FOUR COLOR RADIO Presents: ARCHIE ANDREWS and THE BLACK HOOD
New looks at old-time radio shows — and their comics connections… By PETER BOSCH Hello, we’re back with another installment of FOUR COLOR RADIO. This time, we bring you two shows featuring two popular characters from the same publisher — MLJ Magazines (aka Archie Comics). However, “popular” on radio only applied to one, and not the other. First up (as well as first aired) was Archie Andrews, which was not only the name of the character but also the name of the program (though, the latter was also referred to as The Adventures of Archie Andrews). The series began May 31, 1943, on NBC as a five-times-a-week program, at 15 minutes each day. Check out this pair of promo covers for the new show, both drawn by Bob Montana — Pep Comics #42 (Sept. 1943) and #43 (Oct. 1943): The following ad in Pep #43 also plugged the show: A few months after its debut, the program’s format was changed to a once-a-week, 25-minute entry on Friday evenings. In 1944, an NBC competitor, the Mutual Broadcasting Network, acquired the program from January to June, and switched it back to a 15-minute daily format. However, Archie Andrews returned to NBC a year later, with the show also going back to its half-hour length. NBC remained its home from June 2, 1945, through the final episode eight years later, on September 5, 1953. During the series’ 10 years on the air, there were a total of four different Archies, played in turn by Charles Mullen, Jack Grimes, Burt Boyar, and Bob Hastings. Likewise, there were three Jugheads (Cameron Andrews, Hal Stone, and Arnold Stang) and two Veronicas (Gloria Mann and Vivian Smolen). Paul Gordon took on the role of Reggie, and the part of Mr. Weatherbee was played by Arthur Maitland. Oh, and there were three Bettys — played by Joy Geffen, Rosemary Rice, and Doris Grundy, who happened to have the same last name as Archie’s teacher, Miss Grundy. (In “Twisted Youth,” a 1999 episode of the cartoon Archie’s Weird Mysteries, Miss Grundy’s first name is revealed to be “Doris.” In the same episode, Miss G drinks a youth serum and is shown to be a beautiful blonde, just like you-know-who.” The longest-running Archie of the series was Bob Hastings, pictured here standing at the microphone with (left to right)...
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