Actually, the title for this final series episode should have been "Beware of the Blonde." More female complications here for poor Dagwood, and who else to play the shady lady in question than beautiful Adele Jergens, who appeared in a previous episode.
Jergens plays a businesswoman called Toby Clifton, who Dagwood is supposed to sign a business contract with, also involving thousands of dollars in bonds. The confusing thing here is the re-appearance of Mr. Dithers, who supposedly sold the business to Mr. Radcliffe a few years ago? Whatever the case, he
makes the same mistake AGAIN -- leaving Dagwood in charge.
Arthur Lake, without fail, is the whole show, his dumbfounded expressions are incredible. Toby and her good for nothin' partner, Adolph (best played by Douglas Fowley) work up a clever scheme to rob Dagwood. In a neat bait and switch, Dagwood winds
up at Toby's apartment -- Adolph bursts into the place and demands the bonds as "hush money" OR ELSE!
Calling Blondie to work her magic and save the day.
Director Edward Bernds has lots of fun with the cast, and there's no better actor than Douglas Fowley to play a con man. Fowley played this type of role in dozens of films. He and Adele Jergens make a good team.
I agree with the last reviewer, this may have been an old script (never filmed) that had Mr. Dithers character in it. The writers should have just changed it to Mr. Radcliffe, which would have made more sense, even though Jerome Cowan had left the series. Silent screen actor Edward Earle plays Dithers in a bit role. It would have been a better idea for producers to hire character actor Hanley Stafford, who played Dithers in the long running radio show. His voice would have been immediately recognized by fans.
Another strange thing at this time concerned Penny Singleton, who was fired from the radio show by long time sponsor Colgate. The advertising big shots apparently wanted another actress (with another style) to play the role. Why would you fire the star? This dramatic change brought an end to the radio show, without too much surprise. Arthur Lake's real life wife actually ended up playing the role of Blondie. Amazing! With the cancellation of the radio show, it was no surprise Columbia Pictures closed out the movie series.
Good support from series favorites Alyn Lockwood as Mary, the switchboard operator and comedian Dick Wessel as the bruised mailman. Edward Bernds also brought in two alumnus from the THREE STOOGES series, which he also directed. Look for Symona Boniface in a bit role and goofy Emil Sitka as a trash man.
After 12 years the series ended, but fortunately, there are reruns and many thanks to MOVIES Net for featuring these episodes on Saturday morning. Also the movie series is always available on remastered dvd.
