There were two pilots for an Archie TV series in the 1960s: "Life With Archie" in 1962 and "Archie" in 1964. The two pilots share much of the same cast, but Frank Bank starred in "Life With Archie", and John Simpson starred in "Archie". According to Frank Bank, the pilot was not picked up because the sponsors felt that viewers would still see him as "Lumpy" from "Leave It to Beaver".
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1064965/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0777187/
I don't know of anyone that's seen the 1962 pilot. I know people have seen the 1964 pilot, and I've seen the first third of it, but it's no longer on YouTube (except for a short clip).
Does anyone have either of these pilots?
I heard about the Archie pilot with Frank Banks in an interview (just audio) that was included in one of the Leave it to Beaver seasons DVD set. I even wrote down what Frank said about it:
According to him, the Archie pilot was produced by Desilu, and he said it was "funny and cool". He also said, "I thought it was a good show".
He mentioned the cast (which is different from what the imdb page says).
He was Archie (this to me is a very weird casting choice, as Frank Banks looked nothing like Archie).
Jimmy Hawkings--Jughead
Norm Grabowski (from Ozzie and Harriet and Dobie Gillis)--Moose
Cheryl Holdridge--Betty
Barbara Parkins--Veronica
Paul Ford--Mr. Weatherbee
Thanks for the info! Someone needs to update that IMDb page. Interesting that Cheryl as Betty was the only consistency. In fact, now that I think about it, that fact sounds familiar. I wonder if maybe I read your cast list somewhere years ago.
I really want to see both of these pilots.
Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on August 25, 2016, 09:14:51 PM
Thanks for the info! Someone needs to update that IMDb page. Interesting that Cheryl as Betty was the only consistency. In fact, now that I think about it, that fact sounds familiar. I wonder if maybe I read your cast list somewhere years ago.
I really want to see both of these pilots.
Some pilots are truly lost -- i.e., they were considered of no further value beyond their intended purpose of selling a sponsor or network on a series proposal, so there was no effort made to preserve them in any way. A lot of old film in vaults wound up being trashed or destroyed simply because the space it was taking up was considered more valuable than the film itself. There's no way they could have foreseen these things would have any future worth to anyone, and this may indeed be the case with the 1962 pilot. Then too, some of these pilots didn't represent an actual broadcast-worthy 1st episode as you'd normally think, but rather kind of a "dress rehearsal" or "proof of concept" video.
I have the 1962 pilot on my computer. I'll try and see if there is still a copy on YT. If not, ill figure out a way to upload it. pilottv.net is a good site for finding old pilots. They have their own Roku channel.
Lumpy Rutherford playing the part of Archie truly boggles the mind.
Quote from: The Downloader on August 26, 2016, 03:46:24 AM
I have the 1962 pilot on my computer. I'll try and see if there is still a copy on YT. If not, ill figure out a way to upload it. pilottv.net is a good site for finding old pilots. They have their own Roku channel.
Maybe you could upload it as an unlisted video and share the link here.
Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on August 25, 2016, 09:14:51 PM
Thanks for the info! Someone needs to update that IMDb page. Interesting that Cheryl as Betty was the only consistency. In fact, now that I think about it, that fact sounds familiar. I wonder if maybe I read your cast list somewhere years ago.
I really want to see both of these pilots.
Well, if you have seen her in Leave it to Beaver as Wally's girlfriend you know Cheryl Holdridge was a cutie pie who was just a perfect Betty Cooper.
@The Downloader,Wow, you have the '62 pilot? Are you sure you're not confusing it with the '64 pilot? I didn't even think the Frank Bank pilot ever saw the light of day.
As for the other pilot, it's a shame they took it down from Youtube :/