Archie Andrews (comics)
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- This article is about the U.S. comic book character. For other uses, please see the disambiguation page.
Archie Andrews [link]is the name of the main fictional character in an American comic book series published by Archie Comics, a long-run radio series and a comic strip drawn by Bob Montana. There was also The Archie Show, a Saturday morning cartoon television series by Filmation, along with Archie's Weird Mysteries.
History and character
Archibald "Archie" Andrews debuted in Pep Comics 22 (December, 1941), and six decades later, he is still a redheaded 17-year-old.
Archie lives in Riverdale, attends Riverdale High and is the only son of Mary Andrews and mid-level business executive Fred Andrews.Archie is a typical small-town average teenager. He studies in Riverdale High School, and he is also a lead singer of The Archies band. Generous, well-mannered, but clumsy, he is well-liked by many of his friends. Unfortunately, Archie is a bit of a womanizer and always tries to score dates with many beautiful girls. He is the center of the eternal love triangle/quadruple between Veronica Lodge and Betty Cooper, and sometimes with Cheryl Blossom. His best friend is Jughead Jones, who has been his friend since they were kids.
Archie often takes odd jobs to pay for his various projects and his dates. Archie is a good fellow, but he often acts clumsily, coming in conflict with Veronica's father Hiram Lodge and Riverdale High's principal, Waldo Weatherbee. As the lead singer of The Archies, Archie performs with Betty, Veronica, Reggie Mantle and Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones.
A number of the comic book stories have revealed the Andrews family's origins in Scotland. Archie has been depicted wearing the traditional kilt of his ancestors and playing bagpipes (but not very well). In addition to having many hobbies, Archie is passionate about his car. For decades, he was shown driving a 1916 Ford Model A jalopy called "Betsy." In the 1990s, Archie was forced to get rid of his Model A, and he now drives a Ford Mustang. Archie often greets his friends at Pop Tate's Chocklit Shoppe. This soda shop, a frequent hangout of Archie's Gang, was based on real-life locations frequented by teenagers in Haverhill, Massachusetts, during the 1930s -- Crown Confectionery and the Chocolate Shop on Merrimack Street and the Tuscarora on Winter Street.
Bob Montana and Bob Hastings
Bob Montana went to high school in Haverhill from 1936 to 1939 Several real-life residents of Haverhill became characters in Montana's creation, such as Arnold Daggett, the model for Moose, and Skinny Linehan (Jughead). Miss Grundy was inspired by school librarian Elizabeth Tuck, while Haverhill High School principal Earl McLeod was the basis for Mr. Weatherbee. Montana knew the Massachusetts' Brahmin political family, the Lodges, because he had once painted a mural for them; he combined that name with actress Veronica Lake to create the character of Veronica Lodge. After four years in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, Montana returned in 1946 to launch the Archie newspaper comic strip, which he drew until his death in 1975. Montana's characters were heard on radio in the early 1940s. Archie Andrews began on the Blue Network on May 31, 1943, switched to Mutual in 1944, and then continued on NBC from 1945 until September 5 1953.Archie was first played by Charles Mullen, Jack Grimes and Burt Boyar, with Bob Hastings as the title character during the NBC years.
Relationships
Archie will always be involve forever with the love triangle between him, Veronica, and Betty. The love triangle is so well-known and famous for years ever since the character was created.
At first during the first year, when Archie was known as "Chick", he was trying to woo his girl next door Betty Cooper for his object of affection. At first, Betty only considered him as an annoying red head neighbour. Not until Veronica came to Riverdale, "Chick" switched his attention to her and was trying to get her ever since. Betty was jealous, and tried to win "Chick" affection back. And the formula of love triangle begins for over 60 years now. Both of Betty and Veronica are band members of The Archies, where Archie is the lead guitarist and the singer.It is hard to decide which one Archie truly loves; Betty or Veronica. Because of the undecided girl he is suppose to choose, the terminology of Betty and Veronica syndrome is now being coined.
Archie says in many occasions that he considers Betty to be his best friend, someone that he can confide in, and is more comfortable with her. But in other occassions, he likes going on a date with Betty. Even when Jughead asked him whether he likes kissing Betty, Archie blushly answered yes. When Betty nowadays dating Jason Blossom, he is showing an amount of jealousy. Archie once admits that whenever he wants to have his ego lift up, he comes to Betty who will showers him with affection.
