User reviews

With this, the first in a movie series based on Chic Young's comic strip, Blondie has many elements and characters one associates with it like Dagwood often getting himself in hot water which his wife Blondie usually gets him out of though she isn't above some flaws herself when she jumps to conclusions like thinking he's having an affair. There's Dag's boss, J.C. Dithers, who also jumps to conclusions often resulting in him firing him before changing his mind when Dag does something good for the company. And then there's the Bumstead offspring of Baby Dumpling and the family dog, Daisy. Oh, also the mailman, Mr. Beasley who Dag always bumps into when he comes! All characters from the strip. One not from the strip is Alvin Fuddle who's Baby Dumpling's friend. Anyway, Arthur Lake and Penny Singleton are funny enough in their roles, Larry Simms is cute enough as the toddler, Daisy brings the funny with her takes, Jonathan Hale a good straight man for Lake as his boss, and Danny Mummert amusing enough with his exchanges with Simms. Oh, and Irving Bacon suitably flabbergasted as Mr. Beasley! There was one character I didn't like in this entry: Willie Best doing his stereotypical slow-witted Negro at the hotel. Good thing his part was brief. All in all, a fine initial entry for the long-running series. P.S. Since I like to cite when players from my favorite movie-It's a Wonderful Life-are in something else, here it's not only Simms (who played the Bailey offspring Pete) and Mummert (who played Little Marty Hatch) but also Charles Lane (who was Potter's associate who told of Bailey Park and said he may work for George someday) who plays the furniture salesman here.

BLONDIE (Columbia, 1938), directed by Frank R. Strayer, introduces Chic Young's famous comic strip characters, the Bumsteads, to the silver screen in the persona of Penny Singleton as Blondie; Arthur Lake as Dagwood Bumstead; Larry Simms as Baby Dumpling; and Jonathan Hale as Mr. J.C. Dithers.

In this series opener, Blondie, Dagwood and their four-year-old son they call Baby Dumpling, along with their dog, Daisy, live in a simple community going through their daily routines. Though simple enough, a chain of unfortunate events soon come one after the other at the time of Blondie and Dagwood's fifth wedding anniversary. Blondie starts the show by planning a surprise anniversary party and presenting Dagwood with the house of brand new furniture. While Dagwood is trying to impress his boss, Mr. Dithers, in trying to contact a very important client for the firm by waiting for him in the hotel lobby where he is staying, Dagwood befriends a middle-aged gentleman (Gene Lockhart) in trying to fix a broken down vacuum cleaner. Coming up to this man's room, Dagwood is introduced to the man he calls C.P., and his daughter, Elsie (Ann Doran), unaware that this is the man Dagwood must contact for the firm. Problems ensue when Blondie suspects Dagwood is having a secret rendezvous with an Elsie Watson, and mistakes CP's daughter to be that girl, considering Dagwood was seen with Elsie at the hotel by Blondie's former sweetheart, Chester Franey (Gordon Oliver). Chester shows up at the Bumsteads anniversary party, telling Blondie of the situation to Blondie at the gathering of guests consisting of Blondie's mother (Kathleen Lockhart), and sister, Dot (Dorothy Moore), leading to a World War battle. Poor Dagwood must get CP and his daughter to come to his house to straighten out everything, but more complications ensue. And yes, Dagwood gets fired for the first of many times on screen by Dithers.

Setting the pattern in future film installments is Blondie getting jealous when she believes Dagwood is tangled with another woman; Dagwood running out of the house and running over the postman in order to catch his morning bus for work; and Alvin Fuddow (Danny Mummert), Baby Dumpling's "genius" friend, getting his chance to show off his smartness, etc. Supporting the cast are Irving Bacon as Mr. Beasley, the postman, the surname later changed to Crum in future installments); Fay Helm as Alvin's mother; Ian Wolfe as the courtroom judge, along with several other character actors. And let's not forget Daisy, the Bumstead dog, who is always the scene stealer. Fortunately, American Movie Classics, which premiered BLONDIE October 8, 1995, has restored its original theatrical opening and closing titles, starting with the Columbia logo, doing away with the tag-on opening and ending with the King Features logo and 1960s-style sing along theme by unknown vocalists that accompanied the movie and its sequels when distributed to local television in 1970. Interestingly, when shown on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: May 1, 2018), the cable channel that airs restored movie prints, reverted to the King Features opening from the 1970s instead. BLONDIE is an enjoyable entry that produced 27 more movie episodes, ending with 1950s BEWARE OF BLONDIE. One particular thing about the BLONDIE series is that the central characters are played by the same actors throughout the entire series. And no one can play Blondie and Dagwood better than Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake. Sequel: BLONDIE MEETS THE BOSS (1939) (***)

