December 4, 2024
In 1915, Frank Dale graduated from Webb City High School, and history began. This young man was talented, but it took awhile for the world to know. Born in Prosperity, Frank certainly left his mark on the world. For many years, he lived at 510 N. Webb St., and his business was in a building on the northwest corner of Daugherty and Tom streets.
Young Frank Dale moved to New York to work for Quaker State Oil Co., and while employed with Quaker State, Frank’s talent emerged. As sales manager, Frank put together a mechanical man using oil drums and oil cans. He set this man up at a meeting to promote Quaker State Oil. It created quite a sensation, so much so that Frank Dale decided to experiment a little more. He eventually had two mechanical oil drum dummies named Kate and Lubra. They would bend over, shake hands, turn their heads and sell Quaker State Oil. Frank set up a workshop in the basement of his home in Pleasantville, N.Y. This was the founding of Frank’s new company, The Mechanical Man, in 1938.
The most productive of Frank’s inventions was a baby. So lifelike, the baby would be in a basket or crib and wave its legs and arms. The baby was designed to sell Sweetheart Soaps, a company that was going bankrupt. The babies sold 900,00 bars of soap in one week. In 1956, Sweetheart soaps went from the smallest soap company to the largest. At one time, Frank would lease the babies for $300 plus $1 per day. He began negotiating with national chains, and soon the babies were seen locally, as in Bruner’s Pharmacy in Webb City and at Ramsey’s in Pittsburg, Kan. Johnson & Johnson took on the babies to sell diapers. There was a story about Frank’s dolls in the Webb City Sentinel by Marti Attoun, with photos from Bob Foos.
Frank made a midget-size Mae West with lifelike details. He negotiated with West and had a lifetime contract with her for her face and figure. The plan was to put the Mae West figures in a new night club named Diamond Lil’s, but that never came about. He only had two dolls completed. They wore costumes like in the movie, “Diamond Lil,” and would sway their hips in imitation of Mae West. The lifelike latex skin was remarkable. One was on display at Gabe’s Doll Museum in Arizona, and the other sold at an auction in Arizona for high dollars. Frank said it cost him $3,500 to make each little Mae West.
Frank said, “I brought trademarks to life.” Another of Frank’s claims to fame was that he was the first to bring Pluto, Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters into three dimensional beings. Disney offered Frank $75,000 a year to take over the animation of Disneyland. But his wife did not agree. She felt Frank would work himself to death.
Frank made a display of a mother cat and her kittens with heads that turn from side to side and beautiful green eyes that blink and light up. They were used to sell Cat’s Paw Soles and Heels.
During war time, materials were hard to come by, and that is when it became beneficial for the company to lease the Mechanical Man productions instead of selling them. Frank continued his inventive talents during the war by selling the government $3.5 million in scale models of battle ships and planes to use for training. They were paying $18 for models carved in wood from England plus shipping took months, so Frank designed his models from metal for about $1.18 a piece.
President Dwight Eisenhower appealed to Frank personally to develop something which would prevent jungle rot. Men were suffering from athletes foot and unable to serve. Frank invented woven Saran insoles that permitted air to circulate, keeping the men’s feet dry. Eisenhower sent a letter to Frank testifying of their comfort and usefulness. Frank received a commendation from the government for foot comfort during World War II.
Frank also developed a mechanical child in pajamas carrying a candle for Fisk Tires, a bowing butler serving liquor, high stepping drum majorette, which upped the sales of Chesterfield cigarettes, and a life-size Santa Claus that rocked and roared with laughter. Every invention developed by Frank Dale was an instant success. He had the talent to imagine a design and carry it through to production.
Robert J. Baker and Jack Dawson recalled a time when the quiet Frank Dale made a statement of importance. During the 100th anniversary of Webb City (which coincided with the United States bicentennial), as Jack Dawson was creating the Kneeling Miner, the Centennial/Bi-Centennial Committee was deciding the location of the statue. The preliminary plan was to place the miner on the eastern slope of the Sucker Flat pit with illumination. Frank, who had posed for the statue along with Roy Woodmansee, appeared before the committee and in a firm voice said, “You don’t want to put that miner down there on the side of the cave. If you have something to exhibit, you want to put it where people can see it. You need to put that miner up on a pedestal at the entrance to the park.” Frank’s comments were followed by silence, for the most part, but within a very short time a unanimous decision was made to place the miner in a prominent spot so that he could be seen by the public. Thank you Frank!
Frank also designed a mechanical hand, a charcoal grill and many other mechanical gadgets that have been essential to many people. Even though he was born in Prosperity, and lived in New York for a season, we still get to claim this inventor from Webb City. Frank Dale was inducted into the Webb City R-7 Hall of Fame in 2002.
A special thanks to Marti Attoun, Bob Hunter, Gabe Brett, R.J. Baker and Jack Dawson for sharing information about Frank Dale.
The Webb City Sentinel isn’t a newspaper – but it used to be, serving Webb City, Missouri, in print from 1879-2020. This “newspaper” seeks to carry on that tradition as a nonprofit corporation.
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