Riverdale
1970's Saturday Morning Music Toons
November 22, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Between the hard rock sounds of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and the Doors and the disco beat of the Bee Gees, bubble gum music thrived in the early 1970’s, specifically on Saturday morning cartoons.
Whether used as literary devices to complement the story line or merchandising tools to promote record sales, songs added a dimension to the cartoons. They provided another example of the inevitable connection between music and television.
Kid Power is a show that may be described as Peanuts meeting the Rainbow Coalition. The late 1960’s and early 1970’s messages of peace, friendship, love, and harmony filled the series. Based on Morrie Turner’s Wee Pals comic strip, Kid Power revolved around a melting pot of kids in a group called Rainbow Club. Different colors, nationalities, and backgrounds did not stop the kids from joining forces to accomplish their goals.
Music giant Mike Curb was the show’s Music Consultant. The song for each episode illustrated that episode’s lesson.
Kid Power aired on ABC during the 1972-73 season with seventeen episodes. The following season consisted of reruns.
The Partridge Family went off the air in 1974 after four seasons. In the fall of 1974, Partridge Family, 2200 A.D. showed us a futuristic view of America’s favorite singing family.
Except for Shirley Jones and David Cassidy, the cast voiced their cartoon counterparts.
The Brady Kids capitalized on the popularity of Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby, and Cindy from The Brady Bunch.
Music was a natural fit for the cartoon because the child actors released albums, toured in concert, and performed on The Brady Bunch. Unlike Partridge Family, 2200 A.D., however, The Brady Kids broadcast history coincided with its parent show. The Brady Kids aired 22 episodes and debuted in the fall of 1972.
The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show depicted Bedrock’s favorite boy and girl as teenagers. Sally Struthers (All in the Family) and Jay North (Dennis the Menace) voiced the title characters.
Pebbles, Bamm-Bamm and their friends -- Moonrock, Penny, and Wiggy -- formed The Bedrock Rollers, a stone age rock and roll group.
Plots in The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show focused on Pebbles’ outrageous ideas that often recalled Lucy Ricardo. Pebbles and Lucy shared enthusiasm, optimism, and inspiration. But their plans often went awry, aside, and down the tubes.
The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show first aired in September of 1971.
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids showed stories that were universal to growing up. Bill Cosby’s stand up comedy routines about his childhood in Philadelphia laid the groundwork for this animated version of Fat Albert, Weird Harold, Cosby and his brother Russell, and the rest of the gang.
Cosby addressed the audience about the lesson in the story and the kids sang a song corresponding with the lesson learned.
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids debuted in September of 1972.
Rankin-Bass produced two shows about family singing groups at the pinnacle of their respective successes -- The Osmonds and Jackson Five.
Jackson Five debuted in September of 1971 on the heels of their four number-one hits in 1970 -- I Want You Back, The Love You Save, ABC, and I’ll Be There.
The Jacksons voiced their animated likenesses for the show’s twenty-three episodes.
The Osmond brothers from Utah who got their big break on The Andy Williams Show got their shot at cartoon fame a year later. Debuting in September of 1972, The Osmonds featured the boys with big smiles, harmonious sounds, and innocence.
The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan featured a cartoon version of Charlie Chan with ten kids. Chan led his children in solving crimes. The older kids had a rock band -- The Chan Clan. Ron Dante, the lead singer for The Archies, filled the same role here.
Josie and the Pussycats also enjoy a connection to the Archieverse. The title character first appeared under the Archie comics banner in 1963. In Television Cartoon Shows, Hal Erickson writes, It was at the suggestion of CBS executive Fred Silverman that Hanna-Barbera (taking over from The Archies’ home studio Filmation, then overloaded with product) reshape Josie into the lead singer of a rock group -- hoping no doubt for a reprise of the success that greeted the Archies’ hit single Sugar Sugar.
After the show aired during the 1970-71 season, Hanna-Barbera retooled it with a space theme. Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space aired for two seasons -- 1972-74.
Josie’s comic book cousins from Riverdale, Archie et. al., inspired the music-cartoon nexus. The Archie Show is the first show in the Saturday morning music toon genre. It debuted in September of 1968 and lasted one season. Sugar, Sugar launched during The Archie Show tenure in 1969. It became a #1 song.
The Archie characters continued in different shows and formats between 1969 and 1978 -- The Archie Comedy Hour, Archie’s Fun House Featuring the Giant Juke Box, Archie’s TV Funnies, Everything’s Archie, U.S. of Archie, The New Archie / Sabrina Hour, Archie’s Bang-Shang Lalapalooza Show.
