September 7
DAGWOOD & BLONDIE DAY
Dagwood and Blondie made their first appearance on this day in 1930, in the comic strips. The Blondie cartoon was created by Chic Young and over time, the characters were heard on the radio, seen in 28 movies, and on two TV series. The strip featured newspaper hero Dagwood Bumstead as the playboy son of a railroad tycoon. He dated Blondie Boopadoop, a flapper, or gold digger. They married in February, 1933 and had a nice family. Alexander (Baby Dumpling), their first child, was born in 1934. Cookie arrived later.
The strip is still running. Since Chic Young’s death in March, 1973, Blondie has been written by Chic’s son, Dean. It was drawn, for a time, by Jim Raymond, then by Stan Drake and later by Denis Lebrun. The strip is now done by Dean Young and John Marshall.
Dagwood continues to be the bungling husband who gets into petty arguments with his neighbor, Herb Woodley; the office worker abused by his boss, Mr. Dithers; and the sleep-in, miss the carpool, lazy friend, husband, employee. In the 1990s, Blondie Bumstead, whose children are no longer babies, became a working woman, joining up with Herb’s wife, Tootsie. They have a catering service.
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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