Thomas Funck

Thomas Fredrik Georg Funck (born 26 October 1919 in Linköping, died 30 December 2010) was a Swedish baron (freiherr), author of children's literature, radio personality and voice artist, most famous for his stories about Charlie Strap and Froggy Ball (Kalle Stropp och Grodan Boll). He is brother to Hasse Funck. He has been married to Eva Funck and they have the son Gustav.

Early career
Funck, who started out writing literature aimed for adults, has claimed to never have had a permanent employment. During the 1940s he supported himself primarily as a guitar teacher. He performed in Norwegian radio for the first time in 1946 with his own written songs to guitar. During this time he started to get stories sold to be read and performed in Swedish radio as well.

Charlie Strap and Froggy Ball
Charlie Strap 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 Strap. 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 followod by several records with the same concept, a cartoon drawn by Nils Egerbrandt and from 1955 a series of books with illustrations by Einar Norelius.

In 1956 there was a musical film made, Charlie Strap, Froggy Ball and Their Friends (Kalle Stropp, Grodan Boll och deras vänner), with actors in costumes miming while Funck provided the voices. Some parts were also animated with dolls.

After the 50s the interest seemed to fade, but in the 70s the characters saw a revival after appearing on radio again. In the late 1980s and early 90s two animated films where produced, directed by Jan Gissberg.

Characters

 * Charlie Strap - A grasshopper dressed in a green tailcoat 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 sloppy way with lots of slang and wears a waistcoat.


 * Plåt-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 adventure together with Charlie Strap and the others.

Filmography

 * Charlie Strap, Froggy Ball and Their Friends (Kalle Stropp, Grodan Boll och deras vänner) (1956)
 * Charlie Strap and Froggy Ball (Kalle Stropp och Grodan Boll räddar Hönan) (1987)
 * Charlie Strap and Froggy Ball Flying High (Kalle Stropp och Grodan Boll på svindlande äventyr) (1991)