WOTR In Cincinnati: Archie and Company

It ain't Archiedamanagehspeakin' Duffyainhere, kiddies.

But it is for fans of the Archie comic book series, especially, including radio's Archie Andrews. (NBC Blue, 31 May-24 December 1943; Mutual, 17 January-2 June 1944; NBC, 2 June 1945-5 September 1953.)

They should love this year's Cincinnati Old-Time Radio and Nostalgia Convention, set for 20-21 April at Ramada Plaza on Sheraton Lane---because three of the Archie Andrews cast are scheduled to appear: Bobby Hastings (the fourth and final Archie, later a co-star of television's McHale's Navy), Rosemary Rice (the third and final Betty Cooper), and Harlan (Hal) Stone, Jr. (Jughead).

The convention's scheduled guests also include actress/musician Esther Geddes and Ruth Last, who performed in numerous East Coast-based radio programs before making a second career in films and as a voiceover artist, and often appears at old-time radio gatherings performing in re-creations of vintage radio shows---even if they came from genres in which she was never known to perform.

As for Archie Andrews? Think of it as The Aldrich Family wearing its puberty a little more on its sleeve, if you must. Given its limitations thereby, think of Archie Andrews as maybe a little less self-consciously cliched than the late-1960s animated version and bubblegum hit singles.