A tale of 2 classic albums...

1964: The Beatles Second Album (actually, a totally American creation of Capitol Records assembled from various singles, EPs and left-over tracks from the British album With the Beatles) reaches #1 on the U.S. album charts.

1967: The Monkees release their third album, Headquarters, the first to be completed under the Monkees’ own direction,. Tired of being relegated to simply adding vocals to tracks created by session musicians, Michael Nesmith led a successful rebellion to gain more input and creative control of Monkees recordings

The True and (Mostly) Untold Story of America’s #1 Teenager

In the days before cable TV, DVDs, and video games, no summer vacation was complete without at least one afternoon (and probably many more) spent leisurely going through a stack of Archie Comics. Yes, they were just fictional characters, but in those days it seemed like Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Reggie and the rest were as close to us as the actual kids we went to school with.

His misadventures have been entertaining people for nearly eight decades now, but few know the real story behind the creation of this cultural icon.

While talented cartoonist Bob Montana is most often credited with creating Archie Andrews and the gang at Riverdale High (more on that in just a bit), few know that the real inspiration for Archie was actually Mickey Rooney. Rooney had starred as America’s first typical teenager: Andy Hardy in a series of extremely successful M-G-M movies in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s. 

As mentioned above, Archie’s “parentage” has been a matter of some controversy for years. In addition to Montana, two other people also had a hand in creating one of the most successful pop culture icons of the 20^th Century. Comic book publisher John Goldwater claimed the idea to do a strip based on the Andy Hardy films came from him. In addition, journeyman comic book scripter Vic Bloom deserves a nod as the actual writer of the very first Archie comic book story.

It’s doubtful any of these guys knew what a sensation Archie would be when the freckle-faced teen made his debut in Pep Comics # 22, published in the fall of 1941. That book was mainly concerned with the exploits of various super-heroes, then as now, the glamour boys of the comics industry. Archie was a simple 6-page back-up feature, buried way back on page 49 of that particular issue.

Nonetheless, readers quickly made Archie the most popular feature in the magazine. By the winter of 1942, Archie received his own comic book and has been the mainstay of the company ever since.

As you can see from the title page of his very first story, our hero initially didn’t even want to be called “Archie,” preferring the nickname “Chick” Betty was right there with him from the start, moving into Archie’s neighborhood in that first story. Jughead also appears in that first story. But the rest of cast would take some time to get on stage. Veronica moved to Riverdale in Pep Comics # 26. Reggie Mantle, Moose Mason, Pop Tate and the rest would follow.

No matter who created Archie, it is Montana who is most associated with the character. He drew the daily Archie newspaper comic strip from its inception in 1946 until Montana’s passing in 1975.

Montana claimed that most of the characters we all loved were modeled on people he knew during his youth in Massachusetts. He said he based Jughead and Moose on his friends Skinny Linehan and Arnold Daggett. Miss Grundy was inspired by his school librarian Elizabeth Tuck. Betty Cooper was modeled on Montana’s girlfriend in New York and her arch-rival Veronica Lodge was created by combining then-popular movie star Veronica Lake with Boston’s top political family of the day, the Lodges (who gave us Henry Cabot Lodge).

Archie’s runaway success has translated well across all media. There was a long-running radio series in the 1940’s as well as several popular cartoon series beginning in the late 1960’s (admit it, you’re humming “Sugar, Sugar” as you read this).

There was even a made-for-TV movie To Riverdale and Back Again (released on home video with the title Return to Riverdale) in 1990, but live action success in either the movies or as a TV series has eluded Mr. Andrews. Not for lack of trying. There have been pilots for a live action series and various attempts to bring Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica to the big screen.

How many of the titles do you remember and who was your favorite character(s)? We were always rooting for Betty, although Archie definitely seemed to prefer Veronica (despite the fact that, outside of their hair, both girls were drawn exactly alike). Perhaps there’s a message in that!

1960: On this day testifying before Congress, America’s perennial teenager, Dick Clark admits he took “payola” (money and/or gifts) to play certain records. Because he owns up to it and agrees to sell off his interests in certain records and record companies, he is allowed to stay on as host of American Bandstand.

Unlike pioneering rock ‘n’ roll DJ Alan Freed, who never admits taking payola (although all evidence clearly indicates that he did) and is driven from the airwaves.

