Blondie Goes Latin

Blondie Goes Latin is an odd one out of the Blondie series. On the one hand it has one of the stupidest plots in the entire series. On the other hand it's a nice musical treat with numbers by Tito Guizar, Ruth Terry and Penny Singleton herself. This is the only one of the Blondie series that could qualify as a musical.

The Bumsteads including Baby Dumpling and Daisy the Dog all go on a cruise courtesy of Mr. Dithers. I can't quite believe that Jonathan Hale craves the Bumstead company more than his wife, but each marriage is surely unique. But then Dagwood has to stay in the office to meet with an important client so Hale takes Penny Singleton, child, and dog without her husband. To top that off Arthur Lake is held up getting off the boat and takes refuge with Kirby Grant's Ship Orchestra and their singer Ruth Terry. Their drummer didn't make it so Lake pitches in on the drums.

These thing usually only happen to the Ricardos. I wonder if they ever ran into the Bumsteads?

The whole thing is too stupid to make this one of the better films in the Blondie series. But the musical numbers are nice and we get to see Arthur Lake in drag.

This episode has to be the most original of the entire series, filled to the brim with excellent music and comedy, similar to the type of material ABBOTT & COSTELLO were doing at the time.

Mr. Dithers wants to take a relaxing South American cruise, and Dagwood, Blondie and Baby Dumpling get to come along. So far... so good... UNTIL word comes in at the office that an important client is waiting. Duty calls, so Dithers sends Dagwood back home (leaving Blondie and Baby on the ship) -- but it doesn't quite go that way. Dagwood gets stuck(!) and has to HIDE from everybody.

The best gag is Dagwood posing as a drummer with the ship orchestra, lead by Kirby Grant, later famous for the SKY KING tv show. There's a super number called "You Don't Play a Drum, You Beat It," written by the popular team of Chet Forrest and Bob Wright.

The biggest surprise of all is Penny Singleton showing off her beautiful singing voice, accompanying Grant's (Hal Trent) band. A real unexpected treat. Penny would also sing in the next episode, BLONDIE IN SOCIETY, and with good reason. Also a bit of jealousy and romance at work here; Blondie bumping into handsome Spanish singer Tito Guizar (as Manuel), making Dagwood stand up and take notice! Guizar, born in Guadalajara, Mexico, became a popular singer and composer, later featured in Spanish tv series for years.

For travel buffs, filmed partly at the elite Miradero Estate in Glendale, CA. Miradero was the home of real estate pioneer Leslie Brand, known as the father of Glendale, responsible for mapping out the city in the early 1900s. The estate was later purchased by the city.

A super family episode, not to be missed, applause to the creative direction of Frank Strayer. Always on remastered dvd, either separate episodes or the entire series. Thanks much to MOVIES Net for running this classic Saturday mornings.

This is the eighth in the Blondie movie series. In this one, the Bumsteads go on a cruise to South America with Mr. Dithers-mainly so the boss can rest. There's also a funny scene involving the mailman, the cab driver, shaving cream, and running. And another when-after it's established Dagwood has to come home to take care of business-the others think they're seeing him on the boat and, oh, watch the movie if you want to find out. Anyway, the whole thing is an excuse to showcase musical numbers of Kirby Grant, Ruth Terry, Tito Guizar, with Arthur Lake displaying his drum skills, Penny Singleton her singing and dancing prowess, and even the boy playing Baby Dumpling (Larry Simms) warbling a little with Janet Burston who was also doing that in the M-G-M-produced-only Our Gang comedies during this time. In summary, Blondie Goes Latin was one of the most enjoyable of the series! P.S. By this time, Ms. Singleton had fallen in love and eventually married producer Robert Sparks so she might have influenced this change of pace! And the person credited with writing the original story is Quinn Martin-presumably the same one eventually responsible for producing "The Fugitive", "Cannon", "The Streets of San Francisco", and "Barnaby Jones".

This is a musical entry in the Blondie franchise of which there are quite a few from the 1930's thru 1950. This was a popular comic strip turned live action. Both our leads...Blondie and Dagwood participate in the musical numbers, Blondie sings and dances while Dagwood plays the drums.

In this episode Dagwood's boss is taking a Latin cruise to rest and he takes Dagwood and his family with him...except at the last minute Dagwood has to stay in order to take care of some business...but he never makes it off the ship and gets accidentally mistaken for a band member...and the band needs him as a drummer to fulfill their contract. This ends up creating some high jinx as Dagwood tries to avoid his boss, while reassuring Blondie that he is ok.

With some beautiful Latin preludes and musical numbers.

A fun Blondie with music and Latin flair, definitely worth watching. Very Family friendly.

This is the 8th film in the series of 28 (1938-1950). Alvin (Danny Mummert) is nice enough to visit the Bumsteads and give flowers to Blondie. h He has a poem to read titled, "The Bumsteads Go To South America". The Bumstead family gets to go on a six-week cruise to South America thanks to Mr. Dithers. Well, a telegram comes for Mr. Dithers. To close a deal at the office, someone must be at the office Tuesday. This is Mr. Dithers health cruise, so that means Dagwood (Arthur Lake) must leave the ship to be at the office. After all Mr. Dithers is Dagwood's boss. But Dithers insists on Blondie (Penny Singleton), Baby Dumpling (Larry Simms) and Daisy too to stay on the ship with him with his compliments. Dagwood says a tearful goodbye. Well, as you will see, Dagwood doesn't quite make it ashore. He is still on the boat and trying to hide from Mr. Dithers. Baby Dumpling meets a little girl and they sing a duet. Penny Singleton gets to sing three beautiful songs and dances too. The next film in the series is BLONDIE IN SOCIETY.