Blondie (radio series)

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Blondie
Penny Singleton Arthur Lake Blondie 1944.JPG
Singleton and Lake in their radio roles.
Genresituation comedy
Running time30 minutes
Country of originUnited States
Language(s)English
Home station CBS (1939-1948)

NBC Blue (1944)

NBC (1948-1949)

ABC (1949-1950)
Starring Arthur Lake, Penny Singleton
Original releaseJuly 3, 1939 –
July 6, 1950
No. of episodes548 [1]

Blondie is a radio situation comedy adapted from the long-running Blondie comic strip by Chic Young. It stars Arthur Lake as Dagwood Bumstead and, for the majority of its run, Penny Singleton as Blondie Bumstead. The radio program ran on several networks from 1939 to 1950.

Contents

Broadcast history

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

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.

Super Suds WWII advertisement "N-R-O-G super suds housecleaning week" - NARA - 515093.jpg
Super Suds WWII advertisement

In 1944, Blondie was on the NBC Blue Network, sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive's Super Suds, airing Fridays at 7 p.m. from July 21 to September 1. The final three weeks of that run overlapped with Blondie's 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.

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. [2] Ann Rutherford replaced her as the voice of Blondie. [3] In October 1949, Patricia Lake, the real life wife of Arthur Lake took the role. [4] Alice White was also heard as radio's Blondie. [5] [6] [7]

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 as Blondie. [8]

Cast

Crew

Related Research Articles

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Blondie is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Chic Young. The comic strip is distributed by King Features Syndicate, and has been published in newspapers since September 8, 1930. The success of the strip, which features the eponymous blonde and her sandwich-loving husband, led to the long-running Blondie film series (1938–1950) and the popular Blondie radio program (1939–1950).

<i>Blondie</i> (1938 film) 1938 comedy film

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Footlight Glamour is a 1943 black-and-white film and the 14th of the 28 Blondie films. It is one of only two movies in the series that did not feature "Blondie" in the title. It was the last film in the "Blondie" series for:

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blondie (film series)</span> American comedy film series based on the comic strip Blondie

The Blondie film series is an American comedy film series based on the comic strip of the same name, created by Chic Young. The series featured Penny Singleton as Blondie Bumstead and Arthur Lake as Dagwood Bumstead. Concurrently the film adventures were continued, with the same cast reprising their roles, in the Blondie radio series.

References

  1. ↑ Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs: Blondie
  2. ↑ "Singleton Not The 'Blondie' Type, Sez Colgate After 10 Yrs". Variety. March 9, 1949. p. 25. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Ann Rutherford New Radio Show 'Blondie'". The Times. Munster, Indiana. March 21, 1949.
  4. ↑ "Blondie, Dagwood Join WCON Parade". Atlanta Constitution. October 19, 1949.
  5. ↑ Lamparski, Richard (1968). Whatever became of ... ?: Second series. Crown Publishers . Retrieved July 31, 2009.
  6. ↑ Dunning, John (1998). On the air: the encyclopedia of old-time radio . Oxford University Press. pp.  97-98. ISBN   9780195076783 . Retrieved July 31, 2009. Blondie, Van Cleve.
  7. ↑ Dunning, John (1976). Tune in yesterday: the ultimate encyclopedia of old-time radio, 1925-1976 . Prentice-Hall. ISBN   9780139326080 . Retrieved July 31, 2009. Blondie, Van Cleve.
  8. ↑ Comics on Television in the 1950s: Blondie

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Further reading

Blondie Goes to Hollywood, by Carol Lynn Scherling. Albany, 2010. BearManor Media. ISBN   978-1-59393-401-9.

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