''Dumb Dora'' is a comic strip published from 1924 to 1936 distributed by

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...

. The term "dumb Dora" was a 1920s American

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...

term for a foolish woman; the strip helped popularize the term.

Publication history

''Dumb Dora'' was initially drawn by

Chic Young Murat Bernard "Chic" Young (January 9, 1901March 14, 1973) was an American cartoonist who created the comic strip ''Blondie (comic strip), Blondie''. His 1919 ''William McKinley High School Yearbook'' cites his nickname as Chicken, source of hi ...

(of later '' Blondie'' fame).''Dumb Dora''
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on March 6, 2015. After Young left the strip to create ''Blondie'',

Paul Fung Paul Fung (1897–1944) was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip ''Dumb Dora''. Fung's father was a Baptist minister, the Reverend Fung Chak, a graduate of Stanford University. Paul was born in Seattle,< ...

took over ''Dumb Dora''. Fung also added a topper strip to ''Dumb Dora'', ''When Mother was a Girl''.

Bil Dwyer William Michael "Bil" Dwyer (born March 30, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian, game show host, actor, and writer. He is perhaps most well known as the host or play-by-play announcer on series such as ''BattleBots,'' ''I've Got a Secret'', a ...

took over the strip in 1932, until ''Dumb Dora'' was discontinued in January 1936. * Chic Young: June 25, 1924 – April 27, 1930 * Paul Fung: April 30, 1930 – Sept 3, 1932 * Bil Dwyer: Sept 5, 1932 – January 1936

Story and characters

Although Young's Dora was uneducated, she was also capable of persuading people around her to let her get her own way. This frequently resulted in the strip ending with a character saying of Dora "She ain't so dumb!"

Maurice Horn Maurice Horn (born 1931) is a French-American comics historian, author, and editor, considered to be one of the first serious academics to study comics. He is the editor of ''The World Encyclopedia of Comics'', ''The World Encyclopedia of Cartoon ...

, ''Women in the Comics''. New York :Chelsea House Publishers, 1977. (pp. 46, 56, 125)

In popular culture

According to slang glossaries of the early 1920s, the term "dumb Dora" referred to any young woman who was scatter-brained or stupid.

Flapper Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptab ...

s of the 1920s were also sometimes likened to dumb Doras. The epithet "Dumb Dora" became identified with the

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

act of

George Burns George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebr ...

and his wife,

Gracie Allen Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen (July 26, 1895 – August 27, 1964) was an American vaudevillian, singer, actress, and comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns, her straight man, ap ...

, as did a similar slang expression for a female who was not very bright, but in a charming way: "dizzy dame." In the vaudeville era, as well as during the period from the Golden Age of Radio through the first several decades of television, female comedians were often expected to play a "Dumb Dora" or "Dizzy Dame" role, even if in real life, they were very intelligent. A good example of this dichotomy was

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden ...

.Horowitz, Susan. ''Queens of Comedy: Lucille Ball, Phyllis Diller, Carol Burnett, Joan Rivers, and the New Generation of Funny Women''. Gordon and Breach, 2012, pp. 111-112. Although ''Dumb Dora'' comic strip was discontinued in 1935, the TV

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...

Match Game ''Match Game'' is an American television panel game show that premiered on NBC in 1962 and has been revived several times over the course of the last six decades. The game features contestants trying to match answers given by celebrity panelist ...

'' occasionally alludes to the strip, asking those watching in the studio to shout in unison, "How dumb is she?" (borrowing from a routine from ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...

'').

References

{{King Features Syndicate Comics 1924 comics debuts 1935 comics endings American comics characters American comic strips American slang Comics characters introduced in 1924 Female characters in comics Gag-a-day comics Women-related neologisms 1920s neologisms Flappers