187) BLONDIE…

Blondie by Chic Young 11-26-1936

When Blondie by Chic Young premiered in 1930, the title character was a somewhat empty headed remnant of the flapper era named Blondie Boopadoop. Over the next couple of years Blondie was pursued by various suitors, but ended up marrying the heir to a vast fortune, a fellow named Dagwood Bumstead, on February 17, 1933. With this union Dagwood was immediately disinherited and wound up taking a job at Dithers Construction as an office manager.

The comic strip transformed into a humorous examination of a middle class suburban family with the arrival of son Alexander (called Baby Dumpling at birth) and later a daughter, Cookie.

Arguably one of the most popular strips of all time, Blondie has appeared in over 2000 newspapers in 47 country and 35 different languages.

The strip also gave birth to a series of films produced from 1938 to 1950, a radio show that ran from 1939 to 1950, 26 television episodes in 1957, plus a short lived TV series in 1968.

Chic Young died in 1973, leaving the writing of the strip in the capable hands of his son, Dean. A number of talented cartoonists have contributed to the drawing chores, including Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon), Stan Drake (Heart of Juliet Jones), and Jeff Parker (Dustin). It is currently drawn by John Marshall.

In my opinion, after over 90 years in publication, Blondie continues to be well drawn and very entertaining.

If you have any questions or comments, please email me at themythfits@gmail.com