Chic Young's popular comic strip Blondie made it's debut with this film for Columbia Pictures. For a dozen years Columbia put out the Blondie series of films starring Arthur Lake and Penny Singleton as Dagwood and Blondie. It might have kept going but for television and the fact that Penny Singleton had blacklist problems. Arthur Lake was forever typecast as Dagwood after this series, maybe the worst case of typecasting ever as no one could see him as anything else.

The usual problems of the Bumsteads both domestic and on the job for Dagwood are here from the comic strip. In this film Blondie buys a whole new living room set to surprise Dagwood on their fifth anniversary. In the meantime Dagwood wants to get ahead at the J.C.Dithers construction company and Jonathan Hale as Mr. Dithers tells him to land a big account with Gene Lockhart. Dagwood meets Lockhart without knowing who he is and from these two situations the whole movie develops. It's much too complicated to tell if further.

This was a nice debut for the series which was a money maker for Columbia while it lasted.

During the wee late night hours while watching tv during the 1980's, I discovered the "Blondie" film series. They were so funny that a good laugh could help me sleep. I tried to watch them every week they were on, however a man must have his sleep. I never forgot how much I enjoyed the films I saw, so recently I purchased the first six in the series from Amazon.com. There are 28 films in all spanning from 1938 to 1950. Penny Singleton (as "Blondie Bumstead"), Arthur Lake (as "Dagwood Bumstead") and Larry Simms (as "Baby Dumpling"/Dagwood/"Alexander") were in all the films for 12 years. Larry Simms was in "Blondie" at the age of 3 until he was 15. We literally saw him grow up to be a fine teenage boy. He is retired now and has not been in the acting business for quite some time. Penny Singleton is still alive at the nice age of 94. Her latest project was doing the voice of "Jane Jetson" in Jetsons: The Movie (1990). Arthur Lake however is no longer with us. Each film begins with a short preview of a few scenes in the film, then followed by the hilarious postman mishap which becomes the start of the film. That is Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake singing that catchy tune. The Blondie films are warm to the heart and very enjoyable to see and I highly recommend seeing them. Each film is somewhat a continuation of the prior film. And they are fine for children to see. The next film in the series is BLONDIE MEETS THE BOSS.

On the day of his fifth wedding anniversary, Dagwood is in trouble needing to raise $563 to pay back on an endorsement check that went sour to a woman named Elsie. Dithers (Dagwood's boss) says he will give Dagwood $600 as a bonus (plus a $10 raise that Blondie has been wanting Dagwood to get) if he can secure the contract from developer C.P. Hazlip. Hazlip, not wanting to see any salesmen such as Dagwood, becomes friends with Dagwood while indulging in one of their hobbies, tinkering (in this case a vacuum). Blondie becomes jealous when a man from the finance company comes to the house about "Elsie's note". Blondie suspects her husband is having an affair and confirms her suspicions when she finds Dagwood at Hazlip's hotel with his daughter Elsie. Dithers believes Dagwood is not getting any headway with the Hazlip deal so he fires him (not the first or last time this will happen) and Dagwood is further in Daisy's doghouse when Blondie, her mother and sister believe he is unfaithful. What is our lovable protagonist to do? I haven't seen any other films in the Blondie series, but it is easy to tell this is a standout film. Singleton and Lake are the perfect people to play the lead roles and Simms is adorable as Baby Dumpling. The script has numerous funny scenes, many of which are humorous touches to the film that don't develop the scenario further, but that is no big deal here. At the beginning of the film, the scenes alternating with Dagwood and Blondie didn't seem that smooth, but that may be the only flaw of the film. Rating, 9.

Singleton and Lake-- a marriage made in comedy heaven. Here they get the movie series off to a rollicking start. Poor Dagwood. He needs a raise from tight-fisted boss Dithers or the Bumstead livingroom will turn into an empty container. Worse, Blondie thinks he's having an affair when all the evidence conspires against innocent hubby. Good thing for Dagwood there's a broken down vacuum cleaner that cleans up the mess. Meanwhile, Baby Dumpling tries to stay out of punishment corner, while four-leg Daisy grabs all the food. Just another week in 1930's white-collar suburbia.

