Almanac: Blondie

Entertainment Manager 08/09/2019

On September 8, 1930, the comic strip "Blondie" first hit the funny pages.

Created by cartoonist Chic Young, the strip originally portrayed Blondie as a Jazz Age flapper, and Dagwood as a carefree playboy.

Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead, with Daisy. On September 8, 1930, a favorite of the funny pages made its debut, heralding almost nine decades of marital bliss, jaw-breaking sandwiches, and steamrolled mailmen. King Features Syndicate

But in deference to the worsening Great Depression, they were transformed just a few years later into a humble married couple, with Dagwood forced to take an office job under the tyranny of the dyspeptic Mr. Dithers.

Dagwood's anxieties were occasionally eased by the creation of one of his towering "Dagwood sandwiches."

Along the way, Blondie and Dagwood have occasionally broken out of the printed page. Between 1938 and 1950 they starred in no fewer than 28 movies.

Penny Singleton as Blondie and Arthur Lake as Dagwood, with Larry Simms, in "Blondie Plays Cupid" (1940), one of 28 films produced by Columbia Pictures over 12 years. Columbia Pictures

And there were two "Blondie" TV shows, including a CBS series in 1968-69, with Patricia Harty and Will Hutchins in the title roles, along with Jim Backus as Mr. Dithers.

Still, it's on the comic pages that Blondie and Dagwood have made their true home ... a place of quiet laughs and jaw-breaking sandwiches that endures to this day.

For more info:

  • Comics Kingdom: Blondie (Official site)
  • "Blondie: The Complete Bumstead Family History" by Dean Young (Thomas Nelson), in eBook format, available via Amazon

       
Story produced by Charis Satchell. 

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