Re: Need Carl & Jerry assistance...
- From: "Matt J. McCullar" <mccullar@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2006 06:10:30 GMT
I always enjoyed John T. Frye's writing, though I wasn't old enough to read
it at the same time it was published. I'm in my late 30s and always look
for his name in the table of contents of back issues of electronics
magazines.
The only advice I can offer is to ask the editors of those old electronics
magazines, people who actually corresponded with Frye. (You'd know which
ones better than I would, Don.) I do recall asking someone at
_Radio-Electronics_ or _Electronics Now_ about John T. Frye and I may still
have his letter around here somewhere, just not handy at the moment. He
didn't say much more than that Frye was a complete professional when it came
to writing, and that he never missed deadlines.
The late Don Stoner sort of "resurrected" the Carl & Jerry stories about 10
or 15 years ago for a short-lived ham radio magazine. He essentially
reprinted the stories except changed the characters to be their sons. (I
think he did this so he could get away with using the same illustrations.)
This magazine (the name of which escapes me) was published by the National
Amateur Radio Association, which was based here in Arlington, Texas. I did
some writing for this magazine but Don Stoner handled those stories and he
lived out of state... I forget exactly where. I only talked to him once, on
the phone. [I asked him if he had a copy of the internal schematic for the
first OSCAR satellite and he said no, not offhand.]
Ah! Here we are... I've got an issue of _The Amateur Radio Communicator_
right here. This one was published in July/August 1993 and the characters
have been named "Dan & Burke." Here's what Don Stoner wrote about this
series: "Dan and Burke is based on a storyline created in 1954 by John
Frye, W9EGV. The boys are the sons of John's original characters, Carl and
Jerry. John Frye is no longer with us. But while he was alive, John was an
avid Amateur Radio operator who wrote about young people -- for young
people. It's doubtful that anyone could make John's stories more
interesting or improve on his words. We'll settle for giving them a 1990s
twist."
I don't have all of Frye's stories or articles, but perhaps we can infer a
bit about the man himself from them. In particular I enjoyed his "technical
fiction" stories (as I call them), in which he used a fictional setting and
fictional characters to teach a genuine technical principle. It made things
fun to learn. _The Mad Scientists' Club_ by Bertrand Brinley is a perfect
example of this. Art Margolis (any information on him?) also write tech/fic
articles that were a joy to read.
Frye was a ham and sometimes his call sign appeared in his byline, and I
remember once looking that up in an old Callbook. (I'm guessing that you've
done the same thing to conclude that he lived in Indiana.)
Hope this helps you for a change, Don. Your books and articles have helped
me immensely in my career. Thanks!!!
Matt J. McCullar, KJ5BA
Arlington, TX
.
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