First-rate pacing from director Strayer. The threads never sag, while mild gags combine effortlessly with snappy dialog. It's a delightfully addled Dagwood and a humorously patient Blondie. Amazing how a studio cheapo like this so delightfully out-performs bigger budget comedies of then and now. I guess my only misgiving is with the rather dramatic upshot, but that's just a minor matter of taste. Anyway, kudos all around to a charming 70-minute Columbia production that you might think came out of the 1950's. Uh oh! I better stop now and take out the trash or the wife will have me joining Dumpling in the corner.

I have seen this and countless others in the series and always beat a path to the TV if I know any one them is on. AMC, in their less commercial era showed these every Sunday morning. Please watch these films if you have the opportunity. They are great, clean, non-violent family fun. And they work wonderfully well today.

This is the first of the classic films of American comedies in the BLONDIE series, of which 28 were made between 1938 and 1950. The films are all wonderfully comic and delightfully whimsical, and frequently absolutely hilarious. The main characters are Dagwood Bumstead and his wife Blondie. They derived from Chic Young's famous comic strip "Blondie", which began publication in 1930. From the 1930s right through to the end of the 1950s, Dagwood and Blondie represented a side of Middle American life which resonated though the heartland from coast to coast, and the two characters and their child "Baby Dumpling" and dog Daisy were so familiar that most ordinary people throughout America almost thought they knew them personally, or wished they did. The "Blondie" stories, according to Chic Young, were set in Joplin, Missouri, and what could be more Middle American than that? Arthur Lake, who played Dagwood with such genius, was born in 1905 in Corbin, Kentucky, the same strange former roadside town with truck-stops (before interstate highways existed) which gave the world Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, so Lake knew how to play a comic Middle American dimwit as well as anyone. ("Blondie, some of my green socks are blue.") Lake had already made 123 films before he commenced the BLONDIE series, but he did little else after 1938 until his retirement in 1957 than play Dagwood, in films, on TV, and on radio. He became a national institution. As a child, everyone I knew read "Blondie" every Sunday in the Sunday paper, though everyone called it "Dagwood and Blondie". I remember that it was from reading it that I learned for the first time in my life that there was such a thing as a pie which was not sweet but which had cheese and tomatoes on it instead, called a pizza, and after reading that I went around asking all the grownups I could find if they had ever seen or heard of a pizza and they all said no. It was years before I tasted one of these strange pizzas. It was definitely Dagwood who introduced the pizza to Middle America in the 1950s, such was the educational potential of a mass comic strip in those days, and look at the effect it had on the whole country. Now can you imagine American or any other Western life without pizza? Even the Mainland Chinese have been addicted to pizzas since the 1990s. Much of this we certainly owe to Chic Young's comic strip and his character Dagwood. In this first film we have the only appearances in the BLONDIE series of the comic genius Gene Lockhart (as C. P. Hazlit, an eccentric millionaire), and his wife Kathleen, as Blondie's mother. It is a pity they never reappeared, as Gene Lockhart in particular largely steals the film with his brilliant performance. (Maybe the producer was worried for that very reason that Lockhart would prevent his main characters from establishing themselves.) But the shining star of the whole BLONDIE series was always the perfectly cast Penny Singleton. It is clear to me that, consciously or subconsciously, January Jones of the TV series MAD MEN has modelled her stance, her pout, her deportment, and her movements on Penny Singleton, for period authenticity. They look and dress like sisters. Penny Singleton was a true phenomenon, a whirlwind of a housewife who took husband, child, dog, neighbours, husband's boss and husband's job all in hand while multi-tasking with all the housework at the same time. It was she who got her husband a raise in salary, she who brought all chaotic situations under control, she who made wry and humorous remarks all day long, she who rebuked and disciplined and then softened the situations with her angelic smile and a flattering witticism. In short, she was the Middle American ideal woman of her period. She was what every woman from Oregon to Georgia, from Vermont to Arizona, wanted above all to be. And she was beautiful. So she became the greatest of the unsung female American icons. But no modern feminist would ever give her the time of day or admit she had ever even existed, because she stands for everything extremist feminists most fear and hate, female contentment and subliminal control, with no fuss. When Penny Singleton said to Dagwood in this first film: "I think bringing up a husband is more difficult than bringing up a baby," she said what every American woman outside the coastal metropolises knew all too well, and she said it with such an angelic and loving smile that everyone adored her just as much as Dagwood did. We must not forget the other great star of this and the following BLONDIE films, the amazing child actor Larry Simms, who plays "Baby Dumpling", the unbelievably cute and adorable son of the Bumsteads, and in this film he makes his acting debut at the age of four (the same debut age as Margaret O'Brien and Shirley Temple). Apart from appearing in Frank Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) and a few others, Simms largely played this character, retiring from the screen in 1951 at the age of 18. Simms did appear in an uncredited role at the age of three in something else. I can understand something of what Simms must have gone through, since I myself was briefly a child actor at the age of three. At that age you are too young to notice or worry about the camera at all. What bothers you are the lights, which are so bright and dazzling and they have to keep telling you not to let the lights bother you and not to squint. The running subplot in the BLONDIE films of Baby Dumpling playing with the little boy Alvin next door provides some of the most hilarious episodes in the series, along with the little dog Daisy.

