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T-shirt #349 - Josie and the Pussycats
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My bets memory of Josie and the Pussycats comes to me via Kellogg's cereal.
BOX TOPS.
Did you save them? I know I did.
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As a result of saving my box tops and redeeming them with Kellogg's, I managed to receive 45 RPM records in mail of Josie and the Pussycats songs, which were among my favorite tunes as a young boy in the early 1970s.
Okay, late me back up. Josie and the Pussycats is a creation of the Archie Comics line. Originally, Archie Comics published a comic called She's Josie and Josie, starting in 1963.
With the hit success of the Archies' single "Sugar, Sugar" in 1969, which claimed the number one spot on the Billboard 100 Pop Singles as fueled by the CBS Saturday morning cartoon The Archie Show, the Chicago-based Archie Comics wanted to further capitalize on its success.
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In December of 1969, the Josie comic was renamed Josie and the Pussycats as Josie and Melody decide to form a band, and after a failed attempt to have Alexandra in the band, they select Valerie Smith (though in some descriptions she is called Valerie Brown) to be the third member of the band.
Hanna-Barbera created a "real life" band to sing the songs and even produce an album. Cheryl Ladd was one of the members of this trio, who released the Josie and the Pussycats album in 1970. On the Wiki page for the band, there's a list of the Kellogg's mail order singled from 1970. I know for certain that I own "Inside, Outside, Upside Down." But I am fairly certain I had at least one of the others as there are four in all. I included videos for two of the four Kellogg's singles among the six songs I feature below, including the theme song from the TV show. The videos to the TV show are hilarious because Hanna-Barbera only created one animation clip for the band playing a song. It may have fit one song, but it does not fit any of the other sings, and yet the clip is repeated as the song plays. There are some obvious editing attempts to try to match the song's rhythm, beat, or get the mouth movements in some synced to the lyrics, but these attempts fail in every video I watched.
Still, "Inside, Outside, Upside Down" is one of my favorite songs from the 1970s. I also included another favorite, "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies.
Also, I was lucky enough to find a full episode of Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space in case you want to check that out.
The Josie and the Pussycats comic continued monthly publication until 1982, at which point Archie Comics published occasional one shots with no schedule. But lately, Archie Comics has been doing interesting things as I noted in my reviews of Afterlife With Archie as found elsewhere on my blog (search reviews or comic books categories if interested). In both 2010 and 2012, Archie Comics further shook up the comics world with some innovative story lines.
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JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS - COMIC
JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS - MUSIC GROUP
JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS - TV SHOW
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ARCHIE AND VALERIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about comic books. But I either missed this entirely or simply forgot about it. In 2010, Archie Comics launched a story in which Archie develops a romance with Valerie Smith of Josie and the Pussycats.
This is a pretty big deal, and Archie Comics made a big deal of it with a huge marketing push and mock up covers, like the Rolling Stone one I included in today's COVER GALLERY.
From its roots in 1941, Archie was strictly a white bread cast. It was radical enough when the comics line introduced Valerie Smith for Josie and the Pussycats in 1969. In fact, there was a fight with Hanna Barbera to include her in TV show. In the end, she was included and became the first black cartoon character.Now, forty years later (2010), Valerie is shown KISSING Archie in the comic book series. Two years later, in 2012, longtime writer of Archie Dan Parent constructs an imaginary tale of the couple's future as they get married and have a child.
Check out the links if you want to read more.
Three last things.
One, Archie Comics also has a comic featuring Kevin Keller, Riverdale's openly gay student. The character was immediately popular enough to warrant his own series.
Two, I love this twist with Archie and Val and the busting of the Betty-Veronica-Archie triangle. As a young boy, I think Veronica Lodge was part of the foundation for why I prefer dark-haired women, as I always preferred Veronica over Betty, even though she was kind of the bitchier of the two (maybe I prefer that, too). But Valerie Smith surely beats out Veronica in the sex appeal department, especially with the new long haired look seen in this frame from the recent comics. It's great to see a company that butters its bread with endless output of the same old same old has abandoned that model for some innovative, fresh stories aimed at 21st century audiences.
Three, I last included my TOP TEN HANNA BARBERA cartoons list in T-shirt #303. Josie and the Pussycats was not in the top ten and only received an honorable mention. I may need to re-think this position.
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LINKS TO ARTICLES ON ARCHIE AND VAL
FABRICATED NEWS
COMICS ALLIANCE
TIMEOUT CHICAGO
ARCHIE BLOG
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Just cheating by copying the list of links from WIKIPEDIA. It's easier this way. Trust me. I'm a doctor.
External links[edit]
- http://www.dandecarlo.com Creator Dan Decarlos Website
- Josie and the Pussycats at the Internet Movie Database
- Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space at the Internet Movie Database
- Archie Comics' Josie and the Pussycats homepage
- Josie and the Pussycats at TV.com
- Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space at TV.com
- Josie and the Pussycats at Toonopedia
- JOZINE: unofficial Josie/DeCarlo fan site
- Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDb): Josie and the Pussycats
- Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDb): Josie and the Pussycats In Outer Space
JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS ON TV TROPES
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This blog has some great stuff, and many of the following videos come from this blog, but sadly it has not been updated in almost four years.
OFF RAMP TO NOWHERE
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VIDEO GALLERY
Josie and the Pussycats (1970) - Intro (Opening)
I know this next one is not Josie and the Pussycats, but I don't own an Archie shirt and this song is too classic to not post.
I will close out daily transmission on March 21st, day 365 of my T-shirt blog-tastic extravaganza spectacular. I will give myself a short hiatus of total non-transmission or publication for an as yet undetermined period of time, though I am estimating about two weeks.
After my blog vacation hiatus, I will resume T-shirt posts on a regular basis, also as yet to be determined (weekly? Twice monthly?) to finish blogging about all the T-shirts that were not featured in the blog year.
At some point, once I feel I am rolling along nicely, I will begin regular posting through my main blog: SENSE OF DOUBT. T-shirt posts will direct to the T-shirt blog from SENSE OF DOUBT.
I will continue to post THE WEEKLY COMIC LIST, the features of occasional T-SHIRTS I AM WEARING THIS WEEK, book reviews, comic book reviews, and other popular culture nonsense as I have been for a year now but all will go up at SENSE OF DOUBT and some will direct back here to 365 T-SHIRTS.
Ultimately, I will begin Internet publication of my fiction, primarily the comic book satire episodic story called POP! among other projects. So, in summary, 365 T-SHIRTS will continue though intermittently.
SENSE OF DOUBT will host my main blog presence and fiction writing as well as links to any T-shirt posts shared here.
I hope you will continue to follow me in my journey as a writer and a content provider.
Thank you for your kind attention and time you have spent with me on this and/or any other day this year.
I am humbled and blessed by your readership.
- chris tower, blogger, originated 1403.02
COVER GALLERY
COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 16 shirts remaining
- chris tower - 1403.05 - 10:15
