"Upon the insistence of one of my teachers, my parents enrolled me in the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts when I was eight years old. The Academy was little more than a one floor/three room affair with a total of thirty students ranging in age from (you guessed it) eight to eighty. I still remember the Professor’s look of skepticism as I signed in. You could easily imagine him thinking, “Oh no! Not another ‘child prodigy’!!” Nevertheless, he sat me down with a pencil and paper and asked me to copy a very small picture postcard which featured a very realistic painting of a group of ducks. When he returned later on to see how far I had progressed, he took one look at my drawing and snatched it up exclaiming “Mama mia!”, and ran off waving the drawing in the air while calling everyone to come over and look at it. The Professor’s name was Michele Falanga; he was a truly Fine Artist and a winner of many awards in his native Italy. As time passed he became so impressed with my ability that he vowed to send me to some famous art schools in Italy when he thought I was ready at his own expense. Unfortunately, before that time came, Michele Falanga died and the idea of attending art schools in Italy died with him. The school remained open for about a year after that: so many of the students had become such close friends that we couldn’t bear to close up shop. We all chipped in and paid the rent and continued to hold classes with the more advanced students doing the teaching. One of these students was Albert Pucci, a very fine artist and a life-long friend."
Autobiographical notes from Frank Frazetta featured in Testament (Fenner)