A tale that was first released SEVENTY-FIVE years ago!!!
Yes. This story first appeared inside "Pep Comics #46". Cover date - February 1944. This was only twenty-four issues after Archie's first appearance, so you can imagine how rare this book would be. I don't even have any comics in my own collection from the 1940s (my oldest is from 1951)! So, if the scans look a lot brighter in colour than what it should look for 1940s era comic books, this is the reason why. In fact, I think this might be the oldest story that I will be featuring in this advent calendar.
The name of the story is "Christmas Cheers", and it stars Archie - looking very different from how his 2018 counterpart looks. Personally, I'm sort of glad that Archie's look became less hokey as the decades progressed. But anyway, Archie is excited because his grandfather has sent him a very generous gift of fifty dollars for Christmas! Which back in the mid-1940s was worth a small fortune! Archie's dad volunteers to cash it for him while Archie makes out a Christmas list. The money couldn't have come at a better time as Archie still has some Christmas shopping to do, and now he can use the money to purchase his gifts for his friends - and a little something for himself too.
Let's see what Archie's Christmas list includes on it.
Interesting plan...but Archie forgot one thing. Apparently back in the days of World War II, taxes were taken off for cashing in checks - or war bonds as the image clearly shows - and Archie now only has 60% of what he initially had to work with. Ouch!
But, Archie isn't too upset at this development. He'll just have to start from scratch and trim his list down. After all, $31.25 in 1943 can still equal a very merry Christmas!
Besides, his old list gets blown away into the cold winter air anyway thanks to an open window, so it's not as if he needs the old list anyway.
So, Archie gets dressed up to go shopping and hops in his trusty jalopy, Ol' Betsy - which I should remind you has the top down so Archie will get a nice dose of frostbite driving down Main Street. As Archie pulls away, he hears the voice of a seldom seen character during the 1940s era of Archie - a woman named Gabby. And as Archie says in his thoughts, Gabby is the type of girl that lives for gossip and could be her own radio station. Archie initially ignores her until Gabby loudly proclaims that she has his Christmas list!
You know...the one that Archie threw away because he couldn't afford it? Archie is genuinely shocked by that news.
So shocked that he plows into the back of some man's car because he wasn't paying attention to the road! The dented fender on the guy's car will set Archie back a whopping ten dollars, and slowly but surely his Christmas fund is depleting.
In fact, let's just say that Archie is down eleven dollars because Gabby sort of blackmails him into feeding her all sorts of sweet treats at Pop's Chocklit Shoppe (and yes, Pop's did exist back in the 1940s, though Pop Tate looked a LOT different back then. In fact, because Pop Tate notices that Archie has come into some money, Pop Tate happily helps himself to five dollars to square up Archie's tab. Good lord, just how many cheeseburgers and root beer floats did Archie have on his tab to accumulate five bucks worth? Archie's Christmas fund is looking pretty slim, but he thinks that he might be able to cut some more corners and stretch his budget even further.
Well, at least until Gabby overindulges on snacks at the Chocklit Shoppe and ends up getting violently ill. The good news is that the doctor is just down the street - but the bad news is that it takes another five dollars out of Archie's pocket, leaving him with just a little over 20% of the amount he started with! Some Christmas this is going to turn out to be.
Archie stops by the local five and dime (I'm guessing the dollar store wasn't around in 1943) to scrape together whatever gifts he can get for $10.25, and makes his way to Lodge Mansion to exchange gifts with Betty, Veronica, and Jughead. He wishes that he could have afforded more, but Archie does feel some relief in that the rest of the gang doesn't know what he originally wanted to get them. After all, Gabby was the only one who had the list, and Archie seemingly bribed her with french fries and malteds to keep her lips shut.
So, why does Veronica thank Archie with a kiss for the negligee that he supposedly gave her? It seems as though we now know how Gabby got her name. Archie is furious with her for blabbing to Veronica about his old list, and Gabby insists that she only told Veronica. But when Betty thanks Archie for her sweater, and Jughead thanks Archie for the ice skates, Archie looks as though he wants to crawl into a hole and die...especially after his friends open their gifts and discover what Archie REALLY bought them.
Well, Archie...you tried. And for what it's worth, you did do a great job with the cash you had...though it looks like Archie bought Jughead a dish rag. Archie is absolutely miserable about disappointing his friends and he decides to leave the party in shame. Poor guy, you must absolutely feel for him. After all, he ran into the worst luck period which drained his finances. It was like when the Simpsons had no money for Christmas and Homer was very depressed, but somehow it worked out because he brought home "Santa's Little Helper" and it all worked out.
And it's only when Archie presents his final gift to his dog, Oscar, that things begin to turn around. Archie's original plan was to give Oscar a dog house, but after the day he had, all he could afford to give him was a bone. For Oscar, though, that was enough, and Archie realizes that even though he struck out with everyone else, his dog will always love and appreciate him. And for Archie, that makes it a merry Christmas for him.
I guess it goes to show you that even back in the 1940s, Archie comics were quite entertaining. And if you can overlook how the art style was so different back then, it's easy to see how Archie has evolved over the years and is still very much beloved today.
Coming up tomorrow on the seventh day of the blog, our story subject features a character that usually doesn't get the spotlight, but with help from Betty really shines. Also features artwork by Al Hartley, who you may recognize from a series of Christian comic books released under the Archie name...
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