Throughout the nineteen sixties, seventies and eighties, most issues of Archie Comics featured a two-page spread titled Archie Club News. The banner at the top of the page announced, "ARCHIE CLUB MEMBERS send in your news reports and be eligible to win cash prizes in the Archie Series Magazines." The results of this venture were generally irrelevant notes sent in like "Dear Archie, Let me tell you about the time I got food poisoning..." Often what was sent in appeared to be part of a class project. Elementary school children were in the process of learning how to write letters and encouraged by a teacher to send something Riverdale way. Sometimes the letters were weird or even profound as we saw in posts one and two of this series. I've been sorting through my musty collection of Archie Comics trying to find the next gem but, believe me, Starchild is a very tough act to follow. That is why today I am posting two letters, to sorta soften the blow of having to follow a kid from space.
This letter originally appeared in Jughead #164, January 1969:
Dear Archie,
My dog is a German Shepherd. People are afraid of her because
they think she bites. She really doesn't but we can't convince them of
this. One day my dog got outside without us knowing about it. There was
a salesman in the building and he was so scared he had his hands
against the wall calling for help. Then she went into the street and
two women began to run away from her. She ran after them and one of
them was going to have a baby. This woman really and truly ran up on
the hood of a car ... I didn't believe my eyes when I saw that woman on
the hood of the car but it is true.
Carmen Martinez
172 East 104th Street
New York, N.Y. 10029
Carmen's letter won the second prize of three dollars for this letter.
The next letter originally appeared in Everything's Archie #77, August 1979:
Dear Archie,
Schools in the year 2001 will be fancy and a
lot of fun. Schools will be larger and won't seem like the can of
sardines so many schools seem to resemble today. There will be
elevators going to each floor.
The principal's office will have
wall to wall carpeting as will some of the hallways. He will even have
an escort to his office. Teachers will be nicer and fun to learn from.
After each day's work assignments are properly completed, treats will
be given to each student. Teachers will try to put more interest into
the work they are teaching the students. On weekends the students will
have sad faces till Monday returns. School will be so great that no one
would consider being absent, not even for a moment.
Simone Jackson
111 William Street
Englewood, New Jersey 07631
Simone won the second prize of four dollars (the prize went up!) for this letter.
I'd like to think that's some kind of expression--"she was so scared, she was going to have a baby."
Posted by: Andy | July 29, 2007 at 02:59 AM
Because I must.
111 William St:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=111+William+Street+englewood+nj&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.544155,64.248047&ie=UTF8&ll=40.890385,-73.97687&spn=0.01421,0.031371&z=15&om=1
Posted by: Listener bkd | July 30, 2007 at 05:20 AM
As a card, and button, carrying member of the Archie Club, I appreciate your revival of the precursor to todays internet "blog".
Posted by: Ben G | July 30, 2007 at 11:28 AM