Blondie (comic strip)
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This article is about the comic strip. For other uses see: Blondie.
Blondie is a popular comic strip created by Chic Young that has been syndicated in newspapers since September 8, 1930. In 1995, the strip was one of 20 included in the Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative postage stamps.
Originally, Blondie focused on the adventures of Blondie Boopadoop, a carefree flapper girl who spent her days in dance halls. On February 17, 1933, after much fanfare and buildup, Miss Boopadoop was married to Dagwood Bumstead, a wealthy boyfriend of hers. Unfortunately for the Bumsteads, Dagwood was disowned by his upper-crust family for marrying beneath his class, and he has been slaving away in the office of the J. C. Dithers Construction Company to support his family ever since.
Blondie and Dagwood have stayed together, living in suburbia next door to Herb and Tootsie Woodley. The Bumstead family has grown, with the addition of a son named Alexander (originally "Baby Dumpling"), a daughter named Cookie, and a dog named Daisy. Alexander and Cookie have grown up into teenagers who uncannily resemble their parents.
Chic Young drew Blondie until his death in 1973, when the control of the strip passed to his son Dean Young. Dean Young has collaborated with a number of artists on the strip, including Jim Raymond, Stan Drake, and most recently Dennis LeBrun.
While the look of Blondie has been carefully preserved, a number of details have been altered to keep up with changing times. Blondie herself is no longer simply a housewife, but she and Tootsie Woodley started a catering business in 1991. Dagwood still knocks heads with his boss, Mr. Dithers, but now he does it in his capacity as webmaster for J. C. Dithers Construction Company.
Other regular characters include Mr. Beasley, the mailman, and Elmo Tuttle, a pesky neighborhood kid.
Blondie has occasionally graduated from the comics page to other media. There was a series of comic books starring characters from Blondie from 1937 to 1976. In the 1930s, Blondie had her own weekly radio show. In 1938, the film Blondie was made, with Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake as Blondie and Dagwood, reprising their roles from the radio. Following the success of this film, a whole series of over twenty Blondie movies were made, and then a television series in 1957, which lasted one season. More recently, there were two Blondie and Dagwood TV specials in 1987, with Loni Anderson and Frank Welker in the title roles.
A notable cultural contribution made by Chic Young's comic is the term "Dagwood sandwich", for a huge sandwich consisting of unlikely combinations of ingredients, Dagwood's favorite snack.
External links
- King Features (http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/blondie/about.htm)
- Toonopedia (http://www.toonopedia.com/blondie.htm)de:Blondie (Comic)