Blondie Brings Up Baby

BLONDIE BRINGS UP BABY (Columbia, 1939), directed by Frank R. Strayer, the fourth theatrical installment based on Chic Young's popular comic strip characters, is by far the most involved in the series with so much happening during its 67 minutes worth of family crisis.

Returning to familiar territory following their previous vacation venture from BLONDIE TAKES A VACATION, the Bumsteads encounter numerous complications at both home and at the office. The scenario this time revolves around Baby Dumpling (Larry Simms) and his dog, Daisy. A book agent (Olin Howland) comes to the front door to sell encyclopedias, and gets around Blondie (Penny Singleton) by making her believe he's there to give her child an intelligence test with the use of blocks. Because Alvin (Danny Mummert), the next door neighbor, is always showing off with his extreme smartness, and calling Baby Dumpling a "dumbbell," Blondie agrees to the examination. While Alvin does everything correctly, the agent fools Blondie into buying the encyclopedias by telling her that her son has an I. Q. of 168. As for Dagwood (Arthur Lake) , whose I. Q. is probably on a low lower, his day at the office is anything but perfect. As an architect designer, he makes changes for the betterment on the Cartwright Building, but because it fails to meet with client Abner Cartwright's (Robert Middlemass) approval, he withdraws his account, causing Mr. Dithers (Jonathan Hale), Dagwood's boss, to fire him. Returning home and keeping the bad news from his spouse, Blondie, who has come to the conclusion that Baby Dumpling is a gifted child (considering that he can recite the alphabet from "A" to"B"), that he should be enrolled in school. School days becomes dog daze for Daisy as she misses Baby Dumpling's company, awaiting outside the schoolhouse until his afternoon dismissal. Daisy is then spotted and captured by dog catchers who take her to the pound. Baby Dumpling comes home upset that Daisy is lost, and the following day, skips school to search for her. He later finds Daisy on the Mason estate playing with Melinda Mason (Peggy Ann Garner), a rich but lonely crippled girl in a wheelchair whose nurse (Grace Stafford) had adopted the dog from the pound as companion for the child. Receiving the news that Baby Dumpling didn't come to school has the worried parents report the disappearance to the police, at the same time of report of Melinda being reported, who had been wheeled away from the property by Baby Dumpling without anyone seeing them. Things start to really get involved as Dagwood tracks down his son at the Mason estate. While roaming about the grounds, the gardener (Victor Potel), suspecting Dagwood to be the one who kidnapped Melinda, sneaks up from behind, hits him over the head with a shovel, places the unconscious Dagwood in a tool shed and notifies the police. Dagwood awakens to find the tool shed he's in to be surrounded by a police squad throwing tear gas in his direction, handcuffing and placing him under arrest. Poor Blondie. Now Dagwood is missing. Paging the Lost and Found Department!

Far-fetched, amusing and slightly sentimental, this is one of the few times in the series where situations depicted are true to life, such as parents not wanting to let go of their child after sending him off with a teacher to enter a classroom; or from the little boy's point of view, returning home with a "shiner" following a fight (off camera) with another kid at school; Baby Dumpling wanting to go to school by himself and not having his mother around so he won't be made fun of by the other kids (a common occurrence more with middle school students than grammar school kids); the child's top priority in locating his missing dog by skipping school (who could blame him); and some upsetting moments for the parents as they discover the disappearance of their children, fearing the worst. Children needing companionship (doggies, too) makes this a good moral of the story.

On the lighter side, there are some real funny added bits, including the angry Mr. Dithers cooling himself off by placing his head in the shower of water, and placing himself entirely in there when reaching the boiling point. A pity the writers didn't use steam as a substance in cooling off this irritable boss. Daisy's running from and hiding from the dog catchers is another highlight.

BLONDIE BRINGS UP BABY is one of the few in the series to not be restored to its original theatrical opening and closing credits, thus, not giving credit to its supporting players consisting of: Fay Helm (Mrs. Fuddow); Roy Gordon (Mr. Gordon); Bruce Bennett (Johnson, the chauffeur); Irving Bacon (Mr. Beasley, the postman); and Helen Jerome Eddy (Miss Ferguson, the principal).

