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Polar Blair's Den Menu Page"Blondie"
Film Series:
#1- Blondie (1938)
#1- Blondie (1938)
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About This Film
Cast
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Cast:
Blondie Bumstead (Penny Singleton)
Dagwood Bumstead (Arthur Lake)
Baby Dumpling Bumstead (Larry Simms)
J.C. Dithers (Jonathan Hale)
Alvin Fuddle (Danny Mummert)
Mailman Mr. Crumb (Irving Bacon)
Blondie Bumstead (Penny Singleton)
Dagwood Bumstead (Arthur Lake)
Baby Dumpling Bumstead (Larry Simms)
J.C. Dithers (Jonathan Hale)
Alvin Fuddle (Danny Mummert)
Mailman Mr. Crumb (Irving Bacon)
About This
Film: This is the
first movie of the Blondie series, which is still the longest running
of all film series (in terms of number of entries). The character
of Blondie (as played by actress Penny Singleton), is much different
than the character you've seen in the last many years of the comic
strip. In the comic strip, Blondie is nice and fairly
intelligent...a credit to women everywhere. In this and in many
of the early Blondie films, she is flighty, short-fused, and seems to
abuse her husband at the slightest whim. What is great about
Penny Singleton's acting in all the films is that you get to see
Blondie gradually change into a more sensible and nicer version of
herself. People who have seen the early and later Blondie films
will know what I'm talking about.
In this film, Dagwood loses his job (which will be a reoccurring plot device in almost all of the Blondie films) just when his family needs money the most. In order to get his job back he must close a deal with a client who is very difficult to come into contact with...all on his own!
Willie Best, a black actor famous for what would today be considered stereotypical roles, plays the dimwitted hotel porter. If you watch that part of the film with an open mind, you shouldn't be offended. Just take it as a black guy who happens to be slow, and not a representative of his entire race. There were plenty of actors and actresses of all colors in films before and after this one that have been played just as ignorant, if not worse. It really is a funny moment, and is also one of the funniest parts in the movie.
In this film, Dagwood loses his job (which will be a reoccurring plot device in almost all of the Blondie films) just when his family needs money the most. In order to get his job back he must close a deal with a client who is very difficult to come into contact with...all on his own!
Willie Best, a black actor famous for what would today be considered stereotypical roles, plays the dimwitted hotel porter. If you watch that part of the film with an open mind, you shouldn't be offended. Just take it as a black guy who happens to be slow, and not a representative of his entire race. There were plenty of actors and actresses of all colors in films before and after this one that have been played just as ignorant, if not worse. It really is a funny moment, and is also one of the funniest parts in the movie.