Blondie (radio)
Encyclopedia
Blondie (comic strip)
Blondie is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Chic Young. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, the strip has been published in newspapers since September 8, 1930...
comic strip by Chic Young
Chic Young
Murat Bernard Young , better known as Chic Young, was an American cartoonist who created the popular, long-running comic strip Blondie. His 1919 William McKinley High School Yearbook cites his nickname as Chicken, source of his familiar pen name and signature...
. The radio program had a long run on several networks from 1939 to 1950.
After Penny Singleton
Penny Singleton
Penny Singleton was an American film actress. Born Marianna Dorothy Agnes Letitia McNulty in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania she was the daughter of an Irish-American newspaperman Benny McNulty — from whom she received the nickname "Penny" because she was "as bright as a penny".During her sixty...
was cast in the title role of the feature film Blondie
Blondie (film)
Blondie is a 1938 movie directed by Frank Strayer, based on the comic strip of the same name. The screenplay was written by Chic Young and Richard Flournoy....
(1938), co-starring with Arthur Lake
Arthur Lake (actor)
Arthur Lake was an American actor known best for bringing Dagwood Bumstead, the bumbling husband of Blondie, to life in film, radio and television.-Early life and career:...
as Dagwood (the first in a series of 28 produced by Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
); she and Lake repeated their roles December 20, 1938, on The Pepsodent Show starring Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
. The appearance with Hope led to their own show, beginning July 3, 1939, on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
as a summer replacement for The Eddie Cantor Show
Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor was an American "illustrated song" performer, comedian, dancer, singer, actor and songwriter...
. However, Cantor did not return in the fall, so the sponsor, R.J. Reynolds
R.J. Reynolds
Richard Joshua "R. J." Reynolds was an American businessman and founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company....
' Camel Cigarettes chose to keep Blondie on the air Mondays at 7:30pm. Camel remained the sponsor through the early WWII years until June 26, 1944.
In 1944, Blondie was on the NBC Blue Network, sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American diversified multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as soaps, detergents, and oral hygiene products . Under its "Hill's" brand, it is also a manufacturer of...
's Super Suds, airing Fridays at 7pm from July 21 to September 1. The final three weeks of that run overlapped with Blondies return to CBS on Sundays at 8pm from August 13, 1944, to September 26, 1948, still sponsored by Super Suds. Beginning in mid-1945, the 30-minute program was heard Mondays at 7:30pm. Super Suds continued as the sponsor when the show moved to NBC on Wednesdays at 8pm from October 6, 1948, to June 29, 1949.
When Penny Singleton left the radio series in the mid-1940s, Patricia Lake
Patricia Lake
Patricia Van Cleeve Lake , known as Patricia Lake, was an American socialite, actress, and radio comedienne, who was suspected of being and, just before she died, claimed to be the illegitimate daughter of actress Marion Davies and publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst.-Parentage:In the 1920s,...
, the former Patricia Van Cleeve, replaced her as the voice of Blondie for the remaining five years of the show, opposite her real-life husband Arthur Lake. Ann Rutherford
Ann Rutherford
Ann Rutherford is a Canadian-American actress in film, radio, and television. She has had a long career starring and co-starring in films, playing Polly Benedict on the big screen of the 1930s and 1940s in the Andy Hardy series, and on The Bob Newhart Show as Newhart's character's...
and Alice White were also heard as radio's Blondie. In 1954, Lake also co-starred with her husband in an early television sitcom he created called Meet the Family.
In its final season, the series was on ABC as a Sustaining Program
Sustaining program
Sustaining program is a term used in the United States broadcasting industry for a program which does not have commercial sponsorship or advertising...
from October 6, 1949, to July 6, 1950, first airing Thursdays at 8pm and then (from May) 8:30pm. The radio show ended the same year as the Blondie film series (1938-50).
Others in the cast: Leone Ledoux (Alexander and Cookie Bumstead), Tommy Cook (Alexander as of May 1943), Larry Sims (Alexander as of Summer 1946), Jeffrey Silver (Alexander by 1949), Marlene Aames (Cookie by 1946), Norma Jean Nilsson (Cookie in 1947), Joan Rae (Cookie after 1947), Hanley Stafford(J.C. Dithers), Elvia Allman
Elvia Allman
Elvia Allman was a character actress and voice over performer in Hollywood films and television programs for over 50 years. She is best remembered for her semi-regular roles on The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction and for being the voice of Walt Disney's Clarabelle Cow...
