Bob Montana

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Bob Montana
Bobmontana.jpg
BornRobert William Montana
(1920-10-23)October 23, 1920[1]
Stockton, California, U.S.
DiedJanuary 4, 1975(1975-01-04) (aged 54)
Meredith, New Hampshire, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Cartoonist, Artist
Spouse(s)Peggy (née Bertholet)[2][3]

Robert William Montana (October 23, 1920 – January 4, 1975) was an American comic strip artist who created the original likenesses for characters published by Archie Comics and in the newspaper strip Archie.[4][5][6]

Early life[edit]

He was born in Stockton, California, to Roberta Pandolfini Montana and Ray Montana.[7] Both were in show business: Roberta had been a Ziegfeld girl, and Ray performed banjo on the vaudeville circuit.[7] As a result, Bob Montana traveled extensively as a child.[7] He attended Haverhill High School in Haverhill, Massachusetts.[7] and graduated from Manchester High School Central in Manchester, New Hampshire.[8]

According to Jane (Donahue) Murphy, a high school classmate of Montana's, Archie and his friends were based on people from their hometown and high school. She said Archie Andrews was based on Donahue's cousin, Richard Heffernan; Veronica Lodge on Agatha Popoff, the daughter of the local football team's doctor; Jughead Jones on a mischievous teen named "Skinny" Linnehan; while Miss Grundy may have been based on a high school typing and shorthand teacher named Lundstrom;[9] however, Haverhill's school librarian is also believed to be the model for Grundy.[7]

Career[edit]

While freelancing at True Comics and Fox Comics, Montana created an adventure strip about four teenage boys and tried to sell it without success.

Archie Comics[edit]

Montana started working for MLJ Comics (which would later be known as Archie Comics). He was asked to work up a high school style comic strip story, featuring Archie Andrews.[10]

The success of the Archie and friends story in MLJ Comics' Pep Comics (Dec. 1941) led MLJ to assign Montana to draw the first issue of Archie (Nov. 1942).[5] Montana was soon drawing the Archie comic strip, doing both the daily and Sunday strip, which over the next 35 years ran in over 750 newspapers.[11]

Personal life[edit]

Montana served 3½ years in WWII and was a sergeant at war's end; during this time, he met and married Peggy Bertholet.[2] They had four children: Paige, Lynn, Ray and Don.[7]

He died at age 54 of an apparent heart attack while cross-country skiing near his New Hampshire home.[12]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Robert Montana, January 1975". United States Social Security Death Index. FamilySearch. Retrieved March 2, 2013.
  2. ^ a b Connors, Ann (May 8, 1989). "A Funny Thing Happened to the Haverhill Class of '40". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  3. ^ Appelo, Tim (November 8, 1991). "Archie comics turn 50". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 24, 2018 – via EW.com.
  4. ^ Windolf, Jim (December 2006). "American Idol". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on July 13, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2017. Since the [court] settlement, every Archie product has listed John Goldwater as 'creator.' The name Bob Montana falls under a separate credit line that defines him as the 'creator' of 'the original characters’ likenesses.'
  5. ^ a b Offenberger, Rik (March 1, 2003). "Publisher Profile: Archie Comics". Borderline (19). Archived from the original on October 28, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2017 – via MightyCrusaders.net.
  6. ^ Harvey, R. C. (July 28, 2011). "John Goldwater, the Comics Code Authority, and Archie". The Comics Journal. Archived from the original on April 16, 2014.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Sullivan, Mark (December 30, 2001). "Now 60 Years Old, Archie Has Roots Reaching To Haverhill Cartoonist Used High School Friends For His Inspiration". The Boston Globe. republished online June 9, 2002 – via mcnsclips.blogspot.com.
  8. ^ "Bob Montana Brings Archie Comics to the Lakes Region". New England Historical Society. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  9. ^ Tennant, Paul (December 28, 2010). "'Archie' comic changes with the times, examines real-life topics". The Eagle-Tribune. North Andover, Massachusetts. Archived from the original on April 1, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  10. ^ Morales, Stephanie (July 4, 2018). "'Archie' artist honored with statue by his hometown". Associated Press. Retrieved July 4, 2018.
  11. ^ Beaty, Bart (2017). Twelve-Cent Archie: New Edition with Full Color Illustrations. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-8135-9046-2.
  12. ^ "Bob Montana, Cartoonist, Dies; Creator of 'Archie' Strip, 54". The New York Times. New York, New York. January 6, 1975. Retrieved May 3, 2018.

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