I read in "Guinness World Records" that the original "Blondie" movie was the world record holder for most sequels and there were over two dozen of them! That was what really attracted me to this movie in the first place. I think that by now, the standards have probably changed. It's simply a long running film series, like Godzilla or James Bond. I genuinely liked this movie, but not enough to see all of the followups. The plot is pretty basic, with Dagwood trying to get a raise to do something special for his and Blondie's wedding anniversary. He seems like he gets fired or threatened to, constantly.

I am not much of a fan of the "Blondie" comic. Then again, newspaper comics themselves have mostly declined. I admit to being unfamiliar with their kid, Baby Dumpling. He probably grew up to become one of the teenagers that now appears in the comic. The acting in this is pretty good and the jokes are quite funny. My favorite is probably the bit with the weighing machine. The comic strip was bright and colorful, so it was pretty weird to see it in black and white, but it still worked. When you have a slice of life story like this, it's hard to get that much story. This still worked pretty well. It's certainly light years ahead of those awful live-action Marmaduke and Garfield movies.

I hesitate to watch any of the other movies because I would probably go insane from their sheer number. Besides, none of them are really significant in any way apart from this. I'm just reviewing this and I'll be done with it. It seems to be off to a good start. Must be to get so many followups! ***.

Much credit goes to director Frank Strayer for handling many of the early BLONDIE episodes so well. These films have become classic comedies in their own right, and featuring some terrific character actors of the day.

This is the very first episode, released in late 1938, and what would successfully launch one of the longest running movie series. Penny Singleton, who was actually a brunette, and a popular singer and actress at the time, won the role of Blondie Bumstead and so defined the comic strip character. She also starred in the long-running radio show.

Arthur Lake, who was a juvenile star in silent films, starring in the HAROLD TEEN comedies, grew up a bit and was, likewise, perfect for the role of well meaning, but not too bright Dagwood. If anybody was Dagwood Bumstead, it was Arthur Lake, who would later repeat the role in a short lived tv series in the 50s and, remarkably, never aged much.

Rounding out the original cast was bright as a button Larry Simms (Baby Dumpling), later known as Alexander, an extremely talented child actor in his own right, comparable to the likes of Shirley Temple. Jonathan Hale, popular in the CHARLIE CHAN films, an excellent dramatic actor in many classic movies, played JC Dithers, Dagwood's frustrated boss, and yes, always in a DITHER. By the way, JC stood for Julius Caesar. Great trivia question.

Last but not least, Daisy the mischievous puppy, who we all watched grow up. The biggest gag of all was Daisy "occasonally" could talk! --albeit with a mutter or a mumble, defining the next dilemma Dagwood got into. Daisy's real name was Spooks, because he was easily frightened as a puppy.

Gene Lockhart guest stars as CP Hazlip, a wealthy client, who Mr. Dithers naturally wants Dagwood to sign to a construction contract. As dumb luck would have it, Dagwood actually bumps into CP at a hotel, both unknown to each other at the beginning --starting a beautiful friendship! Joining them is CP's spunky daughter, Elsie, well played by Ann Doran, who at the time was starring with comedian Charley Chase in a series of short film comedies.

Everything seems to be going along --until Elsie calls Dagwood at home and Blondie thinks he's cheating on her. Time for a divorce, which would be suggested in many later episodes, without too much surprise. Next, and right on time, Dithers fires Dagwood for not doing his job. But he has done his job in spades. Wait and see.