(Mrs. Dithers), Frank Nelson and Harold Peary
Harold Peary
Harold Peary was an American actor, comedian and singer in radio, film, television and animation remembered best as Throckmorton P...
(Herb Woodley), Arthur Q. Bryan and Harry Lang (Mr. Fuddle), Dix Davis (Alvin Fuddle), Mary Jane Croft
Mary Jane Croft
Mary Jane Croft was an American actress best known for her roles as Betty Ramsey on I Love Lucy, Mary Jane Lewis on The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy, and Clara Randolph on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet....
(Harriet), Veola Vonn and Lurene Tuttle
Lurene Tuttle
Lurene Tuttle was a character actress, who made transitions from vaudeville to radio, to films and television. Her most enduring impact was as one of network radio's most versatile actresses...
(Dimples Wilson). Harry Lubin, Billy Artz and Lou Kosloff supplied the music.
Columbia theatrical series
Blondie was successfully adapted into a long-running series of 28 low-budget theatrical B-features, produced by Columbia PicturesColumbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, also starring Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake. Beginning with Blondie in 1938, the series lasted 12 years, through Beware of Blondie (1950). Faithfulness to the comic strip was a major concern of the creators of the movie series. Little touches were added that were iconic to the strip, like the appearance of Dagwood's famous sandwiches - and the running gag of Dagwood colliding with the mailman amid a flurry of letters, (which preceded the title sequence in almost every film). The films were typical of family-fare situational comedies of the period, and are endearingly funny in a low-key way. As the series progressed, the Bumstead children grew from toddlers to young adults onscreen. Larry Simms as Baby Dumpling (later known as Alexander) reprised his role in all the films. Daughter Cookie was played by three different child actresses, beginning in 1942 with her first appearance (as an infant) in Blondie's Blessed Event, the eleventh entry in the series. Daisy had pups in the twelfth episode, Blondie For Victory (1942). Rounding out the regular supporting cast, character actor Jonathan Hale
Jonathan Hale
Jonathan Hale was a Canadian-born film and television actor.-Career:Born Jonathan Hatley in Ontario, Canada, Hale was well known as Dagwood Bumstead's boss, Julius Caesar Dithers, in the Blondie film series in the 1940s. He is also notable for playing Inspector Farnack in various The Saint films...
played Dagwood's irascible boss, J.C. Dithers. The Bumsteads' neighbors, the Woodleys, were oddly missing from the series.
- Blondie (1938)
- Blondie Meets the Boss (1939)
- Blondie Takes a Vacation (1939)
- Blondie Brings Up Baby (1939)
- Blondie on a Budget (1940)
- Blondie Has Servant Trouble (1940)
- Blondie Plays Cupid (1940)
- Blondie Goes Latin (1941)
- Blondie in Society (1941)
- Blondie Goes to College (1942)
- Blondie's Blessed Event (1942)
- Blondie for Victory (1942)
- It's a Great Life (1943)
- Footlight Glamour (1943)
- Leave It to Blondie (1945)
- Life With Blondie (1946)
- Blondie's Lucky Day (1946
- Blondie Knows Best (1946)
- Blondie's Big Moment (1947)
- Blondie's Holiday (1947)
- Blondie in the Dough (1947)
- Blondie's Anniversary (1947)
- Blondie's Reward (1948)
- Blondie's Secret (1948)
- Blondie's Big Deal (1949)
- Blondie Hits the Jackpot (1940)
- Blondie's Hero (1950)
- Beware of Blondie (1950)
Television
Pamela BrittonPamela Britton
Pamela Britton was an American actress best known for appearing as "Loralee Brown" in the television series My Favorite Martian . She also starred in the film noir classic D.O.A. .-Early career:...
portrayed Blondie in the 1957 TV series opposite Arthur Lake. Patricia Harty
Patricia Harty (actor)
Patricia Harty also known professionally as Trisha Hart, is an American actress. She is known for her starring roles in several short-lived television series, Occasional Wife as Greta Patterson, Blondie as the titular Blondie Bumstead, The Bob Crane Show as Ellie Wilcox and Herbie, The Love Bug...
had the title role in the 1968 TV series. Neither Blondie TV series lasted a full season.