1973: A rock ‘n’ roll dream came true on this day when 19-year-old Scot Halpin is invited onstage on The Who concert at San Francisco's Cow Palace to play the drums for the band’s last three songs of the show.

It seems drummer Keith Moon had apparently ingested seven horse tranquilizers prior to the gig and was unable to finish the set (surprise, surprise). Halpin fills in on "Smokestack Lightning," "Spoonful," and "Naked Eye," also taking a final bow onstage with his idols at the close of the concert.

A few months later, Rolling Stone awards Halpin their "Pick-Up Player of the Year Award."

1995: Are you going to the after party?

On this day, after performing at an all-star 80^th birthday tribute to Frank Sinatra at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan are invited back to the crooner’s home for a private celebration.

Neither mentions the fact that the Chairman of the Board once called rock ‘n’ roll artists “cretinous goons” and the music itself, “brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious.” (Of course it was, Frank, why do you think we were listening to it?)

1926: Happy Birthday to the man who contributed more to the founding of rock ‘n’ roll than perhaps any other artist: Chuck Berry would have been 97 today. Make sure and tell Tchaikovsky the news.

1957: On this day Elvis Presley’s third film (and some say, his best film) Jailhouse Rock has its world premiere at the Loews State Theatre in Memphis. It’s the exact same movie theater where Elvis worked as an usher just five years earlier.

Break-Ups and Make-Ups

1972: Creedence Clearwater Revival calls it quits when the other band members resent the creative control exerted by leader John Fogerty.

2003: Paul Simon reunites with Art Garfunkel as they kick off Simon & Garfunkel’s “Old Friends” tour in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

The Life & Times of Howdy Doody – Part 3

We all remember that we spent our afternoons, and later, our Saturday mornings in the 50’s with Buffalo Bob and Howdy Doody, but how much do you really remember about the show itself and the strange cast of characters who kept us entertained throughout a good portion of our childhoods?

C’mon backstage because once again, it’s Howdy Doody time!

Most of us remember that the show took place in the fictional town of Doodyville with the set at first resembling a circus, then a Wild West Show, and finally, just various locations within Doodyville. There was a full cast of puppets including Howdy Doody, his best friend Dilly Dally, and perennial villain, Mayor Phineas T. Bluster. Even as a kid, we all wondered how that old swindler kept getting re-elected by the otherwise genteel and benign citizens of Doodyville. (In addition, we wondered why Howdy wasn’t the mayor of a town obviously named after him.)

How many of these other “denizens of Doodyville” do you recognize?

• Don José Bluster (Phineas’ brother)
• John J. Fadoozle (America’s # 1 – BOING! - Private Eye)
• Heidi Doody (Howdy’s sister)
• Hyde & Zeke (twin bears)
• Windy Scuttlebutt
• Sandra the Witch
• Mambo the Elephant
• Paddle the Gnu

And of course, the Flub-a-Dub, who combined the parts of eight animals: a duck’s bill, spaniel’s ears, cat’s whiskers, giraffe’s neck, dachshund’s body, seal’s feet, a pig’s tail, and an elephant’s memory.

The show also provided a sturdy launch pad for two other non-human stars. Zippy the Chimp joined the cast in 1952 and eventually became a media star in his own right, complete with an abundance of authorized merchandise. For some reason, the talented chimpanzee hated the Mr. Bluster puppet and would attack him on sight. Apparently, the little simian was an excellent judge of character.

Almost forgotten now is the fact that another huge superstar got his start with Buffalo Bob and the gang. Gumby (dammit) made his network debut on The Howdy Doody Show in 1956. The little guy proved so popular that NBC was able to spin him off into his own series a year later. The rest, as they say, is show biz history.

Along with Zippy, Gumby and the stringed performers, Doodyville boasted a full cast of human actors as well. It was these human actors that caused the most trouble behind the scenes. Next time, we’ll pull back the curtain on the notorious “Christmas Eve Massacre” that almost derailed The Howdy Doody Show in 1953.

1960: While in Hamburg, Wally Eymond, a guitarist in the Liverpool band Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, decides to record a version of the Gershwin brothers’ song “Summertime.”

For some reason, he wants the Beatles to be his back-up band at the recording session. The lads are fine with that, but drummer Pete Best can’t make it. So Eymond brings along the Hurricanes drummer, Ringo Starr. Today marks the first day the Beatles would play with Ringo on drums.

The boys would not ask him to formally join the group until 1962.