Blondie (1938 film)

Blondie
Blondie
Directed by	Frank R. Strayer
Written by	Richard Flournoy
Based on	Blondie; by Chic Young
Produced by	Robert Sparks
Starring	Penny Singleton; Arthur Lake
Cinematography	Henry Freulich
Edited by	Gene Havlick
Music by	Leigh Harline; Ben Oakland
Production; company	King Features Syndicate
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures (theatrical release); King Features Entertainment
Release date	November 30, 1938;
Running time	70 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Blondie is a 1938 American comedy film directed by Frank Strayer, based on the comic strip of the same name, created by Chic Young. The screenplay was written by Richard Flournoy. The plot involves the Bumsteads' fifth anniversary, Dagwood trying to get a raise, and Blondie trying to buy new furniture.

This was the first of 28 films based on the comic strip; Columbia Pictures produced them from 1938 to 1943, and popular demand brought them back in 1945.^[1] When the Blondie film series came to an end with Beware of Blondie in 1950, it was announced as being replaced with a series of Gasoline Alley movies. However, only two such films were made, Gasoline Alley (1951) and Corky of Gasoline Alley (1951). Columbia then reissued the Blondie features, beginning with the first film in the series.

Columbia used the series to showcase many of its contract players. Rita Hayworth was featured in Blondie on a Budget; Glenn Ford in Blondie Plays Cupid, Larry Parks and Janet Blair in Blondie Goes to College, Shemp Howard in Blondie Knows Best, and Adele Jergens in Blondie's Anniversary. Other roles were taken by Columbia contractees Doris Houck, Bruce Bennett, Lloyd Bridges, Ann Doran, Stanley Brown, Richard Fiske, Bud Jamison, Eddie Laughton, John Tyrrell, Alyn Lockwood, Jimmy Lloyd, Gay Nelson, and Ross Ford.

Plot summary

Dagwood Bumstead is a good-natured but scatterbrained young salesman at the Dithers Construction company office, with a wife, young son, and dog. He often arrives at work barely on time, after clumsily colliding on foot with the mail carrier.

In this pilot episode, Blondie secretly orders new furniture on credit for their anniversary, not realizing Dagwood is broke because he had helped out a needy friend. Mr. Dithers sends Dagwood to a hotel with orders to have a guest there, Mr. Hazlip, sign a valuable construction contract, but the reluctant Hazlip has the hotel clerk tell Dagwood he is not in.

While lounging on a lobby couch, Dagwood and another gentleman notice that the hotel's vacuum cleaner is broken, and they sneak it into the other man's room where the two of them bond while wasting hours, for fun, trying to repair it, although it's none of their business.

Blondie phones and mistakenly thinks the man's daughter, whom she's never met, is Dagwood's paramour, and asks for a divorce. Meanwhile, Blondie's parents and amorous ex-boyfriend visit her, and the new furniture is repossessed by movers in front of their eyes.

Dagwood, though unlicensed, borrows the parents' car without permission, and collides with a policeman, who notices the stolen vacuum cleaner in it bearing the hotel's name. In court, Blondie pleads with the judge not to jail her husband. To everyone's surprise, the vacuum cleaner gentleman is revealed as the valuable client Mr. Hazlip whom Dagwood had been trying to contact. He willingly signs the Dithers contract, and Blondie negotiates a raise and promotion for Dagwood.

Cast

Penny Singleton as Blondie Bumstead
Arthur Lake as Dagwood Bumstead
Larry Simms as Alexander "Baby Dumpling" Bumstead
Gene Lockhart as Clarence Percival "C.P." Hazlip
Jonathan Hale as J.C. Dithers
Gordon Oliver as Chester Franey
Danny Mummert as Alvin Fuddle
Kathleen Lockhart as Mrs. Miller (Blondie's mother)
Ann Doran as Elsie Hazlip
Dorothy Moore as Dot Miller (Blondie's sister)
Fay Helm as Mrs. Fuddle
Emory Parnell as Police Desk Sergeant
Willie Best as Hotel Porter (uncredited)
Ian Wolfe as Judge
Irving Bacon as Mr. Beazley, Letter Carrier
Dick Curtis as Daily Gazette Reporter
Edgar Dearing as Hotel Policeman
Richard Fiske as Nelson, Dithers' Employee
James Flavin as Policeman in Accident
Bud Jamison as Repossessor
Charles Lane as Furniture Salesperson
David Newell as First Draftsperson
Emory Parnell as Police Desk Sergeant
John Rand as Gardener

Films

Twenty-eight films were produced by Columbia Pictures between 1938 and 1950:

Preservation

Blondie was preserved and restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. The restoration's funding was provided by the Packard Humanities Institute. The restoration premiered at the UCLA Festival of Preservation in 2022.^[2]

References

^ Blottner, Gene (2011). "Blondie". Columbia Pictures Movie Series, 1926–1955: The Harry Cohn Years. McFarland. ISBN 9780786486724.
^ "Scram! / Blondie | UCLA Film & Television Archive". cinema.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-07.

External links

Blondie at IMDb
Blondie at AllMovie
Blondie at the TCM Movie Database
Blondie at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
Blondie: The Movie Series
Blondie Movies Photos and Music on YouTube

[1] Blottner, Gene (2011). "Blondie". Columbia Pictures Movie Series, 1926–1955: The Harry Cohn Years. McFarland. ISBN 9780786486724.

[2] "Scram! / Blondie | UCLA Film & Television Archive". cinema.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-07.

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