Frank Talent, 75, publicist and promoter

IN AN ERA of hardball politics when the most vicious attacks on the other guy, or gal, are not only tolerated but expected, Frank Talent was an exception.

Back in 1969 when he was running for the 7th Councilmanic seat against Harry Jannotti, Frank indulged in the usual mudslinging to try to undermine the more-popular candidate.

But he regretted it. He regretted it so much that after his name was scratched off the ballot by a judge who ruled against his nominating petitions, Frank sought out Jannotti to apologize and offer his support.

He went to Jannotti's apartment and told his ex-opponent how sorry he was. Jannotti, who went on to be elected to Council and died in 1998, was impressed.

"I'm very happy that Talent will be with me," he said. "It takes quite a man to come to a person's home and make an apology."

But that was the kind of guy Frank Talent was, as demonstrated in a long career that took him from an aide and publicist for Municipal Court to secretary of the Pennsylvania Boxing Commission to wrestling promoter to work in numerous charities - to name a few of his activities.

Frank Talent - who was born Francis R. Tallett - died Thursday after a battle with brain cancer. He was 75 and lived in Somerdale.

He often dressed as Batman for charitable events, to the delight of the children for whom he loved to work. He was a natural-born emcee and liked to take the microphone to promote whatever worthy cause he was helping, or announce wrestling events at the Blue Horizon and Arena.

He had a small part as a TV reporter in the 1981 movie "Blow Out," starring John Travolta.

Among his jobs at Municipal Court was taking complaints from citizens as an assistant deputy administrator. As reported in the Daily News in 1971, one woman lamented that her refrigerator was making her sick. Another demanded that her next-door neighbor be evicted because her walls shook when the neighbor used a radar machine.

Typical of Frank, he took these complaints in good humor and did his best to help.

"My job is to help anyone with a problem in the court's jurisdiction," he said at the time. "I'm getting gray hair, but I love it."

Retired Daily News columnist Jill Porter once aptly described Frank: "He's one of those fringe political creatures who attach to City Halls everywhere. They know everyone and have an opinion on everything. They outlive one administration after another and seem to have been around forever."

Frank's compassion for the underdog and underprivileged might have stemmed in part from his own childhood. He was a student at what was then called St. Joseph's House for Homeless Industrious Boys. Its military atmosphere, hard discipline and meager meals were not much fun.

"I ran away once," he recalled. "I got caught on Broad Street by this big, fat, greasy cop who I later found out was Frank Rizzo."

In later years, he became close to Rizzo and served the former mayor and police commissioner as an unofficial PR man and general factotum.

"He was a good guy," said his brother Robert Mangam. "If you needed him, he was there for you. He would always find a way to help you. He had room in his heart for everybody."

Frank's charities included the Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Sunshine Foundation and Children's Hospital.

His wife, the former Augusta Fuller, died June 17. Besides his brother, he is survived by another brother, Herbert Mangam.

Services: Funeral Mass 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Church of St. Ambrose, C Street and Roosevelt Blvd. Friends may call at 7 this evening and at 8 a.m. tomorrow at the John F. Givnish Funeral Home, 10975 Academy Road. Burial will be in Resurrection Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the St. Francis-St. Joseph Home for Children, 3400 Bristol Pike, Bensalem, PA 19020.