Tip Top Weekly No. 139: Frank Merriwell's Father

# Tip Top Weekly, No. 139, December 20, 1898

This issue features the opening installment of "Frank Merriwell's Father: The Man with Money to Burn" by the author of "Frank Merriwell." The serial concerns Frank Merriwell, a young actor-playwright, and Parker Folansbee, manager of a traveling dramatic company performing Frank's four-act comedy-drama "John Smith of Montana" across the Midwest. Crisis strikes when the actor playing the villain, Percy Lockwell—exposed by Frank in a poker game as a cheat—deserts the company before their Marshall, Kansas performance that evening. While Folansbee panics, the unflappable Merriwell calmly reveals a greater problem: their play's signature saw mill scene closely resembles one in an Eastern production, risking legal action for plagiarism. Frank reassures Folansbee that small-town touring may avoid costly litigation, and discusses the phenomenon of independent authorial coincidence. The stage manager resolves the villain's absence by reinstating the original actor. The issue includes an "Applause" section and reader correspondence.