Frank Willard was the creator of the classic American newspaper bum 'Moon Mullins'. Frank Henry Willard was born in Anna, Illinois. He was expelled from school and reduced in rank three times from sergeant to private in the Army. He worked as an operator on a floating hamburger stand at county fairs before taking on cartooning. He started his artistic career in 1914, working freelance for several Chicago newspapers. In 1916, he got a permanent job at the Chicago Herald, where he worked on the Sunday strip, 'Tom, Dick and Harry'.