Ferrin Fraser

Ferrin Fraser (May 11, 1903 – April 1, 1969 in Lockport, New York) was a radio scriptwriter and short story author who collaborated with Frank Buck on radio scripts and five books.

Ferrin Fraser
Fraser (right) with Frank Buck, ca. 1940
BornMay 11, 1903
DiedApril 1, 1969
Lockport, New York
NationalityUS
Occupationwriter, radio dramatist
Known forcollaboration with Frank Buck
Spouse(s)Beatrice Ryan Fraser (m 1930–1969, his death)
Original cover of Fang and Claw (1935) with a poster-like design by George Salter.

Education and early career

Ferrin Fraser was the son of Louis F. Fraser and Martha Fraser. Louis F. Fraser was secretary-treasurer of the Ferrin & Fraser Coal Company in Lockport, New York.[1] Ferrin Fraser's older brother, Carl E. Fraser, born November 25, 1896, became a coal salesman. A member of the Lockport High School Glee Club and the Lockport High School basketball team (1922),[2] Ferrin Fraser was in the Columbia University class of 1927 but did not graduate. His first successful work for radio was "A Piece of String," adapted from the Guy de Maupassant short story. The drama premiered on New York's WABC at 9pm on May 28, 1933.[3] Fraser's books included Lovely ladies: Being the Love Affairs of Ten Women in the Life of a Young Man (1927); The Screaming Portrait (1928); If I Could Fly (1929); and The Passionate Angel (1930).

Collaboration with Frank Buck

Fraser was co-author of five books with Frank Buck:

Radio, movies and television

Fraser wrote the scripts for Frank Buck's first radio programs, when Buck replaced Amos 'n Andy's Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll during their eight-week vacation during 1934.[4]

During the 1930s and 1940s, Fraser was a radio scriptwriter, notably for Little Orphan Annie. Dramatic and thriller programs with scripts by Fraser include Suspense, Lights Out and Nick Carter, Master Detective. Fraser also wrote the script for the Joan Lowell movie Adventure Girl, and wrote for television during the 1950s.

Magazines and children's books

Fraser was the author of more than 500 short stories for magazines, including Argosy, Collier's, Mystery, Real Detective Tales & Mystery Stories and Redbook.[5] Ferrin and his wife Beatrice Fraser published Bennie, the Bear Who Grew Too Fast (1956), a musical nonsense tale that teaches the names of various stringed instruments and the differences in their sizes and sounds, Arturo and Mr. Bang (1963) and other children's music books.[6][7]

Family and later life

Wife Beatrice Ryan Fraser, an author, composer and church musician, was a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester and was a featured organist at the Eastman Theater and an organist with the Rochester Philharmonic. She studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and Marcel Dupré.[8]

References
  1. Coal Men of America By Arthur M. Hull and Sydney A. Hale. The Retail Coalman, Chicago, Ill, 1918 p 278
  2. Peca, Paulette. Images of America: Lockport. Arcadia Publishing (August 6, 2003) pp 101-104.
  3. "The Microphone Will Present," The New York Times. May 28, 1933, p XX4.
  4. Lehrer, Steven (2006). Bring 'Em Back Alive: The Best of Frank Buck. Texas Tech University Press. pp. xi. ISBN 0-89672-582-0.
  5. "Ferrin Fraser, 65, Writer for Radio," The New York Times. April 2, 1969, p 47.
  6. Hoyt, Olga. "In Story and Picture," The New York Times. November 18, 1956, p 335.
  7. Fraser, Beatrice and Ferrin Fraser. A Song Is Born: A Story of Music for Beginners. Illustrated by Unwin, Nora S. Boston: Little Brown, 1959
  8. BEATRICE FRASER, AUTHOR AND MUSIC TEACHER. Buffalo Evening News. July 9, 1992
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