Blondie! (1938) starring Penny Singleton, Arthur
Lake, Larry Simms, Gene Lockhart. Directed by Frank R. Strayer. Screenplay by Richard
Flournoy Based on the comic strip "Blondie" created by Chic Young, owned,
and copyrighted by King Features Syndicate, Inc. (1930--). Producer: Robert
Sparks Run Time: 70 minutes. Black and White. USA Comedy
One of the longest-running movie series was the Blondie series, which ran for 28 films and was based on the Blondie comic strip created by Chic Young, first published on September 8, 1930. The comic strip is still being published in 2000 newspapers in 47 countries in 35 languages and is now drawn by Dean Young, Chic’s son. The original comic strip revolved around a flapper called "Blondie Boopadoop", who marries wealthy playboy Dagwood Bumstead. The Bumsteads disapprove of Blondie and disinherit Dagwood when the couple marries and he goes to work at a construction company owned by Mr. Dithers.
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| Blondie and Dagwood from the comic strip. |
When Columbia Pictures acquired the film rights, it was announced that Aurania Rouverol would be adapting the series with Gloria Blondell, Joan’s sister, set to star and Sam Marx set to produce. Later, it was announced that Stuart Erwin and Una Merkel were set to star. However, Shirley Deane was originally cast as Blondie, but due to illness, Penny Singleton replaced her, dying her hair blonde.
Blondie! was in production from September 12 to October 7 and in the theaters on November 30, 1938. Its success would spawn the series that would run until 1943, when the studio lost interest after the first fourteen pictures. However, audience response encouraged the studio to re-establish production in 1945 and the series ran through 1950.
