In 1939 , 18 - year - old Betty Tokar Jankovich in short dated , and quickly dumped , a comic book artist named Bob Montana . Though she chop-chop draw a blank about the young illustrator , he never forgot about her . More than seven decades later , Jankovich was appalled to discover that an ex-wife - young man she only vaguely remembered had name a character reference after her : She was the intake for Betty Cooper from theArchiecomics .
Jankovich would likely never have cognize about herArchieconnection if not for filmmaker Gerald Peary . A documentarian , diarist , andArchiesuper - buff , Peary resolve to research the substantial - life inspiration for the laughable book fictional character . He did n’t have a bun in the oven to in reality get together any living real - liveliness members of the gang — he just wanted to find out if they ’d really subsist .
But one day , Peary ’s head research worker , Shaun Clancy , come to him with an amazing discovery : agree to Montana ’s widow woman , Betty was a former girlfriend who , after dumping Montana , had blend in on to marry the police force chief of Perth Amboy , New Jersey .
Armed with that one clew , Peary and Clancy superintend to chase after down Jankovich , who still lives in New Jersey . Jankovich , now 94 years old , had no idea Montana had named a fictional character after her .
When she heard the news , memory board of the young Montana came flooding back . JankovichtoldThe New York Timesshe’d met the artist while work in the cafeteria of the Western Union Building with her sister Helen . One day , Montana and a friend had ask for her and Helen out , and she ’d call back “ We forge in the same edifice and you ’re very nice - looking men , so why not ? ”
Though the relationship did n’t last , Jankovich remember Montana lovingly . When Peary got in touch , she sky-high agree to participate in his docudrama and differentiate the story of her brief human relationship with theArchieillustrator .
The documentary , Archie ’s Betty , is nowplaying in festivals , and Jankovich is thoroughly amuse by the sudden attention . “ It ’s wonderful the direction it developed , ” she told theTimes . “To have all this promotional material at the long time of 94 , it is wry , is n’t it ? ”
[ h / t : New York Times ]
