Blondie (radio series)

Blondie is a radio situation comedy adapted from the long-running Blondie comic strip by Chic Young. It stars Arthur Lake as Dagwood Bumstead and, for the majority of its run, Penny Singleton as Blondie Bumstead. The radio program ran on several networks from 1939 to 1950.

Blondie
Singleton and Lake in their radio roles.
Genresituation comedy
Running time30 minutes
Country of originUnited States
Language(s)English
Home stationCBS (1939-1948)

NBC Blue (1944)

NBC (1948-1949)

ABC (1949-1950)
StarringArthur Lake, Penny Singleton
Original releaseJuly 3, 1939 –
July 6, 1950
No. of episodes548[1]

Broadcast history

In 1938, Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake were cast in the Columbia Pictures film Blondie. The film was a box office success and a long-running film series went into production, lasting until 1950 and featuring twenty-eight feature films. As part of the promotion for the first film, Singleton and Lake appeared as Blondie and Dagwood on the December 20, 1938 episode of The Pepsodent Show radio program, which starred Bob Hope.

The appearance with Hope led to their own show, beginning July 3, 1939, on CBS as a summer replacement for The Eddie Cantor Show. However, Cantor did not return in the fall, so the sponsor, R.J. Reynolds' Camel cigarettes chose to keep Blondie on the air Mondays at 7:30 p.m. Camel remained the sponsor until June 26, 1944.

Super Suds WWII advertisement

In 1944, Blondie was on the NBC Blue Network, sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive's Super Suds, airing Fridays at 7 p.m. from July 21 to September 1. The final three weeks of that run overlapped with Blondie's return to CBS on Sundays at 8pm from August 13, 1944, to September 26, 1948, still sponsored by Super Suds. Beginning in mid-1945, the 30-minute program was heard Mondays at 7:30 p.m. Super Suds continued as the sponsor when the show moved to NBC on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. from October 6, 1948, to June 29, 1949.

Early in 1949, Colgate executive Bob Healy notified Singleton that the company desired "a different interpretation of the character", and an agency began auditioning actresses to be the new Blondie.[2] Ann Rutherford replaced her as the voice of Blondie.[3] In October 1949, Patricia Lake, the real life wife of Arthur Lake took the role.[4] Alice White was also heard as radio's Blondie.[5][6][7]

In its final season, the series was on ABC as a sustaining program from October 6, 1949, to July 6, 1950, first airing Thursdays at 8 p.m. and then (from May) 8:30 p.m. The radio show ended the same year as the Blondie film series.

Arthur Lake would later return to the role of Dagwood in the 1957 television series Blondie opposite Pamela Britton as Blondie.[8]

Cast

Crew
  • Producer - Tom McKnight, Ashmead Scott
  • Directors - Eddie Pola, Don Bernard, Glenhall Taylor
  • Writers - Ashmead Scott, William Moore, Johnny Greene (1940)
  • Music - Harry Lubin, Billy Artz, Lou Kosloff
  • Sound Effects - Ray Erlenborn (CBS series) / Parker Cornel (NBC series)

References
  1. Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs: Blondie
  2. "Singleton Not The 'Blondie' Type, Sez Colgate After 10 Yrs". Variety. March 9, 1949. p. 25. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  3. "Ann Rutherford New Radio Show 'Blondie'". The Times. Munster, Indiana. March 21, 1949.
  4. "Blondie, Dagwood Join WCON Parade". Atlanta Constitution. October 19, 1949.
  5. Lamparski, Richard (1968). Whatever became of ... ?: Second series. Crown Publishers. Retrieved July 31, 2009.
  6. Dunning, John (1998). On the air: the encyclopedia of old-time radio. Oxford University Press. pp. 97. ISBN 9780195076783. Retrieved July 31, 2009. Blondie, Van Cleve.
  7. Dunning, John (1976). Tune in yesterday: the ultimate encyclopedia of old-time radio, 1925-1976. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 9780139326080. Retrieved July 31, 2009. Blondie, Van Cleve.
  8. Comics on Television in the 1950s: Blondie

Listen to

Further reading

Blondie Goes to Hollywood, by Carol Lynn Scherling. Albany, 2010. BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-401-9.

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