I was always a fan of the Archies even though their music gets dismissed as bubblegum. I know they were really a project of Don Kirshner using session musicians and songwriting by artists like Andy Kim. One of my favorite songs was "Jingle Jangle" which had, as always, Ron Dante, doing the male lead vocal as well as Toni Wine doing the female co-lead vocal. In the comics and cartoon, it was always Archie shown doing lead and I remember seeing Jughead "singing" the bass part in "Rock And Roll Music". But I don't recall ever seeing Betty or Veronica doing any singing. I wonder if there was ever a story showing one of them doing the singing in 'Jingle Jangle" and which of the girls would be doing that part. My guess is it would be Betty because it remember reading a story that said Veronica couldn't sing. Plus, she was always shown playing keyboards whereas Betty was mostly shown playing tambourine. Has there been a story written showing which girl does the singing parts in the Archies? Thanks!

I discovered Archie Comics from the 69-70's Filmation Saturday cartoon. Being a musician, I liked how the stories were interspersed with songs from actual "The Archies" albums. I know the music gets dismissed as bubblegum, but I still like it to this day. I'm still waiting to find out whether it was Betty or Veronica supposedly singing Toni Wine's lead in "Jingle Jangle".
Anyway, there was an episode in the series called "Jughead's Girlfriend" where we see both Jug and Hot Dog falling in love with the new girl in town, Paula Pingle and her poodle named Penelope. Both Jug and Hot Dog are oblivious to their surroundings which causes them to nearly get hit by cars, walking into telephone poles, in school mishaps, asking Pop for "Pingle Burgers", etc. But Jughead can't bring himself to meet her.
Over the next couple weeks, Archie and the gang notices that Jughead has lost his appetite and isn't getting much sleep. Reggie has had enough of Jughead's pining over Paula and decides to play matchmaker. (I'm a little surprised Reggie didn't try hitting on Paula himself). Reggie introduces Jughead and Paula but  Paula reveals she and Penelope are already in love with secret admirers. Jughead is crushed.
However, that night, the gang sees Jughead and Hot Dog walking in their sleep to Paula's house. Jughead, in his pajamas, picks up a rock and throws it a her window. She turns on the light and sees Jughead, who she calls Egghead, and says "Oh my love. I thought you would never come". Jughead, in his sleep, starts reciting the most romantic lines and Paula, in her nightgown and hair curlers, is just eating it up. Reggie decides to turn on Paula's spotlight which wakes Jughead and Hot Dog. Betty tells Jughead that he's in Paula's yard. Jughead sees Paula with her curlers and runs away. She yells "Where are you my Prince Charming?" He yells back "Having a nightmare". Betty and Veronica both comment about Jughead's silly reaction to seeing a girl in curlers, but both Archie and Reggie take off running. The story end with Betty, Veronica, Paula and her poodle saying "Men! Hmmmmph!!"
I did like this episode except Paula's voice. Paula was pretty, had short blondish hair, but her voice made her sound much older than she was.

Quote from: Mr.Lodge on June 17, 2023, 04:15:26 PMTrula at Jughead/Ethel wedding at Pop's.....

I did see Trula's cameo at the Jughead/Ethel wedding. I also saw cameos by Sabrina and Josie And The Pussycats at the wedding. I felt those cameos gave the wedding scene a surrealistic vibe since these characters were never part of the storyline.
The original "Archie Marries" stories didn't reveal much about what happens to Jughead on the "Veronica" side.  So, that's why I want to do a story where he follows his other passion beside food, which was music. Most of the other characters in"Life With Archie" had different careers in the different universes. And that's why, in my story I would have a grown up Jughead become a world renowned studio drummer working in New York.

The short hair thing is probably just a coincidence though. It just seemed that every time I bought an Archie comic which had a Jughead romance story, the girl always had short hair and was only used for the one story. Usually, the story ends with either Jug or the girl having to move away. Or, some other "out of their control" roadblock prevents them from taking their relationship further. I do like the occasional Jughead romance story as long as he's not made to look like another Archie (can't decide which girl he wants). I'm still considering writing a Jughead/Trula story as a spinoff to the "Married Life" Veronica universe.    

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on June 05, 2023, 04:56:37 AM

Quote from: beatman10 on June 04, 2023, 08:43:32 AMI have noticed that in many of the stories (not all) where Jughead finds romance, most of the girls have this one physical trait: Short Hair!!! Anyone else pick up on this? Not there's anything wrong with that!!

