Archie

WITH the great Golden Age of the Comic Book being in full flower, being spearheaded by the likes of Superman, Batman, The Sub-Mariner, The Human Torch, Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher and seemingly a thousand other costumed super heroes; a rather unassuming comical teen-age made its rather unheralded bow as a back-up feature to the likes of THE SHIELD and THE COMET, super-powered costumed types, both. This was in the monthly PEP COMICS, No. 22, dated December, 1941. The feature, entitled ARCHIE chronicled the adventures, misadventures, fun and foibles of a fictional group of teenagers from Riverdale H.S. in the mythical town of the same name.

DESIGNED by its creator, MLJ Comics Co-Publisher, John Goldwater to be a comics equivalence to the ANDY HARDY Movie Series or HENRY ALDRICH, who had great success in movies as well as being an unqualified success on both CBS and NBC Radio Networks through the 1940's.

WITHOUT any feeling of exaggeration or puffing, we can say that the stories of Archie Andrews, Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper, 'Jughead' Jones, Reggie Mantle and all of the other characters had become an on-going fictional Teenaged iconic body of fiction that is second to none, in any medium.

THE result of such an unprecedented and doubtless unexpected success of the ARCHIE franchise had far reaching effects on the MLJ Comics Company, itself. The publishing company derived its name from the first names of the troika of publisher-partners: MORRIS Coyne, LOUIS Silberkleit and JOHN Goldwater. They were soon rechristened as "Archie Comics Publications", a division of MLJ. Over the years, PEP COMICS was followed by such titles as ARCHIE Comics, LAUGH Comics, ARCHIE'S PAL, JUGHED, BETTY AND VERONICA, ARCHIE'S MADHOUSE, LITTLE ARCHIE and all kinds of Annuals, Giants and Specialty Titles over the ensuing years.

SUCH a phenomenal popularity would soon lead to some branching out of the Riverdale Legend to new horizons. First off, there was instituted a Daily & Sunday ARCHIE Newspaper Comic Strip, prepared by the Archie Comics Studios, drawn by the original and main Archie cartoonist, Bob Montana; which was originally distributed by Hearst's King Features Syndicate. (Later by someone else.) RADIO was the next frontier for the Archie Juggernaut to cross, as the Series titled ARCHIE ANDREWS, while pressing his surname into service, also managed to span the decade from 1943-53 over the Blue Network, Mutual and NBC. The next logical step would seem to be either motion pictures in either animated cartoons or in live action adaptations with flesh and blood actors. Well, if the cinema had been a possibility, it never materialized. So, what would be the logical next step?

TELEVISION was the rapidly developing medium in the Post World War II period; ergo, would Archie & Company join the likes of Superman, Sergeant Preston of The Yukon, The Lone Ranger, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Red Skelton, Groucho and so many others in jumping from the Crosley (Radio) to the DuMont (TV)? ANSWER: Not right away.

FROM 1968 to 1973 (and beyond in reruns) the character's storyline was very much in demand on CBS through Filmation's Saturday morning lineup. Although the title and format would undergo a little evolution, the Archie Story was there under the varying titles: "THE ARCHIE SHOW", "ARCHIE'S COMEDY HOUR", "ARCHIE'S FUNHOUSE", "ARCHIE'S TV FUNNIES; as well as spin-offs such as "JOSIE" and "SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH".

BUT as to the subject of a live action Archie, there was an attempt to get a series. We, the public, were privy to the possibility of the series from little snippets released to the Radio-TV Editors and Writers of our newspapers; strictly for publicity. There was a Pilot made; but alas, like so many others, it was just a 'flash in the pan', 'a disappointment, 'a flop'.

THIS tele-film has long been out there in fan produced quasi-legal tapes. We bought one from a vendor at a movie collectibles & memorabilia show (or was it on Ebay?). It's grouped with some other failed projects like THE PHANTOM, MANDRAKE, THE SHADOW and the like. It's only recently that it has been listed in the IMDb.com listings and are we ever glad to see it.

