From the back cover of BLONDIE #7 (David McKay, Cover Date (August-September, 1948), comes this artifact of post-war suburban bliss - BLONDIE'S COOK BOOK!
Not that I advocate women - or men for that matter - "staying-at-home-and-cooking" (quite the opposite, I assure you), but I present it here as a sign-of-its-times, and a unique character tie-in product to the book's starring characters!
...Bon Appétit!
4 comments:
I'd say that this is actually quite progressive for its publication date as both Blondie and Dagwood are shown cooking in the accompanying images! What's more, the book is described as "a Swell Gift for Mom and Dad," rather than only for Mom :)
Also, to tie this to the previous post: note how the text advertises this product as a "PRACTICAL, HOW-TO-DO-IT book," further confirming that "How-To" books were definitely a thing back in 1940s!
Agreed on all counts, T.!
I’d also like to say that I stacked this post in relation to the previous post in a purposeful way to play off the “How-To” books theme and further emphasize my “Blogging genius”!
…I’d *like* to say that, but (blush!) it was just a happy accident!
The “Blondie’s Cook Book” post was actually prepared first – by several weeks – but found its way out only yesterday! …And, it was YOU, who made ME realize it! …Perhaps I’m not the real “genius” ‘round here after all! :-)
One of the post-wartime concerns of the late 40's was persuading women to leave the workforce and return to the domestic engineering of the home. Blondie and Dagwood are being "good role models" for this movement. In the movies, Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake were still enjoying popularity as the screen's depiction of these two comic strip characters, and Larry Simms was steadily outgrowing his role of Alexander, although by the time the movie series finished its run, he was already in his teens--ironically, the comic strip counterpart of the character, along with his sister Cookie, has remained a teenager perpetually for decades.
I always felt that Blondie and Dagwood never completely reached their full potential, either on the big or small screen or in the world of comics. I feel there are still some epic stories to be told regarding the former millionaire playboy and the former gold-digging flapper. Isn't it about time for "Blondie, the Movie--the Untold Story"?
Scarecrow:
Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead occupy a firm place in the realm of American popular culture… though I might argue that it could be still larger than it is. The comic strip – and the comic books that grew out of it, often re-editing the same original strip material by creator Chic Young – were always a delight!
And while I liked Penny Singleton as Blondie, I can’t say the same for Arthur Lake as Dagwood! He was just too annoyingly wimpy for my tastes. I saw Dagwood as “more harried” and quite the bowed subject to the times he lived in, rather than as Lake’s constant whiner. As I personally “grew into the Dagwood role”, I found MY conception of Dagwood navigating work, married life, and “The World in General” to be more akin to my real life. …Put up with a lot of bother from the world at large, and some at home, but persevere, because there’s really no other way to do it! …But, that’s just me! I say this not having seen Lake’s performance for several decades and perhaps I might think differently today – but probably not.
I believe that Blondie and Dagwood at least brushed-up against their “full potential”, but in an indirect, yet undeniable, way! That way was called THE JETSONS!
If Ralph, Alice, Norton, and Trixie were The Flintstones, then Blondie and Dagwood were The Jetsons! Right down to casting Penny Singleton as Jane! George O’Hanlon as George Jetson was perfect as that “harried” sort of character who was especially subject to the vagaries of the world he lived in – just like Dagwood… and just like Joe McDoakes , the also-harried character O’Hanlon played in a long series of Warner Bros. theatrical comedy shorts!
To digress: I would never have heard of Joe McDoakes, if not for a DVD collection of those shorts put out by the Warner Archive Collection! They are GREAT, and are highly recommended by yours (still-harried-after-all-these-years) truly!
Further parallels with The Jetsons would include the later teen-age version of daughter Cookie with Judy Jetson… and without a doubt Dagwood’s angry boss Mr. Dithers as a counterpart to Mr. Spacely!
While I won’t draw parallels between Daisy and her pups with Astro, each causes considerable annoyance to their respective masters, though in different ways.
With all this, it’s not surprising that when I read the Blondie and Dagwood comic books I “hear” George O’Hanlon as Dagwood… and, of course, Penny Singleton as Blondie!
And while the “playboy/flapper” angle to the characters may have been permanently buried by time, it *would* make an interesting story for a movie, TV special, or reimagined modern comic book!
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