I've never been able to tell just how long or short Big Ethel's hair is, because she seems to pin it up. Debbie Dalton and January McAndrews had short hair, but Joani Jumpp didn't. Jackie Frost and Trula Twyst didn't have short hair. In "Freshman Year", Sadie Cameron from Silby, Montana had short hair. In "Farewell, Betty & Veronica", exchange students Violette (from France) and Banni (from India) were both attracted to Jughead; Violette had short hair, but Banni had long hair. Midge Klump has the shortest hair of all of them, and in "The Married Life", Jughead married her!

I'm sure the short-hair thing is just a coincidence, though.

Early Big Ethel DID have short hair at first, but eventually, her hair got longer which was probably done to make her a bit more attractive. She was hideous at first. And a single guy's worst nightmare. An ugly, aggressive girl who doesn't take "no" for an answer when it comes to getting a date. Although that whole bit of her chasing Jughead was done for laughs, I always rooted for Jughead to escape her grasp. There are some other short haired girls that Jughead has either dated or shown interest in. In the 50's I believe, he dated a girl named Gloria. Then there was a story where he dated a girl named Gladys, who worked at an ice cream shop and was a fan of teen vampire movies. And in a recent B/V issue called "What If?" Jughead and Lodge's chef Gaston's niece, Monique, seem to hit it off after she cooks him an amazing hamburger!

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on June 05, 2023, 06:15:03 AMNow I'm wondering if there was a story where the magic hat pin worked its magic on Betty and/or Veronica. I seem to vaguely recall there was a story where it worked on Cheryl -- but Jughead rebuffed her.

I thought that Jughead/Cheryl story was Jughead used the pin to to lure her away from Archie as a favor to Betty. 

In hindsight, I would have liked to have seen added a couple more panels to this story. The 2 mean girls spot Jughead with his new girlfriend and they realize they now see him as being rather cute. They go over to apologize for the way they treated him earlier. But their objective is to steal him away from the girl he is with. However Jughead wisely tells them "Sorry, she saw him first". The 2 girls leave angry at themselves and with each other, and the girl Jughead is with now sees Jughead as "virtuous" as well as "magnificent" looking.

I don't have a complete list of these stories. But I did own an Archie Giant Series issue #531 from 1983 which I no longer have. The pin made Jughead irresistible to girls, which now I think was kind of weird. Before, Jughead never needed a pin to get girls to chase him. Anyway, I found the 531 story online. Jug and Archie go to the beach, but Archie won't go unless Jug is NOT wearing the pin. Archie claims the pin will have all the girls noticing only Jughead. Jug is somewhat insulted thinking that Archie is telling him "he's the ugly duckling without the pin".
At the beach, Jughead gets hurt by 2 mean girls who make fun of Jughead's nose and he now thinks he really is ugly. A third girl tries talking to him and he tries to shoo her away saying "he doesn't her pity and he can live with his ugliness". She claims that he's "magnificent looking" and she is drawn to him "like a moth to flame"  The story ends with Archie seeing them romantically together and he realizes that his buddy has more magic than any pin does.
Two things stood out to me in this story.
1. This must have been one of the rare times that girls were turned off by Jughead's appearance. Usually, girls chase him (not just Ethel!) and try to get him to date them. They won't do that for an "ugly" guy.
2.I have noticed that in many of the stories (not all) where Jughead finds romance, most of the girls have this one physical trait: Short Hair!!! Anyone else pick up on this? Not there's anything wrong with that!!
Hope this helps!!

I apologize for all the underlines in my previous post. Don't know how that happened. The one thing I liked that Michael Uslan did in the "10th Anniversary" as well as in the 2009 "Archie Wedding" and the one issue he wrote in LWA, is, he made the Archie/Veronica marriage more of an equal partnership. I felt In the LWA Kupperberg "Veronica" story, Archie took on a subordinate roll, not only in business, but in their marriage as well. Veronica believed her father about the phony dowry story and never questioned Archie about it even though he was living in a roach motel and waiting tables at Jughead's. Hardly what someone would be doing with millions in bribe money. And it took until Issue #23 before Veronica asked for the truth from her Dad. In the 10 Anniversary, Uslan paints her more sympathetic. She loses her father to a heart attack and is now the head of Lodge industries. And she now has to juggle her business obligations while being a wife and mother. And she has issues with Archie, who, while working long hours, put Veronica feeling like she was a single parent raising their children. I liked the way Betty put it all in perspective to Archie near the end.

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on March 16, 2023, 12:21:56 PM

Quote from: beatman10 on January 31, 2023, 10:05:20 PMI'm curious to know if Mr. Uslan had written more chapters of"Life With Archie" but they got shelved when he opted out and Mr. Kupperberg took over.

