''Blondie'' is a radio situation comedy adapted from the long-running '' Blondie'' comic strip 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 ...

. It stars Arthur Lake as

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

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., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

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'' radio program, which starred

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

. 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 Camel is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in the United States and by Japan Tobacco outside the U.S. Most recently Camel cigarettes contain a blend of Turkish tobacco and Vi ...

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 The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the National Broadcasting Co ...

, sponsored by

Colgate-Palmolive The Colgate-Palmolive Company, commonly known as Colgate-Palmolive, is an American multinational corporation, multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in ...

'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 on 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. Early in 1949, Colgate executive Bob Healy notified Singleton that the company desired "a different interpretation of the character", and an agency began auditioning actresses to be the new Blondie. 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 A sustaining program is a radio or television program that, despite airing on a commercial broadcast station, does not have commercial sponsorship or advertising. This term, mostly used in the United States, was common in the early days of radio, b ...

from October 6, 1949, to July 6, 1950, first airing Thursdays at 8 p.m. and then (from May) at 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 as Blondie.

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 (1946 - 1949) / Jeffrey Silver (1949 - 1950) *Cookie Bumstead - Leone Ledoux (1939 - 1946) / Marlene Aames (1946) / Norma Jean Nilsson (1947) / Joan Rae (1948 - 1950) *J.C. Dithers - Hanley Stafford *Mrs. Dithers - Elvia Allman *Herb Woodley - Frank Nelson / Harold Peary *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 to films and television. Her most enduring impact was as one of network radio's more versatil ...

*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

Crew

*Producer - Tom McKnight, Ashmead Scott *Directors - Don Bernard, Eddie Pola, 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. He also did sound effects for Carol B ...

(CBS series) / Parker Cornel (NBC series)

References

Listen to

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

External links

{{Blondie (comic strip) 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