Thomas Fredrik Georg Funck (26 October 1919 – 30 December 2010) was a Swedish baron (

freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

), author of

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

, a

radio personality A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...

and a

voice artist Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

, most famous for his stories about Charlie Strap and Froggy Ball (Kalle Stropp och Grodan Boll).Thomas Funck kändis över en natt
" (in Swedish) ''Västerviks-Tidningen'' He is the brother of Hasse Funck. He was married to Eva Funck and they have a son

Gustav Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...

Early career

Funck, who started out writing literature aimed for adults, has claimed to never have had any permanent employment. During the 1940s he primarily worked as a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

teacher. He performed his original songs in

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

radio on guitar. During this time he began to have stories sold, in order to have them read and performed on Swedish radio as well.Svenskfilmdatabas' entry on the animated film with partial biography
" (in Swedish) ''

Swedish Film Institute The Swedish Film Institute ( sv, Svenska Filminstitutet) was founded in 1963 to support and develop the Swedish film industry. The institute is housed in the ''Filmhuset'' building located in Gärdet, Östermalm in Stockholm. The building, comp ...

Charlie Strapp and Froggy Ball

Charlie Strapp and Froggy Ball had appeared as parts of Swedish radio shows since the mid 40s, but portrayed by regular actors. In the early 50s Funck started to do the voice of Charlie Strapp. The big breakthrough came in 1954, when all voices for the first time were provided by Funck himself, only with help of a guitar for sound effects. The radio performances were followed by several records with the same concept, a

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

drawn by Nils Egerbrandt and from 1955 a series of books with illustrations by Einar Norelius. In 1956 a

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...

also came out of it, '' Charlie Strap, Froggy Ball and Their Friends'' (''Kalle Stropp, Grodan Boll och deras vänner''), with actors in costumes

miming A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek language, Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a the ...

while Funck provided the voices. Some parts were also

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

with dolls.Svenskfilmdatabas' entry on the first film
" (in Swedish) ''

'' After the 1950s, interest allegedly seemed to fade, but then the 1970s saw a revival of the characters after appearing on radio again. In the late 1980s and early 1990s two animated films were produced and directed by Jan Gissberg.

Characters

* ''Charlie Strap'' – A grasshopper dressed in a green

tailcoat A tailcoat is a knee-length coat characterised by a rear section of the skirt, known as the ''tails'', with the front of the skirt cut away. The tailcoat shares its historical origins in clothes cut for convenient horse riding in the Early Mode ...

(pink

in the animated films) who speaks of himself in third person. He is very controlled on the border to neurotic and owns an umbrella with a silver ferrule. * '' Froggy Ball'' – A rough but very kind frog who speaks in a sloppily with much slang and wears a

waistcoat A waistcoat ( UK and Commonwealth, or ; colloquially called a weskit), or vest ( US and Canada), is a sleeveless upper-body garment. It is usually worn over a dress shirt and necktie and below a coat as a part of most men's formal wear. I ...

(shirt in the animated films). * ''Sheet-Niklas'' (Sheet Metal Niklas; roughly "Tin Man") – A robot with extraordinary abilities. * ''The Hen'' – A good friend of Charlie Strap who lives in a chicken coop. * ''The Fox'' – A fox who might not always be completely trustworthy. Speaks in a slow way with random pauses for laughs. * ''The Parrot'' – A parrot who grows tired of sitting in her cage all day and prefers to join Charlie Strap and the others.

Filmography

* '' Kalle Stropp, Grodan Boll och deras vänner'' (''Kalle Stropp, Grodan Boll och deras vänner'') (1956) (voice) * '' Kalle Stropp och Grodan Boll räddar Hönan'' (''Kalle Stropp och Grodan Boll räddar Hönan'') (1987) (voice) * ''

Charlie Strapp and Froggy Ball Flying High ''Charlie Strapp and Froggy Ball Flying High'' ( sv, Kalle Stropp och Grodan Boll på svindlande äventyr) is a 1991 Swedish animated feature film directed by Jan Gissberg after an original script by Thomas Funck, using Funck's already well-esta ...

'' (''Kalle Stropp och Grodan Boll på svindlande äventyr'') (1991) (voice)

References

External links

Official website via the Wayback Machine
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Funck, Thomas 1919 births 2010 deaths People from Linköping Writers from Östergötland Swedish children's writers