''Blondie'' is a radio situation comedy adapted from the long-running '' Blondie'' comic strip by Chic Young. It stars Arthur Lake as

Dagwood Bumstead Dagwood Bumstead is a main character in cartoonist Chic Young's long-running comic strip '' Blondie''. He debuted in the first strip on September 8, 1930. He was originally heir to the Bumstead Locomotive fortune, but was disowned when he married ...

and, for the majority of its run, Penny Singleton as Blondie Bumstead. The radio program ran on several networks from 1939 to 1950.

Broadcast history

In 1938, Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake were cast in the

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

film '' Blondie''. The film was a box office success and a long-running film series went into production, lasting until 1950 and featuring twenty-eight feature films. As part of the promotion for the first film, Singleton and Lake appeared as Blondie and Dagwood on the December 20, 1938 episode of ''

The Pepsodent Show ''The Pepsodent Show'' is an American radio comedy program broadcast during the Golden Age of Radio. The program starred comedian Bob Hope and his sidekick Jerry Colonna along with Blanche Stewart and Elvia Allman as high-society crazies Brenda a ...

'' radio program, which starred

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with ...

. The appearance with Hope led to their own show, beginning July 3, 1939, on CBS as a summer replacement for '' The Eddie Cantor Show''. However, Cantor did not return in the fall, so the sponsor, R.J. Reynolds' Camel cigarettes chose to keep ''Blondie'' on the air Mondays at 7:30 p.m. Camel remained the sponsor until June 26, 1944. In 1944, ''Blondie'' was on the NBC Blue Network, sponsored by

Colgate-Palmolive Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in the production, distribution, and provision of household, health car ...

's Super Suds, airing Fridays at 7 p.m. from July 21 to September 1. The final three weeks of that run overlapped with ''Blondies return to CBS on Sundays at 8pm from August 13, 1944, to September 26, 1948, still sponsored by Super Suds. Beginning in mid-1945, the 30-minute program was heard Mondays at 7:30 p.m. Super Suds continued as the sponsor when the show moved to NBC on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. from October 6, 1948, to June 29, 1949. When Singleton left the radio series in 1949, Ann Rutherford replaced her as the voice of Blondie. In October 1949, Patricia Lake, the real life wife of Arthur Lake took the role.

Alice White Alice White (born Alva White; August 25, 1904Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books. , pg. 1228. – February 19, 1983) was an American film ac ...

was also heard as radio's Blondie. In its final season, the series was on ABC as a sustaining program from October 6, 1949, to July 6, 1950, first airing Thursdays at 8 p.m. and then (from May) 8:30 p.m. The radio show ended the same year as the ''Blondie'' film series. Arthur Lake would later return to the role of Dagwood in the 1957 television series '' Blondie'' opposite

Pamela Britton Pamela Britton (born Armilda Jane Owens, March 19, 1923 – June 17, 1974) was an American actress, best known for appearing as Lorelei Brown in the television series '' My Favorite Martian'' (1963–1966) and for her female lead in the film n ...

as Blondie.Comics on Television in the 1950s: ''Blondie''
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Cast

*Blondie Bumstead - Penny Singleton (1939 - 1949) / Ann Rutherford (1949) / Patricia Lake (1949 - 1950) / Alice White *Dagwood Bumstead - Arthur Lake *Alexander Bumstead - Leone Ledoux (1939 - 1943) / Tommy Cook (1943 - 1946) /

Larry Simms Larry Lee Simms (October 1, 1934 – June 17, 2009) was an American child actor who appeared in 36 films between 1937 and 1951. Life and career Larry Simms was born October 1, 1934. He worked as a child model from the age of two and was disc ...

(1946 - 1949) / Jeffrey Silver (1949 - 1950) *Cookie Bumstead - Leone Ledoux (1939 - 1946) / Marlene Aames (1946) /

Norma Jean Nilsson Norma Jean Nilsson (born January 1, 1938) is a former child actress in old-time radio and films.DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. ...

(1947) / Joan Rae (1948 - 1950) *J.C. Dithers - Hanley Stafford *Mrs. Dithers - Elvia Allman *Herb Woodley - Frank Nelson / Harold Peary (Herb Woodley) *Mr. Fuddle - Arthur Q. Bryan / Harry Lang *Alvin Fuddle - Dix Davis *Harriet - Mary Jane Croft *Dimples Wilson - Veola Vonn /

Lurene Tuttle Lurene Tuttle (August 29, 1907 – May 28, 1986) was an American actress and acting coach, who made the transition from vaudeville to radio, and later films and television. Her most enduring impact was as one of network radio's more versatile a ...

*Announcer -

Bill Goodwin William Nettles Goodwin (July 28, 1910 – May 9, 1958),Palm Spr ...

/ Howard Petrie / Harlow Wilcox *Additional cast (1939) - Rosemary DeCamp, Ed MacDonald,

Hans Conreid Hans Georg Conried Jr. (April 15, 1917 – January 5, 1982) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for providing the voices of George Darling (Peter Pan character), George Darling and Captain Hook in Walt Disney's ''Peter Pan (1953 film ...

Crew

*Producer - Tom McKnight, Ashmead Scott *Directors - Eddie Pola, Don Bernard, Glenhall Taylor *Writers - Ashmead Scott, William Moore, Johnny Greene (1940) *Music - Harry Lubin, Billy Artz, Lou Kosloff *Sound Effects -

Ray Erlenborn Ray Erlenborn (January 21, 1915 – June 4, 2007) was an American vaudevillian actor and sound effects artist. He is also known to audiences as the voice of Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons. Also did sound effects for Carol Burne ...

(CBS series) / Parker Cornel (NBC series)

References

Listen to

Internet Archive: ''Blondie''
(42 episodes)

External links

American comedy radio programs 1939 radio programme debuts 1950 radio programme endings Radio programs based on comic strips CBS Radio programs NBC Blue Network radio programs NBC radio programs ABC radio programs Blondie (comic strip) 1930s American radio programs 1940s American radio programs 1950s American radio programs Radio programs about families