Archie Andrews was the first bright-eyed, freckled-faced, red-headed, squeaky-clean, all-American boy in media, long before The Andy Griffith Show’s Opie Taylor, Family Affair’s Jody Davis, and Happy Days’ Richie Cunningham.
Archie started in comic book form in 1941, and I discovered him about 1970. I first saw him in the Saturday morning cartoon The Archie Show.
I then bought his comic books at Goodfellows in my hometown. Goodfellows was a combination newsstand, bookstore, tobacco shop, and soda fountain. I found that by reading the comics, Archie was a good friend to his pals, and I believed he would be my friend if I lived in Riverdale, Archie’s hometown.
In addition to the comic books, I bought 45 rpm records of The Archies from Woolworth’s, the same place I bought my other friend a gerbil.
The Archies, although a cartoon persona, was backed by an actual band of studio musicians and singers and was successful with several hits on the charts including “Sugar Sugar” at number one.
Dick Clark counting down the Top Ten hits of the week on American Bandstand.
This achievement was obtained by a song from a Saturday Morning kid’s cartoon, which ran only 17 original episodes.
In 1969, “Sugar Sugar” was Number One on Billboard’s charts for four weeks and the top song of the year in both America and Britain.
Although I bought 45s, perhaps the most fun records of The Archies were the ones on the back of Post cereal boxes. Post and other companies also included The Jackson Five, The Monkees, and other groups’ recordings on their cereal boxes. Top 10 Cereal Box Records | MrBreakfast.com
The record was cut off the back of a cereal box. I remember digging through the supermarket shelves, looking at the back of the cereal boxes, and trying to find The Archies’ records. There were four Archies songs.
Archie was a good friend of mine throughout my lonely childhood. I could count on him to be my friend, and I imagined often that I lived in Riverdale.
Today: My reaction to the death and murder of Archie Andrews
It’s not even a surprise. Archie’s death is on the cover
I am beside myself.
When I heard my friend Archie died, I was shocked.
When I learned he took a bullet to save the life of his friend, I cried.
I never knew The CW’s show Riverdale was about Archie and his gang. Had I known, I would have watched it. From what I know now, I can’t.
I lost contact with my friend Archie when I went off to college. My mother called one day and told me she was going to clean my bedroom. I begged her to wait until I could come home on Spring Break. She didn’t. Even though I asked her to wait, The Bitch threw out ‘most everything, the comic books, the 45s, the cereal box records. Gone was my childhood friend, killed by the hands of a lone assassin, the woman whose womb I was born.
The CW’s Riverdale Season 3: Episode 9
Although I hadn’t seen or heard of Archie for decades, I hoped to reconnect with him someday at a high school class reunion, but now I can’t.
Links for Archie Andrews, his life, murder, and death
Archie Andrews – Archie Comics
LEGENDARY COMIC BOOK CHARACTER ARCHIE ANDREWS DIES IN JULY – Archie Comics
Archie Andrews, Who Loved Betty and Veronica, Dies at 73 – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
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