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April 22, 1941 ad which ran in the Lorain Journal
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Blondie has been entertaining us on the comic pages since 1930.
In the early days of the comic strip, Blondie was a beautiful and carefree "flapper" with a lot of boyfriends, including rich Dagwood Bumstead. When the two fell in love and got married, Dagwood was disinherited by his parents for marrying beneath his station. This forced him to go to work, and thus the premise of the strip – namely the day-to-day life and problems of a middle-class family – was born.
Along the way, Blondie and Dagwood had two children: a boy and a girl. The boy – originally nicknamed Baby Dumpling – eventually became known as Alexander.
When the baby girl was born, however, a mail-in contest was held to name her. The ad above announcing the contest ran in the Lorain Journal on April 22, 1941 – 73 years ago today.
Hundreds of thousands of the comic strip's fans sent in suggestions before a name was chosen. Do you remember her name? (If you don't, I'll reveal it shortly.)
Anyway, Blondie is one of my favorite strips and the best of the classics that have been around for decades. It's still well-drawn and well-written, incorporating modern technology and fads to keep it fresh and topical. And the situations are universal enough that everyone can identify with the beloved characters.
Channel 61 in Cleveland used to show the old Blondie movie series featuring Arthur Lake and Penny Singleton. I remember watching them on Saturday afternoons in the late 1960s. There's several where Dagwood is working for someone other than Mr. Dithers and I remember being confused.
Here's the well-remembered opening that was created for the movie series for when it was syndicated on TV.
(I was such a Blondie fan that I even watched the little-remembered 1968 TV series featuring Will Hutchins as Dagwood and Jim Backus as Mr. Dithers.)
Anyway, in case you forgot – the Bumstead daughter is named Cookie!
IIRC, Blondie's maiden name was "Bloopadoop".
ReplyDeleteDo you remember the strip that ran in the Journal, "Lolly"?
HI Alan! Sure I remember Lolly, it was one of the color comics that were part of the supplement that came as part of the Journal on Saturday in the 60s along with Moon Mullins--remember? It was before the Sunday Journal I guess.
ReplyDeleteLolly was the shapely blonde secretary who worked for Mr. Quimby and his son.
Yep-the Sunday Journal started in '68.
ReplyDeleteI love the Blondie and Dagwood comics, I grew up reading them in the daily funnies in the newspapers my grandparents would get, I’m 21 soon to be 22 in August. I’ve learned about the history of Blondie and Dagwood and holy cow was I surprised by there old looks, but I wish there was a book on the comics from the beginning to now.
ReplyDeleteI love the Blondie and Dagwood comics, I loved reading them from my grandparents newspapers on the daily funnies section, I looked the comics history and holy cow was I surprised by their old looks, I wish there was a comic book that showed the comics from beginning to now.
ReplyDeleteI remember something happening in the movie that caused them to come up with the name for baby girl Cookie, but I can’t remember what it was now.
ReplyDelete