''Farley'' was an American

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

written and drawn by

Phil Frank Phil Frank (March 27, 1943 – September 13, 2007) was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of the San Francisco-based comic strip ''Farley'' and the artist on nationally syndicated comic strip ''The Elderberries''. Works In additio ...

, which appeared daily (except Saturday) in the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

''.

Publication history

The strip originally began in 1975 as ''Travels With Farley'', a play on

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...

's ''

Travels with Charley ''Travels with Charley: In Search of America'' is a 1962 travelogue written by American author John Steinbeck. It depicts a 1960 road trip around the United States made by Steinbeck, in the company of his standard poodle Charley. Steinbeck wrote ...

''. ''Farley'' began as a nationally syndicated strip with

Chronicle Features Chronicle Features was the syndication arm of the ''San Francisco Chronicle''. Syndicating comic strips, newspaper columns, and editorial features, it operated from 1962 to c. 1998. The syndicate was known for the offbeat comic strips it championed ...

, but Frank missed the "timeliness and joy of doing local politics" and, dissatisfied with the four-to-six week lead time required of syndication, in 1985 switched to working exclusively for the ''Chronicle'', which enabled him to quickly mine local events—usually overnight—for his satire. Phil Frank died on September 12, 2007,Nolte, Carl
"Phil Frank Dies - Cartoonist Who Captured Spirit of Bay Area"
''

'', September 14, 2007
WebCitation archive
shortly after announcing, on September 9, that he was retiring due to illness. Reprints of the strip had been running for some months before this, as he had been too ill to work.

Outline

''Farley'' is a satire of life in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The title character is Farley, a reporter for the ''San Francisco Daily Requirement''. The strip poked fun at current events in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, often lampooning such events as the response to Mayor

Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who has been the 40th governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California fr ...

's temporary legalization of gay marriage as well as national events such as the

National Do Not Call Registry The National Do Not Call Registry is a database maintained by the United States federal government, listing the telephone numbers of individuals and families who have requested that telemarketers not contact them. Certain callers are required by f ...

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

Dick Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former U ...

. The strip also kept track of the current situation of the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team through the actions of Alphonse, one of the urban bears who is obsessed with the team. Alphonse was often shown leaving a hot dog and a beer at home plate in the middle of the night as an offering to the baseball gods.

Cast

The cast of the strip grew to such an extent that Farley, the title character, appeared infrequently. The usual cast was: * Farley, a reporter for the ''San Francisco Daily Requirement'' newspaper. * Bruce, a right-wing raven that lives with Farley. * Baba Rebop, later updated to Baba Rebok, mystic and the Prophet of Ocean Beach. *A quartet of urban California black bears who run a restaurant for animals called the Fog City Dumpster. The bears originally came from Asphalt State Park and followed Farley to San Francisco. They take summer vacation in

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

. The bears include: ** Floyd, the Fog City Dumpster cook. ** Alphonse, a die-hard

fan. ** Franklin, who often wears a sombrero and bandoleers. ** Brunhilda, a female with a crush on Farley. *The Feral Cat Colony ** Orwell, a feral cat in

Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, United States, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. It is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the development ...

who always is trying to get rich, sometimes by writing to Vice President

with new schemes. ** Speedbump, a feral cat, Orwell's assistant. * Miles, mild-mannered dog host of KFUR, a radio station for dogs and cats. * Velma Melmac, a housewife who parks her monster RV in

each summer, doing her best to keep nature at bay by, for example, vacuuming the nature trails. * Beppo, a homeless Vietnam vet and North Beach sidewalk resident

Books

A number of the strips have been collected and published as books. *''Travels with Farley'' (1978) *''Asphalt State Park'' (1987) *''Going Local with Farley'' (1991) *''I'm Ink, Therefore I Am'' (1997) - A collection of comics from the time Farley became specific to the San Francisco Chronicle. *''Fur and Loafing in Yosemite'' (1999) (For the Yosemite Association) - A collection of cartoons which were all either set in Yosemite or featured the bears coming or going to Yosemite. *''Don't Parade On My Reign'' (2003) - A collection of comics featuring "Da Mayor" Willie Brown. Willie Brown was proud of this collection and often autographed it and sent it to people. *''Eat Drink & Be Hairy'' (2006) (For the Yosemite Association) - A second collection of cartoons set in Yosemite.

References

{{reflist

External links

Partial comic archive at SFGATE
American comic strips Culture of San Francisco 1975 comics debuts 2007 comics endings Gag-a-day comics Teen comedy comics Fictional reporters Comics characters introduced in 1975 Satirical comics