little disconcerted to see a newspaper paper headline screaming that Frank Buck had never been in Africa, and that the story identified the source as Donald Ker. As luck would have it, three weeks later Donald ran into Frank in a bar. Frank started the conversation by saying, "So you're the little bastard who said I'd never been to Africa." Frank calmly added that Donald was correct, of course, and offered to by him a drink.

Frank's books make good reading even today, but as always with books from this era, the reader must be tolerant of the non-political correctness that appears in certain passages. Words and phrases that are now horribly offensive were mainstream then and not written maliciously. For instance, Frank's primary assistant was a Malay man named Ali. Frank clearly had great respect for Ali and did not look down on him in any way. He specifically credited Ali with a greater knowledge of the animals and means of trapping them than he, Frank, had (his own expertise, said Frank, was in knowing how to bring 'em back alive). Whether it was being attacked by an enraged tapir or trying to catch an escaped king cobra with his coat, on more than one occasion Ali and other native employees saved Frank's rear end. So it is a bit disconcerting to see the photograph caption of Ali and read of him continually referred to as Frank Buck's "boy".

Throughout the 1930's and 1940's Frank made his living mostly by his books, his films, and public appearances. But so positive was his image (inevitably decked out in safari outfit and pith helmet), he soon became a popular endorser of - quote - "manly products" - unquote - like liquor and cigarettes. Frank indeed liked his drinks and his smokes and on March 25, 1950, a few days after what was probably his 69th birthday, he died of lung cancer.

References

To this day there is no full length biography of Frank Buck. The three books listed here are the first that Frank wrote (although as you can see he had amanuensary assistance). These are cited because they were consulted first hand by CooperToons - although not necessarily recently. You can find most of Frank's books in used book stores and outlets (that is, if there are still any book stores left when you read this). Some were also printed in the famous Classics Illustrated comic books which followed the story of the book closely.

As always autobiography (particularly with a co-author doing the real writing) must be broached with caution. For instance Oscar Fraley who co-wrote The Untouchables with Eliot Ness admitted some "gangbusters" episodes were spun out of the cloth. However, Frank's stories seem straightforward enough to take on face value.

Bring 'Em Back Alive, Frank Buck with Edward Anthony, Simon and Schuster (1930). Frank's first and most famous book.

Oh, yes, the "Simon" of Simon and Schuster was Richard Simon, the dad of singer Carly Simon.

Wild Cargo, Frank Buck with Edward Anthony, Simon and Schuster (1932). Frank's second book.

Fang and Claw,Frank Buck with Ferrin Frazer, Simon and Schuster (1935)

Frank Buck, http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Buck-7 The author states that the earlier date of Frank's age - 1881 - is from his passports. That makes sense since if you look at pictures of Frank in the early 1940's where he appears to be sixtyish. Although CooperToons is often loathe to use internet source material where there is no definite verifiable reference, he feels there is credibility to the earlier date.

Bring 'Em Back Alive (Review), Mordaunt Hall, the New York Times, June 18, 1932. This is an example of the glowing reviews of Frank's film and how popular they were. The review also noted that Frank appeared on stage after the show to answer questions.

Africa Screams, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Nassour Studios (1949), If you want to see a movie with Frank that is readily available, you can buy or rent this Abbott and Costello production. Both Frank and animal trainer and big game hunter Clyde Beatty appear as themselves. In the movie, Lou starts to tell a stranger how he hunted animals with Clyde Beatty and then later in Africa told another chance acquaintance how he trapped animals with Frank Buck. Of course, the "strangers" who are hearing of Clyde's and Frank's short rotund colleague are Clyde and Frank.

That said, viewed today Africa Screams is one of Abbott and Costello's more forgettable movies. Virtually every African stereotype is used and the depiction of the natives (and the world in which they live) is horribly embarrassing. There is also far, far too much of Lou running around and screaming in panic. It's not very funny the first time and to see it repeatedly for 80 minutes doesn't make it funnier.

Still historically and for the film buff the movie is notable. It features former and future Stooge, Shemp Howard (Shemp was actually a Stooge before Curly and then returned after Curly's stroke) and future Stooge Joe Besser (who took Shemp's place after Shemp died). One of the heavies is played by former boxing heavyweight Max Baer, who was the father of Max Baer, Jr. - that is Jethro Bodine of Beverly Hillbillys fame and the homicidal sheriff in Macon County Line (a film which Max, Jr. also wrote and produced).

In 1982, there was a TV show Bring 'Em Back Alive where Bruce Boxleitner played Frank. The show lasted a whopping 17 episodes. In 2007 a reference to the show felt it necessary to mention that Frank Buck had indeed been a real man. Alas, like so much in television, the series did not follow the real life of Frank very closely.

White Hunters: The Golden Age of African Safaris, Brian Herne, Henry Holt, 1990. This tells about Donald Ker's meeting with Frank and is a good book in its own right.

Wildlife Films, Derek Bousé, University of Pennsylvania Press (2000). This book is very critical of Frank's film making technique. Frank could not, the book reveals, legitimately have made the now common disclaimer "No animals were harmed in the filming of this picture."