Frank Merriwell At Yale

Burt L. Standish is the pseudonym for William George Gilbert Patten (1866 - 1945) who wrote dime novels and is best known as author of the Frank Merriwell stories. Merriwell excelled at football, baseball, basketball, crew and track at Yale while solving mysteries and righting wrongs. Standish said, "The name was symbolic of the chief characteristics I desired my hero to have. Frank for frankness, merry for a happy disposition, well for health and abounding vitality." The Frank Merriwell comic strip began in 1928, continuing until 1936.