Many classic scenes in this first episode, let alone some unforgettable dialogue. The banter between angry Blondie and bumbling Dagwood --on the brink of a divorce -- is so funny, Character actress Dorothy Moore plays Blondie's sister and Gene Lockhart's real life wife, Kathleen, plays Blondie's mom. Dagwood "borrows" her new car and eventually saves the day and his marriage!

10 Stars. Simply Amazing.

Vintage comedy at its best, and a movie series that may have defined tv sitcoms in the 50s. BIG thank you to MOVIES Net for rerunning the series on Saturday mornings. Always on remastered dvd; either single episodes, some dvd box sets with 10 episodes or the entire series.

Artist Chic Young's Blondie comic strip was one of newspapers' most read cartoons in the early 1930s, with the Bumstead family, Dagwood, Blondie and their son Baby Dumpling getting into all sorts of predicaments. Hollywood capitalized on the popular comic strip by producing November 1938 "Blondie." The Columbia Pictures movie was so popular it went on to make 28 feature films on the shenanigans of the Bumsteads. Some film reviewers claim the 1938 original was the best of the lot (The studio ceased "Blondie" movies in 1943, but a huge public outcry encouraged Columbia to resume making more "Blondie" films the following year.).

Chic Young's comic strip struck a cord to its Depression-era readers. Publisher King Features' former president Joseph Connolly described its creator as "the greatest story teller of his kind since the immortal Charles Dickens." Columbia intended to make just one film when it bought the Blondie movie rights, but viewers immediately latched on to the personalities of Arthur Lake as Dagwood, Penny Singleton as Blondie, and Larry Simms as four-year-old Baby Dumpling, later named Alexander. All three remained with the series through its final film, 1950's 'Beware of Blondie.' The three actors added to the success of the Blondie movie series with their own beloved radio show.

Many of Columbia's contract actors were kept busy appearing in bit parts in the Blondie series, including Glenn Ford, Larry Parks, Shemp Howard, Lloyd Bridges and Rita Hayworth. Scriptwriter Richard Flournoy kept the signature Dagwood comic strip's trademarks, including Mr. Bumstead's penchant for eating his famous sandwich and running over the postman, scattering letters all over the place in his rush to get to work on time. In "Blondie," Dagwood finds himself in trouble when he co-signs a loan for a former secretary of Mr. Dithers' construction company where he's an office manager, only to see it default. Living paycheck to paycheck with his new furniture repossessed since he has to repay the loan, Dagwood readily accepts Mr. Dithers' offer of a raise and a bonus if he can get developer Mr. Hazlip to sign a contract with his company. One predicament leads to another, with Blondie reaching the end of her rope, threatening divorce proceedings.

Penny Singleton was a former cabaret singer who played small roles in a number of films beginning in 1930 before she earned the female lead in "Blondie." The actress turned to television after the series ended, and was the voice of Jane Jetson in 1962's 'The Jetsons.' Singleton later was active in unions, appearing before Congress to testify against the exploitation of female workers. She led a successful month-long strike by the Radio City Rockettes in 1967.

Arthur Lake as Dagwood had a long history as a performer, beginning with his parents' circus and vaudeville act in 1910. With his screen debut in 1917 at age 12, Lake appeared in a number of silent comedies for Universal Pictures, as well as in several lightweight romantic talkies, with one of his most notable roles as the bellhop in 1937's "Topper." His favorite part was Dagwood, and he extended his characterization of the good-intentioned husband in the 1957 TV series 'Blondie.' Lake was close friends with newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and his mistress Marion Davies, and spent many a night at their beach house where he met and married the actress' niece, Patricia Van Cleeve in 1937. Rumors spread that Patricia, who had a strong resemblance to Hearst, was the daughter of Davies. Shortly before her death Pat admitted the stories were true.

Larry Simms, as Baby Dumpling, appeared in several movies at the same time as "Blondie, including as the oldest son of George Bailey in 1946's "It's a Wonderful Life."

Television enveloped Blondie with two series, NBC's 1957 'Blondie,' with Lake as Dagwood and Pamela Britton as his wife, and 1968 as 'The New Blondie,' with Patricia Harty and Will Hutchins as the dynamic couple with Jim Backus in the Mr. Dithers role.