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Revision as of 17:47, 18 June 2005 by Rockhopper10r (talk | contribs) (→Bob Montana's characters: Date)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Archie Andrews is the name of the main character in a American comic book series, and the title of a long-run radio series about that character, created by Bob Montana.
It also is the name of a ventriloquist's puppet that appeared on radio and television shows in the UK during the 1950s and 1960s.
Bob Montana's characters
Archibald "Archie" Andrews debuted in Pep Comics #22 December, 1941, and six decades later is still a redheaded 17-year-old. He lives in Riverdale, attends Riverdale High, and is the only son of Fred and Mary Andrews. Archie has many hobbies, drives an old car and takes jobs to pay for dates.
Archie's love is divided between the rich and refined Veronica Lodge and the middle-class and athletic Betty Cooper; Betty is humble, and Veronica is a snob; the two girls often fight over him. Archie is the lead singer of The Archies, performing with Betty, Veronica, Reggie and Jughead.
Archie is a good fellow, but also an accident waiting to happen and always gets involved in the funniest situations. Some of the many adults who to try be far away from this walking hurricane are Mr. Lodge and Riverdale High's principal, Mr. Weatherbee.
In the TV movie and subsequent comic book "To Riverdale and Back Again," which portrayed all the characters 15 years after their graduation from high school, Archie is a lawyer with a practice in Riverdale -- and still gets to Pop Tate's Chock'lit Shoppe as much as possible.
The Spanish version of Archie Andrews is named Archi Gómez.
Bob Montana's characters were adapted to radio in the early 1940s. Archie Andrews began on the Blue Network May 31, 1943, switched to Mutual in 1944, and then continued on NBC. Archie was first played by Charles Mullen, Jack Grimes and Burt Boyar, with Bob Hastings doing the title character during the NBC years. Harlan Stone portrayed Archie's pal, Jughead, known for the catchphrase, "Relax, Archie, reeelax!"
After four years in the Army Signal Corps, Bob Montana returned in 1946 to launch the Archie newspaper comic strip, which he drew until his death in 1975. Bob Montana's main characters were all based on real-life individuals he knew in Haverhill, Massachusetts, where he went to high school from 1936 to 1939.
Ventriloquist's puppet
Possibly derived from the comic character, Archie Andrews was the name of the puppet used by ventriloquist Peter Brough in a radio and television show in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s, in its radio format it was called 'Educating Archie'. The bizarre concept of delivering a ventriloquist act, a visual humour, by radio, an audio media, never seemed to bother anyone at the time, however. Archie was invariably dressed in a broad-striped blazer, and addressed the ventriloquist as "Brough". The television scripts were written by Marty Feldman and Ronald Chesney.
The UK radio show attracted up to 15m listeners and had a children's fan club that at one time had 250,000 members. Among future stars who appeared on the show were Tony Hancock, Max Bygraves, Harry Secombe, Benny Hill, Beryl Reid and (as a 14-year-old) Julie Andrews.
Archie went missing several times.
- In 1947, he was in Peter Brough's car when it was stolen from Lower Regent Street, London, but found two days in a garden at Paddington.
- He was left in the rack of a railway carriage at Chatham, but a railway porter sent him back by taxi in time for his show.
- In 1951, Brough was travelling to Leeds to compere the televised Northern Music Hall at the Theatre Royal, Leeds, with Archie in his suitcase. Brough wentfor dinner in the dining car, and whilst away the carriage in which he had been sitting was taken off the train and went on to Bradford. Unable to locate the puppet, at the venue Brough went through a revised script without the dummy. A £1000 reward was offered and he was returned.
There has only ever been one Archie, as the mould, made in 1942, was destroyed in the Blitz.
Archie in the movies
1n 1990, NBC decided to make a TV-movie that focused around Archie and the gang titled "Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again". Instead of having them stuck in Riverdale High, they were now adults and preparing for their fifteen year high school reunion. Archie was now a lawyer engaged to the image conscience, Pam. His best friend, Jughead, was a neurotic psychiatrist with a troublemaking son (Archie dubbed him "Jughead Junior").
Betty was an elementary school teacher and aspiring novelist engaged to a jerk named Robert who was jealous of Archie. Veronica was living in France and chartered a Concorde to Riverdale for the reunion. She was still tied down by her dad's money and still in love with Archie. Reggie worked for Mr. Lodge and owned several businesses. Moose and Midge were married and worked as chiropractors, while Big Ethel had turned into a beautiful model.
The film focused around the good times the gang had during the weekend reunion. Reggie planned to demolish Poptate's so he add could extra space for his gym. Archie decided to fight this in court. Meanwhile, Archie still wrestled with his feelings for Betty and Veronica.
In the end, Archie breaks up with Pam and decides to stay in Riverdale, Jughead moves back to Riverdale to open a practice, Betty decides to teach in Riverdale, Veronica decides to stay in Riverdale for a while before going back to Paris, and Reggie is forgiven for trying destroy the gang's local hangout.
The film was a pilot for a possible series. It was panned by fans and critics alike, and never picked up for a series run.