Blondie & Dagwood's America

by Chic; Young Dean; Marschall Richard Young

When the first Blondie daily strip appeared on September 8, 1930, little did creator Chic Young think for a fleeting moment that, 51 years later his son Dean and Rick Marschall would be publishing a book summing up its phenomenal success to that point (and would STILL be going strong some 31 years after that). Here I'll relate the text on the outside back cover of this 8 1/2 x 11 144-page history of the strips first"Blondie is the most popular comic strip in the world! Blondie appears in more major newspapers than any other comic strip character in history, and for more than fifty years has made us all laugh. In celebration, here is a glorious tribute to Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead, America's f avorite family. Here's the behind-the scenes story of the strip, and a colorful selection of the best of Blondie - all packed with fun, hilarity, sentiment and love. Did you know that Dagwood Bumstead began life as a millionaire's son? That Blondie was a gold-digging flapper? It's all here - their stormy and world famous courtship, the fateful wedding that almost wasn't, the foundation of the funny family that everyone has come to know like next-door neighbors. Visit with Mr. Dithers, the Woodleys, Mr. Beasley the postman, Daisy and the pups, and a cast of thousands of salesmen. Relive their lives and re-laugh your laughs ... and rediscover the humor and Warmth of Blondie's America."With a two page introduction by Bob Hope, written in May 1981, followed by a great full-page sketch of Chic with Dagwood and Blondie, you get 21 full pages outlining the life of Mr. Young and his family, details of his first characters Jane (The Affairs Of), Beautiful Bab and Dumb Dora, sprinkled with vintage photos, sample strips for the three aforementioned characters (in both color and black and white - something repeated throughout the book)

Genres: Comic Strips

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the cartoons, but the information about the book indicated that there would be more commentary about the strip over the years. The early information on Blondie and Dagwood, when she was a flapper and he was the son of a millionaire, who went on a hunger strike until he was allowed to marry Blondie, was fascinating, but the rest was really just random cartoons. The title is misleading, as over and over the commentary talks about how basic the situations are, so that they could be occurring in the U.S., Sweden, or South Africa. No American holidays are mentioned, for example, to keep the strip more seemingly universal. Most of the commentary is by Dean Young, Chic's son, who just enjoys doing the cartoons.

[Donnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blondie has been notable for me since growing up with the cartoon gracing the cover of the Sunday S.F. Chron. No matter what was going on in the world, on Sundays top billing went to the colorful weekly adventures of a “typical suburban family." Also, who knew (who was born after, say, 1950) that Dagwood began life as the son of wealthy parents who refused to allow him to marry Blondie until he went on a 28 day hunger strike? Also interesting to contemplate, according to the daily life depicting of Blondie and Dagwood, such life revolves around four main areas: a. Sleeping, b. Eating, c. money (earning a living/paying bills/get rich quick schemes) and d. Managing a household (includes raising children which covers the sex element.)

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once Blondie was firmly established as a family strip, Young focused on 4 basic themes: eating, sleeping, making money, and maintaining a household. Strips from 1930-1981 are categorized according to those themes in this collection of strips.