Footlight Glamour

Outrageous, again with Dagwood trying to impress a client -- this time the man's daughter, played by Ann Savage, shortly before her landmark role in DETOUR.

Exceptionally written by both Karen DeWolf and Connie Lee, who would continue writing for the series after DeWolf left to handle other film projects and tv.

Thurston Hall plays Mr. Wheeler, a wealthy client of Dithers who wants to get down to business, only to have his daughter, Vicky (Ann Savage), a stage actress, causing all sorts of trouble with a play. Naturally, to keep Vicky happy, Dagwood and Blondie get into the amateur production along with Mr. Dithers and his wife(?), also and Mr. Crumb, the mailman (Irving Bacon). This was Bacon's final appearance in the series, who went on to guest star in many classic films.

The goofy stage play is a gem; everything that could go wrong goes wrong, and Dagwood is bananas. Nobody could hold this together better than Arthur Lake, and Ann Savage is just as good playing the spoiled daughter.

Grace Hayle plays Mrs. Dithers. Known for THE GREAT DICTATOR playing Madame Napaloni. It's a shame she did not return to the series. Rafael Alcayde plays Jerry, Vicky's beau, and Elspeth Dudgeon plays Frances, a staple in many films, generally as kindly seniors and grandmothers.

Best line department; Vicky walks into the house, looking stunning. Alexander points to her and says... "Mommy. Its that Daddy's bonus?

10 Stars just for that line.

Note, Columbia Pictures was losing interest in the series (cutting down on releases) and cancelled it after this episode. However, due to the sucess of the radio show and many letters written in by fans, the series was renewed the following year with LEAVE IT TO BLONDIE.

Always on dvd in box sets, or you can buy each episode individually. Thanks always to MOVIES Net for running these oldies Saturday mornings.

Once again Dagwood ever anxious to please his boss agrees to let Thurston Hall's daughter Ann Savage stay at the Bumsteads. It is fascinating to me how Jonathan Hale and later Jerome Cowan keep taking advantage of him. It reminds me so much of Jack Lemmon in The Apartment. I wonder if Billy Wilder saw a lot of the Blondie series when he wrote The Apartment.

One thing Hall wants is to get her away from Rafael Storm, a ham actor looking to latch on to a rich meal ticket. He's convinced Savage she has talent. And when he finds her anyway at the Bumsteads he's got Penny Singleton convinced there could be a career for her. One of the few times Blondie isn't behaving levelheaded.

The play as it goes on that Savage wrote and stars in is one of the funniest things since Gracie Allen's production in Here Comes Cookie.

One of the funnier Blondie comedies.

In an effort to help fund the wartime USO, B and D help put on a stage play that, of course, turns into a crowd pleasing loony-bin.

To me, the entry's mainly a matter of taste, the last part becoming silly slapstick. This, I think, takes away from the priceless D and B characters whose special brand of character comedy distinguishes the series. After all, slapstick trades on pratfalls that require no special acting talent of the sort Lake and Singleton have in abundance. But if you like slapstick, this is your ticket.

(In passing-Oh my gosh, is that really Ann Savage playing the immaculately turned-out Vicki. As a teen, I stayed away from girls for maybe a day after seeing Savage's scary roadside tramp in that classic noir, Detour (1945). I wish they gave Oscars for best vixen of the year, that way she'd have a well-deserved lifetime award.) (Also, with Singleton's re-done hair-do for the play, she could pass for Lucille Ball's double in I Love Lucy. To me, the resemblance is striking. See what you think.)

Anyway, the flick's a good chance to catch some restrictions the war effort (1943) placed on civilians of the time. I recall my parents having to deal with them, especially with gasoline rationing. I'll bet audiences of the time felt a special bond with B and D as they shared in the same sacrifices, even if it was on film. Of course the B and D laughs helped.

This is the fourteenth in the Blondie movie series and also the second one without her name in the entry title. It was also originally supposed to be the final one in the series for Columbia Pictures but after popular demand increased during the next year that there were no further adventures of the Bumstead family, it was revived with the cast intact. Anyway, Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake could still be heard as Blondie and Dagwood on live radio during that time. This one has Dag and Blondie entertaining a grown daughter of another of Mr. Dithers' potential clients. Since she's an actress, there's also a play involved. I'll stop there and just say this was amusing in spots but only occasionally becomes a bit hilarious like when Mr. Crumb, the mailman, (Irving Bacon in his final appearance in the series) does an exaggerated English accent when playing the butler. One scene which is now very tasteless is when Dag originally thought this Vicki person he was supposed to pick up was a little girl and initially caused a commotion mistaking just such a child for her. I did like it when Blondie had those thoughts of tanks in battle when she always gets jealous appearing again here before she then takes a shine to Vicki because she thinks Blondie has potential as an actress. Daisy's and her pups reactions when seeing Dagwood make his trademark sandwiches was also good for a laugh. In summary, Footlight Glamour is one of the weaker ones in the series. P.S. This was perhaps the only time Mrs. Cora Dithers was seen on screen. She was portrayed by Grace Hayle. Like I said, Irving Bacon made his final appearance as the mailman character who was initially called Mr. Beasley before becoming Mr. Crump and then the name I mentioned earlier in this review. He continued acting to his final day on February 5, 1965. This was also the final one directed by Frank R. Strayer who continued making movies through the early '50s. He died on February 3, 1964.

A little bit of Arthur Lake (as Dagwood or anybody else) is more than enough, and usually too much, but this entry, set in mid-WW II,ranks as one of the best in the series, especially in the segments involving the stage play, and more so when Jonathan Withers and Thurston Hall stroll across the stage totally unaware a live play is being presented.