Archie Andrews is the name of the main character in a American comic book series, and the title of a long-run radio series about that character, created by Bob Montana.

It also is the name of a ventriloquist's puppet that appeared on radio and television shows in the UK during the 1950s and 1960s.

Bob Montana's characters

Archibald "Archie" Andrews debuted in Pep Comics #22 December, 1941, and six decades later is still a redheaded 16-year-old. He lives in Riverdale, attends Riverdale High, and is the only son of Fred and Mary Andrews. Archie has many hobbies, drives an old car and takes jobs to pay for dates.

Archie's love is divided between the rich and refined Veronica Lodge and the middle-class and athletic Betty Cooper; Betty is humble, and Veronica is a snob; the two girls often fight over him. Archie is the lead singer of The Archies, performing with Betty, Veronica, Reggie and Jughead.

Archie is a good fellow, but also an accident waiting to happen and always gets involved in the funniest situations. Some of the many adults who to try be far away from this walking hurricane are Mr. Lodge and Riverdale High's principal, Mr. Weatherbee.

In the TV movie and subsequent comic book "To Riverdale and Back Again," which portrayed all the characters 15 years after their graduation from high school, Archie is a lawyer with a practice in Riverdale -- and still gets to Pop Tate's Chock'lit Shoppe as much as possible.

The Spanish version of Archie Andrews is named Archie Gómez.

Bob Montana's characters were adapted to radio in the early 1940s. Archie Andrews began on the Blue Network May 31, 1943, switched to Mutual in 1944, and then continued on NBC until September 5, 1943. Archie was first played by Charles Mullen, Jack Grimes and Burt Boyar, with Bob Hastings doing the title character during the NBC years. Harlan Stone portrayed Archie's pal, Jughead, known for the catchphrase, "Relax, Archie, reeelax!"

After four years in the Army Signal Corps, Bob Montana returned in 1946 to launch the Archie newspaper comic strip, which he drew until his death in 1975. Bob Montana's main characters were all based on real-life individuals he knew in Haverhill, Massachusetts, where he went to high school from 1936 to 1939.

Ventriloquist's puppet

Possibly derived from the comic character, Archie Andrews was the name of the puppet used by ventriloquist Peter Brough in a radio and television show in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s. Archie was invariably dressed in a broad-striped blazer, and addressed the ventriloquist as "Brough". The television scripts were written by Marty Feldman and Ronald Chesney.

The UK radio show attracted up to 15m listeners and had a children's fan club that at one time had 250,000 members. Among future stars who appeared on the show were Tony Hancock, Max Bygraves, Harry Secombe, Benny Hill, Beryl Reid and (as a 14-year-old) Julie Andrews. On one occasion Archie was left on a train, and a £1000 reward was offered for his return.

External links

• Haverhill cartoonist Bob Montana
• Trivia on the character
• Archie Andrews the ventriloquist's puppet