Who Knew?

Who knew Blondie was a 1930s partying vamp who hooked up with rich playboy Dagwood Bumstead and was his fiancé? Certainly not me.

She was a flapper, prone to jive talk who expressed her happiness at meeting Dagwood's rich "pop" as feeling "boo-boop-a-doop." Dagwood's over the moon over her. They announce their engagement to "pops" as he is busy putting the final touches on a merger wearing the formal attire of the fabulously wealthy in the 1930s, even after the market crash.

No one gets older in the comics. The Peanuts gang never reached high school, and Snoopy never faces the prospect of being put down. Blondie has the same tiny waist she had 93 years ago when Chic Young introduced her and Dagwood to the public.

Blondie might have been the most popular comic strip of its era. They made 28! Blondie movies, low budget, pretty much under 90 minute films staring Arthur Lake as Dagwood and Penny Singleton as Blondie, starting in 1938 through 1950. 

Arthur Lake was born in 1905 and passed away in 1987. His parents were circus acrobats and Lake gives a preview of his stutter-step, shoe slipping, flapping Dagwood moves when he appears as an elevator operator in 1937's Topper starring Carey Grant and Constance Bennett.

Penny Singleton was born in 1908 and passed away in 2003. She appeared in all 28 Blondie movies and was in movies as late as 1990 in a Jetson's movie.

Leonard Maltin has an essay in his movie guide on the Blondie franchise. The movies were wildly popular and gave the studio a chance to introduce their up and coming actors, notably Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, and Lloyd Bridges. 

I'm not sure I've ever seen a Blondie movie. For some reason, Turner Movie Classics doesn't seem to feature them. Maybe there is something legally holding up their viewing. I do remember Arthur Lake in Topper, which is a favorite movie.

The comic strip Blondie enters the news in a story in the NYT on April 24, 2024 as it is announced that there is a contest to name the latest character to join the cast and help Blondie with her catering business.

Blondie is looking for a pastry chef in a strip now still in the Chic Young family, now written by Dean Young, Chic's son, There are other family contributors to the strip which is introducing a fresh approach to keep the strip interesting. Dagwood is ceding panels to his wife and her catering business. King Features Syndicate is ran a contest to have the public choose a name for the yet to be installed pastry chef.

There was a website (of course) that you could go to vote for one of the five names that have been proposed for the pastry chef, a woman of Indian descent. The contest is over and the name Maya has been chosen. The black and white drawing of Maya however, to me at least, doesn't look like someone of Indian descent. The color image does, however.

Dagwood I'm sure will still be the star of the strip. I don't get newspapers that carry comic strips. I always delight when I'm out of town and get the local paper, which all seem to carry a roster of comics.

The NYT story by George Gene Gustines explains that Dagwood was disinherited by his rich father because he married Blondie. Dagwood's hair is classic slick down 1930s with a part in the center. He loves to nap, eat and complain about work. The sandwiches he makes for himself have put the word Dagwood in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), defined as towering layers of meat and cheese between two pieces of bread that are unimaginable to get your jaws around. But Dagwood of course does. I love to make my own Dagwoods when there are enough cold cuts and cheeses to work with.

I miss a daily paper with the comics. I still miss The Herald Tribune and Our Miss Peach. (Not Our Ms. Peach.)

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