I'm sure if Uslan had actually written more chapters that he'd have been paid for those scripts, and ACP would have used them. I'm more curious why the series didn't just start out with Kupperberg as the writer. As in, did Uslan have some disagreement with editor Gorelick that caused a parting of ways, or was it always the intention that Uslan "lay the foundation stone" for the series by writing #1 (and ONLY #1) and then move on to other projects?

I believe your second theory is correct about Uslan 'laying the foundation". Kupperberg had said "Michael (Uslan) simply wasn't able to commit" full time to writing for LWA. Kupperberg also credits Uslan with "getting the ball rolling" on the project. Uslan did set up a lot of good storylines for Kupperberg to explore and make his own.  Moose running for mayor, Ms. Grundy's illness, Mr. Lodge's character, bringing back Ambrose were all Uslan's ideas. He even toyed with Veronica possibly dying when a picture Dilton is showing has an "X" over her face. Although I liked the 10 Anniversary series, there were two things I found puzzling: What happened to Moose's girlfriend, Illana and why was Ambrose made to be a creep in this series? That's why I wondered if Uslan had more chapters that didn't make the cut. Kind of like when a band makes an album with 12 songs on it but another additional 5 were recorded and they were left off.

Quote from: Jabroniville on January 28, 2023, 08:18:07 PMI'm still a bit upset they paired the girl who didn't get chosen off with Reggie in both stories- it ruined the Betty/Jughead shipping opportunity XD!

Uh Oh! There were two members of this forum who had "Betty" and "Reggie" in their usernames. You don't want to ruffle their feathers by bring up "Bughead", do you?  But yeah, I've read comments saying "It should have been Jughead and Betty in the Veronica story". And it kind of makes sense being the both of them chose food preparation careers. I think Reggie messed up a little with that reality show bit. Betty wanted no part of that but went along with it to make Reggie happy. (Good ol' Betts,,,the people pleaser!) In the 10th Anniversary, on the Veronica side it was only hinted at the end that Reggie and Betty would become a couple. I'm curious to know if Mr. Uslan had written more chapters of"Life With Archie" but they got shelved when he opted out and Mr. Kupperberg took over.

I have decided to write a story in the fan fiction section and it will take place in the future more so in the "Archie Marries Veronica" storyline. But it will deal primarily with Jughead living out his dream as a musician and how circumstances cause him to move back to Riverdale.  And there's a certain psychologist who is very happy to see him return. I'll do this in parts instead of all one sitting. I hope DeCarlo Rules likes it.

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on December 26, 2022, 02:18:32 PMHey, that sounded like a great idea! Maybe they should have let beatman10 write "The Married Life"...

Maybe you should send ACP a proposal synopsis for a LIFE WITH JUGHEAD series. Hey, if they did a LIFE WITH KEVIN, it can't be so far-fetched an idea.

Thanks for the compliment! (Unless you were just kidding!) It would be fun to see a Jughead/Trula romance story done like The Married Life. I don't know if it would sell well since many readers today want to see either Jughead paired with Betty (Bughead), or that he remains asexual. Maybe I'll try to contact ACP about this idea, but I'll probably get a nicely worded "Thanks, but no thanks" response. I would add to the idea that Trula is getting her doctorate in Psychology and is serving her internship at Riverdale High.

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on December 15, 2022, 12:14:24 PMThat actually makes sense if you think about it. If the major change between the two universes is whether Archie married Betty or Veronica, it's those three who are going to be affected by that decision the most, and the other cast members only more peripherally.

If different circumstances don't dictate that the other characters behave differently, then it's not surprising that they'd behave in a common way in both universes. Some of their circumstances can change in random ways in the different universes, but they wouldn't ALL change, and where they didn't the character would react mostly the same way.

Most of the other characters had different careers in the different universes,except for Mr. Lodge, the faculty and Jughead. I would have liked to see Jughead have a different career in the "Veronica" universe. I read a couple stories where he aspired to be a professional drummer. The storyline could have had Jughead become a successful session player at a major studio playing on countless hits and commercials. But,as fate would have it, the studio decides to cut costs and use sampled drum tracks, forcing Jughead out of a job and returning to Riverdale feeling depressed. And the one person who helps him get back on his feet? His old nemesis:Trula Twyst!! Hey, it's only a thought!

I haven't seen a new episode of BEE in the past few months. I'm not sure if new stories are being created or the series got cancelled.