Honorable mention certainly goes to Peggy Ann Garner, years before her achievement as the teen-aged Francie Nolan in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (20th-Fox, 1945) as little Melinda. Her scenes are certainly heartfelt and natural, especially when encouraged by Baby Dumpling to get up from the wheelchair and walk. This alone is sure to leave viewers of sentimental nature with tears building up in their eyes. And speaking of eyes, there are certain characters who've obtained some black ones, Dagwood for one, Baby Dumpling another, and Mr. Cartwright with two black eyes, one from Dagwood and another punch from Mr. Dithers. Black eyes were quite common in the comic strips years before being toned down due to violence upset from readers.

BLONDIE BRINGS UP BABY, formerly presented on American Movie Classics (1996-2002), and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: May 1, 2018) is available for viewing on either the VHS or DVD formats. Next installment: BLONDIE ON A BUDGET (1940). (**1/2)

This story of the adventures and misadventures of the Bumstead family starts with an unusual premise. It's Blondie getting conned rather than Dagwood that starts the ball rolling in Blondie Brings Up Baby.

It's another day at the Bumstead house with Arthur Lake running late and plowing into hapless mailman Irving Bacon. Penny Singleton falls victim to the cunning wiles of encyclopedia salesman Olin Howland who convinces her that Baby Dumpling is a genius. Larry Simms will need these books as an aid as he starts school early.

Of course no Blondie film would be complete without Dagwood fouling up on the job. He falls into a scheme whereby the Dithers Construction company gets stuck with a building they built when Dagwood made changes that the prospective owner never officially signed off on. Of course that all works out as well in the end.

Last but not least poor Baby Dumpling can't keep his precocious mind on school with Daisy the dog having run away and then be picked up by the dogcatcher. Daisy gets adopted by little Peggy Ann Garner, a girl with polio. That all works out as well rather touchingly.

Some pathos in Blondie Brings Up Baby as well as the usual laughs at Arthur Lake's expense.

In this movie there is a scene when Baby Dumpling comes home from school with a blackeye. Dagwood picks him up and brings him over to the mirror to look at the blackeye. During their conversation at the mirror, Dagwood tells Baby Dumpling that although they call him baby dumpling, his "real name is Dagwood, named after me".

Just when the new mailman thought he had a new clever idea to deliver the mail to the Bumsteads without the letters literally becoming air mail, here comes Dagwood again! Alvin (Danny Mummert) is back to visit his pal Baby Dumpling (Larry Simms) to exert his intelligence. Today is Baby Dumpling's first day in school and not all goes well. The next film in the series is BLONDIE ON A BUDGET.

remember this from childhood dog caught by vet--nurse gets dog for disabled girl (polio?) Dagwood the fall guy gets fired yet again

When I was a boy, they used to show the Blondie and Dagwood films a lot on TV. The only one I remember at all was this one, a good but rather typical installment.

When the show begins, some huckster is going door-to-door giving IQ tests to children. He tells Mrs. Bumstead that Baby Dumpling is a super-genius....but it seems likely he's just trying to sell her a lot of books.

While Blondie is getting all excited about Baby Dumpling, Dagwood is working on a frustrating project. The client keeps approving every change and Dagwood is excited...but the client is a jerk and has no intention of actually having the project completed. Mr. Dithers (as usual) blames Dagwood and fires him.

Later, Baby Dumpling gets lost while looking for his runaway dog, Daisy. He eventually finds she was adopted by a disabled girl*. And, somehow this meeting ends up being the solution to all the Bumstead problems!

Overall, another enjoyable and nice installment in the series. Worth seeing and quite clever for a B-movie.

*While they never say why the girl is in a wheelchair, most likely it was Polio, which was sadly common. Plus, Polio is a disorder you CAN recover use of the legs from in some cases so this would be consistent with the story.