ALTHOUGH we enjoyed seeing it and having it for posterity; we have to be honest and call it as (not "like", Schultz) we see it. In short, it has to be classified as a well intentioned misfire. There is a certain indication that the essence of the Archie Comics Stories is there, but it is overshadowed by the introduction of some typically sit-com elements; that only succeed in confusing the viewing audience. E.G., Archie is shown using some sort of Rube Goldberg-type contraption and being declared to be some sort of mischievous sort of Walter Denton clone (from OUR MISS BROOKS on Radio & TV.)

NEXTLY, we have the matter of casting. As far as the kids we saw, he job was pretty good; but with the Adult members, well, there was not always the best person in the right role. About the best of the non-juveniles is Miss Grundy (Mary Grace Canfield). In the middle o the road we have the Principal, Mr. Weatherby (veteran Roland Winters) and with Archie's Pop (a very slender William Schallert). We all know that Mr. Andrews is definitely "sort of heavy set." Perhaps many of these problems would have worked themselves out with the luxury of having a few more episodes to do so; but alas, it was not to be.

IF the above shortcomings weren't enough, the Pilot signs off with (to this writer, anyway) an extremely annoying signature song; which seemed to be a cross between the "I Married Joan" theme blended in with Mott's Applesauce jingle and rendered by an ensemble of overly enthusiastic amateur singers with not less than a touch of tone deafness. (Maybe it's me, but this was most annoying; good thing it was the end, the real and true end, man!). POODLE SCHNITZ!!

I just watched this never aired pilot on You Tube and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt that most of the casting was excellent and it is an extremely enjoyable and pleasant show. It certainly came much closer to the comic book versions of the world of Riverdale, in my opinion, than the very poor 1990 NBC TV movie "To Riverdale and Back Again". Aside from a few of the characters not being very similar to their comic book versions (Mr. Weatherbee and Mr. Andrews), I feel they did a splendid job with the casting of the principal characters. It is difficult to know if John Simpson (Archie) had red (like the comic book version) or blond hair, but he was otherwise very good in the role. The casting of Jughead was acceptable. The casting of Cheryl Holdridge as Betty and Mikki Jamison as Veronica was also excellent. I personally loved the era (1964) when this was made and it is a very nice and nostalgic window to a simpler past watching this show. I am just sorry that a series was never made, because I think it would have been very good and a lot of fun.

Its been less then four weeks since Riverdale ended and I guess I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that my Wednesday evenings will never be that same. Since I was such a big fan of that "dark" view of Archie and his friends finding this long lost tv pilot of almost sixty years ago was a strange experience for me. Archie has had several cartoon shows as well as a 1990 made about him but this was kind of a let down because it was just a typical tv situation comedy with Archie as a shallow teenage "Dennis the Menace" who is the bane of his parents and principals existance. The only interesting thing is that it features beloved character actor William Schallert as his father and Jean Vander Pyl (the voice of WIlma Flintstone) as his mother.

The Archie comics were very popular in the 1940s and 50s....so it's not surprising that a live-action version would be considered. Unfortunately for the makers of "Archie", this pilot episode was not accepted by the network and the series was not meant to be...for now. A few years later, there would be a successful cartoon version and only recently a new live-action version ("Riverdale") has debuted.

The first thing I noticed about this pilot is that Archie didn't look anything like the comic version--and the same could be said for everyone in the show. I am sure this didn't help the show in any way. Second, and more disturbing, is that the show looked and sounded like a very typical sit-com of the era...complete with laugh track and crazy gimmicks (such as Archie's Rube Goldberg-like invention at the beginning of the show). In essence, this is "Archie" in name only...and John T. Ryan's review is spot on because of this.

Overall, had the show not been called "Archie" and you didn't expect the exploits of the kids of Riverdale, it might have been tolerable. As it is, however, it's a mess...and I could see why the networks passed on this one.