Although Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids aired for several years on television (1972-84), the other programs did not fare as well. But they were still enjoyable to watch, listen to, and learn from, especially during a time where real-life events increasingly challenged innocence -- assassinations, riots, Vietnam War.
On those sleepy Saturday mornings in the early 1970’s, children woke up to these shows that gave entertainment, optimism, and hope.
david@davidkrell.com
Between the hard rock sounds of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and the Doors and the disco beat of the Bee Gees, bubble gum music thrived in the early 1970’s, specifically on Saturday morning cartoons.
Whether used as literary devices to complement the story line or merchandising tools to promote record sales, songs added a dimension to the cartoons. They provided another example of the inevitable connection between music and television.
Kid Power is a show that may be described as Peanuts meeting the Rainbow Coalition. The late 1960’s and early 1970’s messages of peace, friendship, love, and harmony filled the series. Based on Morrie Turner’s Wee Pals comic strip, Kid Power revolved around a melting pot of kids in a group called Rainbow Club. Different colors, nationalities, and backgrounds did not stop the kids from joining forces to accomplish their goals.
Music giant Mike Curb was the show’s Music Consultant. The song for each episode illustrated that episode’s lesson.
Kid Power aired on ABC during the 1972-73 season with seventeen episodes. The following season consisted of reruns.
The Partridge Family went off the air in 1974 after four seasons. In the fall of 1974, Partridge Family, 2200 A.D. showed us a futuristic view of America’s favorite singing family.
Except for Shirley Jones and David Cassidy, the cast voiced their cartoon counterparts.
The Brady Kids capitalized on the popularity of Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby, and Cindy from The Brady Bunch.
Music was a natural fit for the cartoon because the child actors released albums, toured in concert, and performed on The Brady Bunch. Unlike Partridge Family, 2200 A.D., however, The Brady Kids broadcast history coincided with its parent show. The Brady Kids aired 22 episodes and debuted in the fall of 1972.
The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show depicted Bedrock’s favorite boy and girl as teenagers. Sally Struthers (All in the Family) and Jay North (Dennis the Menace) voiced the title characters.
Pebbles, Bamm-Bamm and their friends -- Moonrock, Penny, and Wiggy -- formed The Bedrock Rollers, a stone age rock and roll group.
Plots in The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show focused on Pebbles’ outrageous ideas that often recalled Lucy Ricardo. Pebbles and Lucy shared enthusiasm, optimism, and inspiration. But their plans often went awry, aside, and down the tubes.
The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show first aired in September of 1971.
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids showed stories that were universal to growing up. Bill Cosby’s stand up comedy routines about his childhood in Philadelphia laid the groundwork for this animated version of Fat Albert, Weird Harold, Cosby and his brother Russell, and the rest of the gang.
Cosby addressed the audience about the lesson in the story and the kids sang a song corresponding with the lesson learned.
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids debuted in September of 1972.
Rankin-Bass produced two shows about family singing groups at the pinnacle of their respective successes -- The Osmonds and Jackson Five.
Jackson Five debuted in September of 1971 on the heels of their four number-one hits in 1970 -- I Want You Back, The Love You Save, ABC, and I’ll Be There.
The Jacksons voiced their animated likenesses for the show’s twenty-three episodes.
The Osmond brothers from Utah who got their big break on The Andy Williams Show got their shot at cartoon fame a year later. Debuting in September of 1972, The Osmonds featured the boys with big smiles, harmonious sounds, and innocence.
The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan featured a cartoon version of Charlie Chan with ten kids. Chan led his children in solving crimes. The older kids had a rock band -- The Chan Clan. Ron Dante, the lead singer for The Archies, filled the same role here.
Josie and the Pussycats also enjoy a connection to the Archieverse. The title character first appeared under the Archie comics banner in 1963. In Television Cartoon Shows, Hal Erickson writes, It was at the suggestion of CBS executive Fred Silverman that Hanna-Barbera (taking over from The Archies’ home studio Filmation, then overloaded with product) reshape Josie into the lead singer of a rock group -- hoping no doubt for a reprise of the success that greeted the Archies’ hit single Sugar Sugar.
After the show aired during the 1970-71 season, Hanna-Barbera retooled it with a space theme. Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space aired for two seasons -- 1972-74.
Josie’s comic book cousins from Riverdale, Archie et. al., inspired the music-cartoon nexus. The Archie Show is the first show in the Saturday morning music toon genre. It debuted in September of 1968 and lasted one season. Sugar, Sugar launched during The Archie Show tenure in 1969. It became a #1 song.
