Blondie in the Dough

Plot- The Bumsteads need extra money after Dagwood loses his job, so now each branches out into new, laugh-strewn territory.

So, Dagwood leaves his former office and fumbles into radio technology, of all things - so please hide your antenna and turn off the sound! And do not, I repeat, do not meet him on the golf course, especially if he's carrying a golf bag. Meanwhile, Blondie looks around the kitchen for more dough-making possibilities.

Anyway, it's a typical B&D ditz fest. Maybe the plot's a little more complicated than usual, the ace supporting players hustling in and out almost at random. Then too, frumpy baker Hugh Herbert gets extra spotlight for doing his goofy dough-mix. Still, he gets a suprise identity climax, that may not be very credible, but who cares since it's the laughs that count.

Good thing Blondie's around to throw an occasional sanity net on hubby and Herbert. After all, her character is half ditzy Dagwood, the fortunate other half being sane and caring housewife. It's this split personality that roots the comedy in a semblance of every-day reality.

Meanwhile, catch up with furry Daisy and her stampeding litter as they hit their marks on cutesy cue - I hope they got extra kibbles and their trainer a big bonus. Anyway, it's a chuckle-filled hour from one of America's all-time fun couples. So catch up with it, if you can.

Most of the Blondie and Dagwood films are poorly named...as if a random title was slapped onto the movies. However, this one is perfectly named as Blondie goes into the cookie business and does quite well. As for Dagwood, he does everything wrong and yet, somehow, by the end everything is fine....just like Curious George.

When the film begins, Mr. Radcliffe is trying to sign a very grouchy radio station owner to build a larger station. Not surprisingly, during this golf game/business meeting Dagwood is a menace...and the station owner is clearly a short-tempered jerk. After a while, not surprisingly, Dagwood manages to get himself fired (what else is new???) but instead of trying to get his job back, he takes a correspondence course to become a radio engineer. Not surprisingly, this ends up causing all sorts of trouble with the station and Blondie's new business. So how is all this sorted out by the end?

A very enjoyable outing. A starring guest is Hugh Herbert, a supporting actor who can either be quite annoying or delightful. Fortunately, he is the latter this time. Also enjoyable is Clarence Kolb, as the perennially angry station owner. Overall, a nice film...and one of the better ones in the series.

Could this have been a "slight" take-off of the Joan Crawford classic, MILDRED PIERCE? Of course, minus all the high drama. Enter Blondie as the struggling 1940s housewife who, like Mildred, strikes out on her own and starts a very successful cookie business. You have to admit, it's a very inspiring episode and filmed during the post WWII boom in which lots of people were doing their own thing. Kind of a neat time capsule of America.

On the other side, poor Dagwood is at odds with Mr. Radcliffe and a headstrong client called J. T. Thorpe (well played by Clarence Kolb), who wants to enlarge his radio station operations. Things don't go too smoothly with Mr. Thorpe, as can be expected. However, in a rather neat twist, Dagwood begins tinkering with short wave radio (safely back home) and puts together an amateur radio station in his attic. Kind of a clever twist here...

Interestingly, this move was not that far from the truth due to the fact that shart wave radio sets at the time were quite popular. It's also fun to watch Dagwood sort of going into business himself. In the meanwhile, Blondie continues with her cookie business, and quite accidentally, crosses paths with Dagwood's amateur radio station and becomes a star in her own right.

Not done yet. Hilarious Hugh Herbert returns to the series and actually saves the day for everybody. Herbert plays Mr. Simmons, also interested in cookies -- who in reality is very famous -- a big help to both Dagwood and Blondie in the end.

Hugh Herbert steals the show once again, just so much fun, a perfect fit for the series.

Look for popular character actor Gino Corrado as the caterer. Gino appeared with the THREE STOOGES, and reportedly, was cast in over 1000 films in his long career, certainly setting a record.

Excellent writing by Arthur Marx (son of Groucho!). This was Arthur's second film credit, and he hit the bullseye. Unfortunately, it was his only story for the series. Arthur eventually moved to tv and wrote for scores of sitcoms, best known for ALICE in the 70s.

Everything clicks. A memorable episode. Remastered on dvd, both separately and in box sets. Thanks much to MOVIES Net for running this classic series on Saturdays.

This is the twenty-first in the Blondie series. In this one, Dag is a caddy for a radio station owner. Blondie goes into business when she gets compliments on her cookies. (This is decades before her comic strip self and neighbor Tootsie Woodley start a catering business!) And Hugh Herbert-previously in series entry It's a Great Life-returns as another funny befuddled character. This was perhaps the funniest of the series so far. Maybe the fact Arthur Marx-yes, Groucho's son-is one of the writers is a reason. Or maybe director Abby Berlin had a bit more comic rhythm this time. Whatever it was, I found myself laughing mostly all the way through. So on that note, I highly recommend Blondie in the Dough. P.S. As with the previous two entries, a line mentions Mr. Dithers as the previous owner of the construction business. This may have been put in to remind audiences that the movie series isn't completely following the canon of the comic strip or the radio series that was running at the same time where Mr. Dithers was still present on that show and Arthur Lake was playing Dagwood there as well. Blondie, however, would be played by Arthur's wife Patricia Van Cleve as well as Ann Rutherford for a season instead of Penny Singleton by the time the series ended on those airwaves in 1950.

Blondie In The Dough finds Dagwood Bumstead up to his usual bumbling ways. Arthur Lake and Jerome Cowan are going out on a golf outing with a new client Clarence Kolb. Of course Kolb is his usual irascible self, but watching this I think that Dagwood was really put upon. After all whatever you think of him he is a professional. So when Dagwood finds out it's a twosome and not a foursome for golf he should have stood up for himself. Worse than that Cowan should have stood up for him. What right did Kolb have to use him for a caddy? And of course Dagwood makes his usual botch at being a caddy.

Which gets him fired. But the Bumsteads are ready this time. Dagwood has been taking a correspondence course in radio engineering so he can have a new profession. In the meantime to pay for a new stove they've bought, Penny Singleton starts baking cookies to sell with the help of a kindly old eccentric gentleman she met at the grocery store played by Hugh Herbert. Hugh Herbert and eccentric is one of filmdom's biggest redundancies.

This is one of the best of the Blondie series. Of course it all works out in the end for the Bumsteads. But it should have put the Bumsteads on easy street for the rest of their lives. Then again if it did there would be no more Blondie films.

Eddie Acuff plays their long suffering mailman. This film shows that a Bumstead can come at you from any direction. You'll have to watch the movie to see what I mean.