CHARLIE FROST

Real Name: Charlie Frost

Identity/Class: Human (1950s era)

Occupation: Unemployed entertainer

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Fuzzy, Mrs. Kasper, Wilbur Stark, unidentified old man

Known Relatives: Unidentified ex-wife (mentioned only)

Aliases: "Ventriloquist Supreme" (as called by himself)

Base of Operations: His one-room apartment in an unidentified American city

First Appearance: Spellbound#6/2 (August, 1952)

Powers/Abilities: Frost was a ventriloquist who was skilled at "throwing" his voice. He was armed with a knife.

The impoverished Frost used his talent in a scheme to swindle a millionaire into buying his "talking" dog, but he later got the surprise of his life.

Height: 5'10" (by approximation)
Weight: 170 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Brown

History:
(Spellbound#6/2 (fb) - BTS) - Professional entertainer Charlie Frost was once a married man who performed a ventriloquist act--under unspecified circumstances, his marriage ended and his act folded. The unemployed Frost was forced to take an apartment in a shabby rooming house, where he was eventually in arrears for three months back-rent, and he hadn't had a decent meal since his career ended. Depressed and feeling like his life was a failure, Frost saw only one way out of his troubles...

(Spellbound#6/2) - One night, the despondent Frost walked to a cemetery, intending to commit suicide there. But when he heard approaching footsteps, he hid behind a tombstone and saw an elderly man passing by--Frost figured the "old geezer" probably had some money on him, so he pulled out his knife and accosted the senior citizen; but the old man insisted he didn't have any money because he had spent his last nickel on a newspaper so he could look for a job. When the old man began to yell for help, Frost punched him and knocked him unconscious, then searched through the old man's pockets, but found them empty...and all Frost got for his troubles was a crummy newspaper! But suddenly, he heard a dog barking--thinking it was a cemetery watch-dog, Frost grabbed the paper and ran out of the graveyard, fearing the unseen canine would tear him apart.

   Sneaking back into his apartment (so his landlady didn't see him), Frost noticed the newspaper's headline concerning millionaire dog-fancier Wilbur Stark, who was planning to leave his entire fortune to his dogs. Frost was then struck by a terrific idea to make some money...and all he needed was a dog!

   Remembering the unseen dog that was barking at the cemetery, Frost went back to the graveyard the following night with a potato sack, in search of the pooch. When he actually found the dog, he saw it was just a miserable-looking scruffy mutt--but it made no difference, because he felt his brain-storm was foolproof, and any hound would do...even this dirty dog! Frost whistled to the mutt, talked gently to lure it to him, petted the animal, then threw the sack over it and took the dog back to his apartment.

   The days that followed were busy ones for Charlie Frost, as he cheated and stole for food to feed himself and the dog, whom he named "Fuzzy"; Frost also spent hours practicing with Fuzzy, "throwing" his voice and making it convincingly appear that the mutt was able to speak. After fooling his landlady with his "talking" dog, Frost was confident that he could fool anybody.

   The next day, Frost took Fuzzy to Wilbur Stark's mansion; when the butler answered the door, Frost barged his way in and went directly to Mr. Stark's library, where the eccentric millionaire was seated at his desk. Frost offered to sell Fuzzy to Stark for $100, but the angry millionaire only told him that he wouldn't give him a cent for the flea-bitten mutt, and he ordered Frost to get out. But after Frost made Fuzzy appear to talk, Stark offered him $500 cash for the dog--Frost eagerly took the deal, although he feigned sadness over losing Fuzzy.

   After giving the performance of his life and making the sale, the overjoyed Charlie Frost walked out of Stark's library with the money in his hands...but he was shocked when he heard a strange squeaky voice behind him--it was Fuzzy, who told Frost that he was a sucker, because he could've easily gotten $50,000 for a dog like him!

Comments: Created by Hank Chapman and Tony DiPreta.

This 6-page story--The Dirty Dog--never revealed how Fuzzy was able to talk, but for a possible explanation, see the profile for Rover.

Wilbur Stark?! Hmm...there seem to be a lot of wealthy moustachioed men with that surname in the Marvel Universe...and one of them even had some run-ins with a couple of Frosts (see clarifications).