The Archie characters continued in different shows and formats between 1969 and 1978 -- The Archie Comedy Hour, Archie’s Fun House Featuring the Giant Juke Box, Archie’s TV Funnies, Everything’s Archie, U.S. of Archie, The New Archie / Sabrina Hour, Archie’s Bang-Shang Lalapalooza Show.
Although Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids aired for several years on television (1972-84), the other programs did not fare as well. But they were still enjoyable to watch, listen to, and learn from, especially during a time where real-life events increasingly challenged innocence -- assassinations, riots, Vietnam War.
On those sleepy Saturday mornings in the early 1970’s, children woke up to these shows that gave entertainment, optimism, and hope.
Archie: The First Fifty Years
November 18, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
(This entry is an abridged version of an article featuring Archie. For the expanded article, click here.)
He doesn’t have superpowers resulting from a yellow sun like Superman or a radioactive spider bite like Spiderman.
He’s not a quasi-vigilante hero avenging the death of loved ones like Batman or the Lone Ranger.
And he never saved the universe like Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers.
In fact, his extraordinary characteristics appear to be his uncanny ability to get in trouble and his immense inability to choose between two extremely attractive girls.
Who is this mere mortal?
Archie Andrews, of course. The All-American Teenager and Riverdale’s favorite son.
As the United States entered World War II in December of 1941, Archie debuted in Pep #22 as a supporting feature. This initial Archie story also features Jughead and Betty.
MLJ Comics published Pep, the arena for its contribution to the superhero genre -- The Shield. Three publishing colleagues formed MLJ. They named the company after their initials -- Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, and John Goldwater complemented each other with their experience as an accountant, publisher, and reporter/editor respectively.
Artist Bob Montana gave the Archie universe its center. He drew upon his own experiences growing up in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Bob Montana drew. Vic Bloom wrote. Harry Shorten edited.
Truth be told, though, Montana gave the Archie stories their heart, soul, and ultimate appeal.
In the retrospective book Archie: The First 50 Years, Charles Phillips credits Montana.
A rootless child who loved his high school years, Montana gave more than the statue of The Thinker, the hometown soda shop, and a number of his teenage pals to Riverdale. He gave the strip the emotional strength of his own nostalgia to create an idealized picture of teenage life that we all recognize but none of us quite lived.
Montana and the creative team behind Archie added new characters in the adventures of Riverdale’s red-headed Romeo. Waldo Weatherbee -- Riverdale High School’s beloved, bald, benign principal -- first appeared in Jackpot #5 (Spring 1942). The story contains the mainstay Archie elements of slapstick, Weatherbee’s rotund shape, and Archie’s penchant for getting in hot water with “the Bee.”
Jackpot #5 also introduces, albeit briefly, Reggie Mantle.
Pep #26 (April 1942) introduces rich girl Veronica Lodge and compares her to Egypt’s Cleopatra and Hollywood’s Hedy Lamarr. Although Pep #26 showcases Veronica’s first appearance, Archie #1 (Winter 1942) revisits the origin of Veronica in the story Prom Pranks.
Prom Pranks sets the foundation for a well-known Archie hallmark -- the Archie-Veronica-Betty love triangle.
Where familiar themes provide reliability, stability, and continuity, signs of the times reflect an ever-changing society. They continually challenge Archie writers to pace fads, norms, and popular culture.
In the 1950’s, Archie stories frequently paralleled benchmarks of the rock and roll decade -- hula hoops, sock hops, beatniks.
Celebrities, fictional and real, also enjoy depictions in Archie stories -- Elvis Presley, Fonzie, Tom Cruise.
Social conscience features prominently in one story from the 1970’s -- A Matter of Prejudice. The story sends a powerful message about the dangers of prejudging the views of others. When Veronica explains that some of Archie’s friends are not welcome at her party because they simply don’t fit in, Archie immediately thinks the reference points to Chuck Clayton, a black student at Riverdale High.
In fact, Veronica likes Chuck. She declares, He’s welcome at my house any time he pleases to come.
Jughead, on the other hand, needs to change his slovenly ways for the party. Chuck and Archie tell him that Veronica is prejudiced...against slobs!
Expanding into other media was inevitable for the Archieverse. It occurred almost from the beginning. Archie and the gang found success on a radio program in the 1940’s.
In the late 1960’s and throughout the 1970’s, Archie characters found success in Saturday morning animation.
In 1978, two live-action music and comedy specials on ABC featured the characters. Dennis Bowen plays Archie.
