Blondie in Society

While, being a fan of all the "Blondie" movies, this one is my all-time favorite. I have two reasons for picking this one above all the others. One, I am an animal lover. The whole story revolves around a lovable Great Dane. His expressions and antics, alone, are hilarious, but mixed in with the Bumsteads, and the laughs are constant. Two, the finale at the dog show is top rate. You have cute dogs, a beautiful song, and a hilarious melee. What more could you ask for??

This ended up being my favorite of all the countless Blondie movies. It might be because of something that happens at the very end. Don't worry, it's not a spoiler. What happens is that Mr. Dithers is asked to think of a number between 1 and 10. I myself thought of 7, so did he and the number was correct! I guess that's just the number most people think of first. Anyway, I was quite impressed at how many things were going on in this short movie. Actually, the main reason I was interested was because this was the longest Blondie movie, I believe. Well, not much of a statement at only 76 minutes, but still.

Yes, it certainly feels like episodes of a TV show here. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that in this context. It has the same stuff of Blondie considering to leave Dagwood and Mr. Dithers firing him. Honestly, I think George Jetson had better job security. This film features Dagwood giving money to an old school friend without Blondie's permission. He gets a dog and decides to enter him into a dog show. There's actually a lot more going on. I was quite confused by the title. I don't see what this had to do with Blondie in society. I guess she technically was in it, but it just seemed to generic. ***

Outrageous. 10 Stars.

Perhaps the BEST entry in the series, and the longest running at 77 minutes. Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake made a heck of a team and played well off each other for years. Both were extremely talented, especially Singleton, who gets to sing again in this episode. Penny did a terrific job singing with a full orchestra in BLONDIE GOES LATIN.

Dagwood brings home a gigantic GREAT DANE, called Champion Chin Up, in exchange to pay off a debt, as usual. He tries to reassure exasperated Blondie, claiming they actually have an extremely valuable dog, and dog nappers may be watching? To which Blondie exclaims, "You don't happen to know any, DO YOU!" In the meantime, frustrated Mr. Dithers is about to wring Dagwood's neck for messing up another deal with a client --or could Chin Up save the day?

Jonathan Hale is a hoot as Dithers, about as crafty as Dagwood was dumb, and both getting into some kind of a mess and blaming the other. William Frawley (before I LOVE LUCY) has a good part as a sly client of Dithers who wants to win a local dog show. Thrown in for good measure is slow burn king Edgar Kennedy, playing Dr Glenn, the outraged vet ready to call the cops on everybody, because his bill hasn't been paid and Chin Up has wrecked his office. "He's a great big, hulking BEAST, who eats, and eats and EATS!" he screams.

Best line by Blondie; "I'm trying to get through the crowd with my CHIN UP!"

To note, Kennedy was starring with Arthur Lake's sister, Florence, at the time in a popular series of short film comedies for RKO Studios. That series was one of the longest running in movie history, next to the THREE STOOGES.

Watch for many familiar faces, fun to spot the veteran actor. Don't miss Mr. Dither's beautiful Woody Ford station wagon, a collector's item today if there ever was. Lots of memories.

Historically, the famous Bumstead house was torn down in 2023, along with other classic movie and tv homes to make way for office buildings and new sound stages at Warner Brothers in Burbank, CA. Gone, but never forgotten. The street the house was located on was later known as Blondie Drive.

About as good as it gets, written by Karen De Wolf. BLONDIE has been released in box sets over the years, the most popular contain the early episodes. Hearst Entertainment, two dvd box sets. Released 2003.

Thanks to MOVIES Network for rerunning the series on Saturday mornings, like the old days.

Columbia pictures made 28 Blondie and Dagwood films from 1939-1950 and they were all rather low-budget but enjoyable family comedies. One of the best things about these films is unlike most B-series, this one had a very stable cast--with Arthur Lake (Dagwood), Penny Singleton (Blondie) and Larry Simms (Baby Dumpling) playing in all the films.

While I have not seen a ton of these films, of the ones I have seen, "Blondie in Society" is so far my favorite. It gets very high marks for its writing and the story made me and my wife laugh repeatedly.

"Blondie in Society" begins with Blondie panicking because she thinks someone has written a forged check on their home account. However, it turns out Dagwood actually loaned a childhood friend the money and never mentioned this to his wife. She is furious and demands he get the money back NOW. However, the old friend is broke and offers to give Dagwood his pedigreed Great Dane instead. Dumb old Dagwood takes the pooch--and it turns out to be nothing but trouble. The animal eats like a herd of elephants, is very destructive and has the neighbors up in arms. What's worse, it also starts problems with his boss as well as a potential client (William Frawley). By the end of the film, everything is a complete mess. Can the Bumsteads, just like in their other films, manage to make this all work out for the best? One of the reasons this film was so much fun was Daisy--the family's adorable mutt. As usual, this trained dog does a HUGE repertoire of wonderful tricks and seemed to show so much great emotion. Additionally, the script really hummed--and the staff seemed to be on top of their game on this one. Fun throughout.

So what happened with the title. I must have missed the 'society' that Blondie is supposedly in. Instead the title should be something like Daisy Gets a Big Brother. But whatever the brand, it's still typical Bumstead fun. This time B&D get caught up in a fancy dog show where they all argue over who owns Chin-Up the Great Dane. Is the lucky one Mr. Dithers, Blondie, Dagwood, or about twenty other guys. Everyone's got his cash interest since the dog's a shoo-in for the big purse. Plus B has run-up big debts back when 50-bucks was real money. Nostalgia-wise, I love the 1941 bouncy washing machine that half drowns the Bumstead kitchen. Good thing my mom's worked better.

It's the usual great family antics, including Daisy and the boys. But I miss Dagwood in the latter part when the dog show takes over. His comic interactions with a stern Blondie are, I think, the heart of series success. Anyway, I expect that's Singleton doing her own singing since she started out as a singer. At the same time, I now know why I didn't become a mailman, especially when not even being a tree climber helps. And here's hoping Daisy got extra kibbles and Chin-Up got an extra cattle herd for their expert acting. So, all in all, don't let title expectations deter you. The entry may not be the best, but it's still a Blondie fun-fest.