Archie also considers Veronica to be his girlfriend, a beautiful stylish and not to mention one of the richest girl in Riverdale. Veronica can easily manipulate him in so many ways, and although he sometimes realize it, he cannot do anything about it. Archie always fighting for her affection, especially from other boys and his main rival, Reggie Mantle. Archie admits for unexplain reason, Veronica can always take control over him. Sometimes he can be his own man, sometimes he can't (depends on the writers at that time).
Jughead Jones is Archie's best friend since childhood. When Jughead first came to Riverdale, he was in a bad mood and tends to dismissed Archie. But Archie always has a good heart, try to cheered up Jughead and made his days more fun. They are inseparable ever since. Sometimes Jughead has to help Archie out from a tricky situation, namely his dating situations. People often jokes that someday Archie and Jughead's personalities will switch because they are spending so much time together. With that, both of them made a prank that both of them 'switch' personalities, which made everyone shocked because Archie behaving like Jughead and vice versa.
Beside Betty and Veronica, another object of affection is coming from another rich-red headed girl named Cheryl Blossom. At first, she was deemed to sexual and a bit promiscuous. But her character is realized to be popular, they brought her back again, shown in Love Showdown issues.
Love Showdown
Love Showdown is a four part mini-series that features characters from Archie Comics. The story got more publicity than any other event in Archie history. Archie, who has been undecided whether he should choose Betty or Veronica, instead in an unexpected move chooses Cheryl Blossom.The Archies
The Archies is a band contains Archie as a lead singer and lead guitarist, Reggie as the lead bassist and sometimes guitarist, Veronica and Betty as back up singers and keyboarist, and Jughead as the drummer. The band is a garage band, found by Archie himself. Although not as famous as Josie and The Pussycats, the band sometimes playing in numerous gigs.TV movie
On May 6, 1990, NBC telecast , a TV movie (and subsequent comic book) depicting the characters as adults 15 years after their graduation from Riverdale High School, starring Christopher Rich as Archie, Lauren Holly as Betty, and Karen Kopins as Veronica.In this storyline, as Archie and the gang prepare for their 15th high school reunion, their teenage years are only memories. Archie is an attorney engaged to image-conscious Pam, while Jughead (played by Sam Whipple) is a neurotic psychiatrist with a troublemaking son (dubbed "Jughead Junior" by Archie). An elementary school teacher and aspiring novelist, Betty is engaged to a jerk named Robert, who is jealous of Archie. Living in France, Veronica charters a Concorde to attend the Riverdale reunion. She remains in love with Archie, who continues to wrestle with divided feelings for Betty and Veronica.
Moose Mason (played by Jeff Hochendoner) and Midge Klump (played by Debi Derryberry) are married chiropractors, while Big Ethel (played by Cindy Ambuehl) is a beautiful model. Having worked for Mr.Lodge (played by James Noble), Reggie (played by Gary Kroeger) owns several businesses. Reggie's plan to demolish Pop Tate's to gain extra space for his gym is contested in court by Archie. In the final scenes, Archie breaks up with Pam and stays in Riverdale, Jughead moves back to Riverdale to open a practice and Betty plans to teach in Riverdale High. Veronica decides to remain for a while before going back to Paris, and Reggie is forgiven. Panned by both fans and critics, this pilot film was never picked up for a series run.
Official website
The [official Archie website] receives 15 to 18 million hits a month. There have been many Archie licensing deals and merchandising of products, including Archie tattoos from Topps Chewing Gum.Cultural references and trivia
- In The Simpsons episode "Sideshow Bob Roberts", Archie Andrews, Veronica Lodge, Moose Mason, and Jughead Jones make a brief cameo; they're shown pulling up to the Simpson's house and tossing Homer Simpson out of their car and warning Homer to "stay out of Riverdale!".
- The Spanish version of Archie Andrews is named Archi Gómez.
- On an episode of the popular game show Jeopardy!, Archie and Jughead's names appeared as the answer to a trivia question.
- In the Drawn Together episode "Xandir and Tim, Sitting in a Tree", a red-headed character shown playing Whac-A-Mole is modeled after Archie Andrews.
- In the Kevin Smith film, Chasing Amy, Banky and Hooper begin a debate on the sexual preference of Archie, claiming that he and Jughead are homosexual lovers.
- In 1998, director Tommy O'Haver (Get Over It, Ella Enchanted) was hired by Universal to write and direct a big-budget Archie movie, but the project never went before the cameras.
Listen to
External links
- [Haverhill cartoonist Bob Montana]
- [Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs: Archie Andrews]
- [Archie trivia]
- [Rik Offenberger interview with Michael Silberkleit]
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