Riverdale High’s 15-year reunion served as the basis for the 1990 NBC tv-movie To Riverdale and Back. Archie returned to Riverdale, reunited with friends, and reignited passions for Betty and Veronica. This time, he’s in Riverdale to stay. But the choice between Veronica and Betty remains undecided.
Some things never change.
The best things never do.
(For an expanded article on Archie, click here.)
david@davidkrell.com
(This entry is an abridged version of an article featuring Archie. For the expanded article, click here.)
He doesn’t have superpowers resulting from a yellow sun like Superman or a radioactive spider bite like Spiderman.
He’s not a quasi-vigilante hero avenging the death of loved ones like Batman or the Lone Ranger.
And he never saved the universe like Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers.
In fact, his extraordinary characteristics appear to be his uncanny ability to get in trouble and his immense inability to choose between two extremely attractive girls.
Who is this mere mortal?
Archie Andrews, of course. The All-American Teenager and Riverdale’s favorite son.
As the United States entered World War II in December of 1941, Archie debuted in Pep #22 as a supporting feature. This initial Archie story also features Jughead and Betty.
MLJ Comics published Pep, the arena for its contribution to the superhero genre -- The Shield. Three publishing colleagues formed MLJ. They named the company after their initials -- Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, and John Goldwater complemented each other with their experience as an accountant, publisher, and reporter/editor respectively.
Artist Bob Montana gave the Archie universe its center. He drew upon his own experiences growing up in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Bob Montana drew. Vic Bloom wrote. Harry Shorten edited.
Truth be told, though, Montana gave the Archie stories their heart, soul, and ultimate appeal.
In the retrospective book Archie: The First 50 Years, Charles Phillips credits Montana.
A rootless child who loved his high school years, Montana gave more than the statue of The Thinker, the hometown soda shop, and a number of his teenage pals to Riverdale. He gave the strip the emotional strength of his own nostalgia to create an idealized picture of teenage life that we all recognize but none of us quite lived.
Montana and the creative team behind Archie added new characters in the adventures of Riverdale’s red-headed Romeo. Waldo Weatherbee -- Riverdale High School’s beloved, bald, benign principal -- first appeared in Jackpot #5 (Spring 1942). The story contains the mainstay Archie elements of slapstick, Weatherbee’s rotund shape, and Archie’s penchant for getting in hot water with “the Bee.”
Jackpot #5 also introduces, albeit briefly, Reggie Mantle.
Pep #26 (April 1942) introduces rich girl Veronica Lodge and compares her to Egypt’s Cleopatra and Hollywood’s Hedy Lamarr. Although Pep #26 showcases Veronica’s first appearance, Archie #1 (Winter 1942) revisits the origin of Veronica in the story Prom Pranks.
Prom Pranks sets the foundation for a well-known Archie hallmark -- the Archie-Veronica-Betty love triangle.
Where familiar themes provide reliability, stability, and continuity, signs of the times reflect an ever-changing society. They continually challenge Archie writers to pace fads, norms, and popular culture.
In the 1950’s, Archie stories frequently paralleled benchmarks of the rock and roll decade -- hula hoops, sock hops, beatniks.
Celebrities, fictional and real, also enjoy depictions in Archie stories -- Elvis Presley, Fonzie, Tom Cruise.
Social conscience features prominently in one story from the 1970’s -- A Matter of Prejudice. The story sends a powerful message about the dangers of prejudging the views of others. When Veronica explains that some of Archie’s friends are not welcome at her party because they simply don’t fit in, Archie immediately thinks the reference points to Chuck Clayton, a black student at Riverdale High.
In fact, Veronica likes Chuck. She declares, He’s welcome at my house any time he pleases to come.
Jughead, on the other hand, needs to change his slovenly ways for the party. Chuck and Archie tell him that Veronica is prejudiced...against slobs!
Expanding into other media was inevitable for the Archieverse. It occurred almost from the beginning. Archie and the gang found success on a radio program in the 1940’s.
In the late 1960’s and throughout the 1970’s, Archie characters found success in Saturday morning animation.
In 1978, two live-action music and comedy specials on ABC featured the characters. Dennis Bowen plays Archie.
Riverdale High’s 15-year reunion served as the basis for the 1990 NBC tv-movie To Riverdale and Back. Archie returned to Riverdale, reunited with friends, and reignited passions for Betty and Veronica. This time, he’s in Riverdale to stay. But the choice between Veronica and Betty remains undecided.
Some things never change.
The best things never do.
(For an expanded article on Archie, click here.)