Archie Was a Carpenter

There are two transitions in show business that can prove difficult, and Robert Francis Hastings made both of them successfully.

He jumped from network radio to television, and he went from child stardom to an acting career as an adult.

“Three famous guests will appear on tonight’s ‘Barn Dance’ program over WHAM at 9:00 p.m.,” announced an ad in the September 23, 1939 edition of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. “Alec Templeton, wizard of the piano; Bobby Hastings, twelve-year-old singing wonder, and Johnny Burke, old-time vaudeville comedian, who for twenty years has been known as ‘The Man Who Won the War.’”

Hastings’ radio career took him from Nick Kenny’s WMCA programme in New York to the Barn Dance (in Chicago) to the title role in the Saturday morning radio show “The Adventures of Archie Andrews” through a circuitous set of circumstances. “Archie” started off on the Blue network on May 31, 1943, airing for 15 minutes on weeknights. Jack Grimes was Archie. It was rejigged and turned into a half-hour Friday night show on Blue, then shrunk back to a 15-minute daytimer, then expanded to a 25-minute show on Friday nights. Jack Grimes was still Archie until he turned 18 and the U.S. Navy claimed him in April 1944. Bert Boyer was now Archie. The show was had moved to Mutual and shrunk to 15 minutes again at the start of the year. Anyway, Archie began life anew on NBC on September 29, 1945. Charles Mullen was now Archie. Bob Hastings took over the role by April 1946.

I’ve found a Christian Science Monitor interview with Mullen at the time but poor Bob Hastings doesn’t seem to have received much publicity during his spell as Archie. That didn’t happen until his most famous TV role came along in 1962—toadying tar Lt. Elroy Carpenter on McHale’s Navy, a series he joined after the pilot episode for what was supposed to be a solo appearance. Here’s a United Press International story from September 9, 1964.

Hollywood Loser Is In Luck Now
By JOSEPH FINNIGAN
UPI Hollywood Correspondent
HOLLYWOOD (UPI)—Actor Bob Hastings, an all time Hollywood loser, has struck it rich, signing a seven year television contract which could make him a rich man.
Its good news to Hastings’ wife and their four children. The wife of a free lance actor sometimes never knows where hubby’s next paycheck is coming from.
In Hastings’ case, things weren’t that bad. He has been a regular on “McHale’s Navy” for two years, his title as a loser coming from the fact that he plays Lt. Carpenter, aide to the hapless Capt. Binghamton.
Lt. Carpenter seems always to get it in the neck as he pays for everybody else's mistakes. But even television's losers get a break in real life. Hastings good fortune is well deserved. He’s a talented actor and a nice chap.
Glad To Have Contract
"After two years I got a contract, said Hastings over cocktails in a Chinese restaurant across the street from Universal Studio. I’m happy about it. And with a wife and four children I’m glad to have it.”

Hastings’ enlistment in “McHale’s Navy” started out as a short term affair.
“I came in as a one shot guy and they decided to make me the captain’s aide,” Hastings said. “The first year I did about 24 shows out of 38 and the second year I did 36 out of 37. Then they decided to sign me. They had built the part up to my advantage. Now I’m putting money in the bank every week. I’m guaranteed 40 weeks work out of 52. Thank God, I’m working. I’ve been around a long time and this is the easiest work I’ve ever done.”
Hastings character of Lt. Carpenter could have been dismissed from the show after that first appearance two years ago. But since then, Hastings’ talented portrayal of the rule-reciting naval officer has made the character an integral part of the show.
Plays Fall Guy
“He’s become a down-the-line jackass,” said Hastings, describing the character. “He knows all the rules, goes by the book. ‘McHale’s’ crowd knows none of the rules and they come up smiling. I get it in the neck.
“A great asset to me in the show is that I work with Joe Flynn (Capt. Binghamton). Flynn is one of the finest comedians. He has great timing and I feel the way we have worked together has kept me on the show. It made my part important."
As we said, it’s good to see the loser win once in awhile. Bob gets batted around enough on that show. The least the television brass can do is give him a little financial security.

Here’s a column from the Newspaper Enterprise Association dated February 1, 1965.

Hastings Still Gets Nervous During Show
By ERSKINE JOHNSON
HOLLYWOOD (NEA)—After three years of regular stardom as dopey Lt. Carpenter of ABC-TV's "McHale's Navy," Bob Hastings says he's still nervous every time the director asks for action. But he's not nervous about being nervous.
He's happy about it.
"It is my theory," explains the boyish father of four, "that an actor can't give a good performance without being nervous. It keeps you on your toes. So I work this way. I only learn half of my lines, skim over the other half. So now as Carpenter I'm doubly nervous. I keep getting more scared all the time."
That Hastings' method is working for him is obvious. He made his debut on the show three years ago for only one appearance but quickly became a regular. Now, teamed with Joe Flynn, their scenes together have become show stealers.
Success, however, has also left him nervous—about money. He's earning more than he's ever made. “But,” he laughs, "I can't quite get used to it. I don't have the nerve to go out and buy a $200 suit. When my wife (former radio singer Joan Rice) and our four children go out to dinner, the kids know they each have a $1 limit.
"The other night we stopped at a fancy restaurant and when the menu arrived, the kids went into a panic. The cheapest dinner was $3.60. I noticed their panic and smiled, 'Okay, kids. $3.60 is the limit tonight, but no more,' Well, they looked at me like some kind of hero."
Bob Hastings has been in show business all his life, first as a singer on the National Barn Dance, then as an actor on network radio (Archie Andrews) and live television.
"Usually as an actor," he says, "I played fast-talking characters sort of in the Jack Carson style. This Carpenter role is something new for me. When I moved out to Hollywood from New York in 1960, things were slow for me. I played bit roles, such as a house painter on 'The Real McCoys.' I was sort of being typed as a smiling heavy when the role in 'McHale's Navy' came along."
He has a younger brother, Don Hastings, also an actor who has been starred for four years now on the TV soap opera, "As The World Turns." They often confuse fans. "Our voices are the same and we look somewhat alike and I'm getting letters now from curious people who write. 'How can you play a daily TV role in New York and also work with McHale's gang in Hollywood?'"
His idol as a comedian is Joe Flynn, who plays his captain in the series. "We have a lot of fun in that office," he grins. "Joe's always dreaming things up for me to do. I'm grateful to him for the way things have turned out on this series.

Hastings’ other well-known TV role was on a show that was a far cry from the tone of “McHale’s Navy.” He showed up periodically as Kelsey, the owner of the bar frequented (and later purchased by) Archie Bunker on “All in the Family.”

The role that Hastings should have got, but didn’t, was that of Archie Andrews. We’re talking about the cartoon version of Archie produced by the Filmation studio. Hastings was familiar to the people at Filmation as he had played Superboy in the studio’s “New Adventures of Superman” in 1966. Instead, Dal MacKennon was hired to impersonate Dick Crenna as Walter Denton on “Our Miss Brooks.”

Hastings did have more shots at starring as radio’s Archie, even though the series went off the air on September 14, 1949 before returning on Saturday nights at 7:30 on January 14, 1950 until April 1, then moving to 11:30 a.m. on May 13, and, well you get the idea. In later years, he and many fine actors appeared at various old time radio conventions where programmes of yester-year were re-created. Hastings passed away in 2014 at the age of 89.