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Charlie Frost has no known connections to:

Fuzzy has no known connections to:

Mrs. Kasper has no known connections to:

Wilbur Stark has no known connections to:

Fuzzy

Appearing to be just an ordinary, scruffy stray mutt, Fuzzy dwelt in a graveyard.

Fuzzy was eventually captured by ventriloquist Charlie Frost--Frost used his voice "throwing" talents to make it appear that Fuzzy could "talk".

Later, Frost swindled millionaire Wilbur Stark into buying his "talking" dog; but shortly afterward, Fuzzy demonstrated to Frost that he really could talk!

--Spellbound#6/2

Mrs. Kasper

She was the landlady of a shabby rooming house where Charlie Frost rented an apartment. Frost had incurred Mrs. Kasper's wrath because he was three months behind in paying his rent.

One day, Mrs. Kasper heard strange voices coming from Frost's room--thinking Frost had unauthorized guests, she pounded on his door and demanded to be let in.

Frost opened the door and told her there was nobody there but himself and his dog Fuzzy, but the suspicious Mrs. Kapser demanded to search, regardless.

When Fuzzy seemed to talk to her, Mrs. Kasper ran out, worried that she was losing her senses--she was unaware that Frost had actually used ventriloquism to "throw" his voice, and thus only made it appear that Fuzzy spoke to her. 

--Spellbound#6/2

Wilbur Stark

Millionaire Wilbur Stark lived in a mansion, which was staffed by a butler (Henry) and a cook.

Stark was a dog-fancier who owned an unspecified number of dogs, and he intended to leave his entire fortune to them when he died--the Daily Times newspaper even did a front-page story about the eccentric millionaire's plans (I guess it was a slow news day).

All his life, Stark had heard rumors of talking dogs, but he never believed they existed.

One day, Charlie Frost brought his scruffy mutt Fuzzy to Stark's mansion--when Frost used ventriloquism to make Fuzzy appear to speak, Stark gave Frost $500 cash for the "talking" dog.

--Spellbound#6/2

unidentified old man

An impoverished senior citizen, he had just spent his last nickel to purchase a newspaper so he could check the classified ads for a job.

He was walking through a cemetery at night when he was accosted by Charlie Frost, but the old man insisted that he had no money. When he began to yell for help, Frost punched him and knocked him unconscious; Frost then searched the old man's pockets, but found no money, so Frost took the old man's newspaper and ran.

--Spellbound#6/2

images: (without ads)
Spellbound#6/2, p5, pan2 (Main Image - Charlie Frost, walking Fuzzy down the stairs of his apartment house)
Spellbound#6/2, p2, pan5 (Headshot - Charlie Frost hears dog barking in cemetery)
Spellbound#6/2, p6, pan1 (Charlie Frost holding Fuzzy (left), Wilbur Stark (right))
Spellbound#6/2, p6, pan8 (Charlie Frost is shocked when Fuzzy actually talks to him)
Spellbound#6/2, p2, pan7 (Fuzzy sitting in graveyard)
Spellbound#6/2, p4, pan4 (Charlie Frost "throws" his voice to make Fuzzy appear to talk (foreground); Mrs. Kasper searching under Frost's bed (background))
Spellbound#6/2, p6, pan5 (Charlie Frost whispers in Fuzzy's ear)
Spellbound#6/2, p4, pan2 (Mrs. Kasper pounding on Charlie Frost's door)
Spellbound#6/2, p4, pan6 (Mrs. Kasper runs out of Charlie Frost's apartment after Fuzzy "talks" to her; Charlie Frost (background))
Spellbound#6/2, p3, pan2 (Charlie Frost reads newspaper headline about Wilbur Stark)
Spellbound#6/2, p5, pan8 (Charlie Frost uses ventriloquism to make Fuzzy "talk" (left); Wilbur Stark (right))
Spellbound#6/2, p6, pan3 (Wilbur Stark offers Charlie Frost $500 for Fuzzy)
Spellbound#6/2, p2, pan1 (in cemetery, unidentified old man holding newspaper, as Charlie Frost (holding knife) robs him)

Appearances:
Spellbound I#6/2 (August, 1952) - Hank Chapman (writer), Tony DiPreta (pencils and inks), Stan Lee (editor)

First Posted: 08/26/2020
Last updated: 08/26/2020

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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