Blondie in Society

This is the ninth in the Blondie movie series. The Bumsteads acquire another dog, a Great Dane. How, I don't feel like getting into. Let's just say it has to do with Dagwood having to get back 50 dollars and leave it at that. Anyway, this was another hilarious entry in the series especially when a blowhard like Edgar Kennedy shows up as a veterinarian! There's also William Frawley-years before his iconic role as Fred Mertz on "I Love Lucy"-on hand as another potential client for Mr. J. C. Dithers. Also appearing are The Robert Mitchell Boys Choir-a musical chorus who would eventually also appear in the Oscar-winning Going My Way. Yes, Ms. Singleton sings a song with them and yes, they're beautiful when they do. Oh, and among the returning players are Grady Sutton-previously the photo salesman in Blondie Meets the Boss-as the dog kennel sales man here and Charles Lane-the furniture salesman in the first Blondie and the train conductor in Blondie Plays Cupid-playing the washing machine salesman here. Wait till you see what happens to him in this one! So on that note, I very much recommend Blondie in Society. P. S. The announcer of the dog show is Bill Goodwin, who was the announcer of The Bob Hope Show and would also do the same on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on both radio and TV.

BLONDIE IN SOCIETY (Columbia, 1941), directed by Frank R. Strayer, the ninth feature in the popular comedy series based on the Chic Young comic strip characters, ranks the very best of the entire 28 episodes. This series reached its peak here, and the leading players are at their funniest. At 78 minutes (the longest in the series), it plays fast and furious.

Dagwood Bumstead (Arthur Lake) gets himself a great dane named Chin-up to cover a $50 debt, and his wife, Blondie (Penny Singleton) helps out by entering Chin Up in a dog show. Everything goes wrong, of course. While the dog wins the contest, everyone who had disowned him, wants to reclaim him, a fight ensues, causing everyone, including the Bumstead child, Baby Dumpling (Larry Simms) and his neighbor friend, Alvin (Danny Mummert) to acquire black eyes.

Besides Dagwood running into the neighborhood postman (Irving Bacon) to catch his bus for work, other comedy highlights include Dagwood trying to take his Sunday bath, but never does due to constant interruptions, a gimmick used occasionally in the comic strips, but seen only once in this series. Penny Singleton shows off her singing ability by vocalizing "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" and "Trees." Veteran character actors Edgar Kennedy and William Frawley also add to the comic hi-jinx. For animal lovers, the Bumstead dog, Daisy, and Chin-up help provide some memorable highlights as well. And then there's Mr. Dithers (Jonathan Hale) as Dagwood's irritable boss, etc.

Available on video with the 1960s tag-on TV opening and closing credits with vocalists singing the "Blondie" theme song. Thankfully when it was shown on the American Movie Classics cable channel from 1996 to 2000, it was presented with its original opening and closing credits shown in theaters. Later shown on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: November 6, 2021) with sing-along theme song opening. While much of the 28 "Blondie" comedies are quite enjoyable, this one is definitely a first prize winning entry. (***/2)

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.

The Bumsteads mix with the rich and famous in Blondie In Society courtesy of a large Great Dane that Dagwood that astute businessman takes in lieu of $50.00 from Chick Chandler. Surprisingly enough the Bumstead dog Daisy takes to the large newcomer, but Blondie sure doesn't and that is just one element in this rather crazy Bumstead adventure.

The Blondie series always had some great character players in it and in this one three are present and at their best. Edgar Kennedy does his patented slow burn as the veterinarian the dog is in hock to. William Frawley plays a potential J.C. Dithers client who is a fancier of show dogs and wants this one. And Charles Lane plays a most eager washing machine salesman who tries to sell Penny Singleton a new one when the Bumsteads think they are in the chips.

The problem is that this dog won't strut his stuff until it's discovered by Penny Singleton that music perks him up. Her own singing voice and those of the Mitchell Boys Choir makes the Great Dane start acting like a champion.

Blondie In Society is one of the funnier episodes I've seen in the Blondie series and it also exhibits Penny Singleton's singing quite nicely.

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. ***