Newly transferred from original 35mm elements, and virtually unseen for over 60 years, Blondie – The Complete 1957 Television Series makes its home video debut with all 26 sparklingly sharp episodes in this 4-disc DVD set.
Still read today in over 2,000 newspapers across 55 countries, cartoonist Chic Young brought carefree flapper Blondie Boopadoop and her boyfriend Dagwood Bumstead to “the funny papers” in 1930. But it wasn’t until the two of them tied the knot three years later that Blondie became one of the most popular comics in the history of the medium.
The success of the strip spawned one of the longest-running franchises in the Golden Age of Cinema with 28 features produced by Columbia between 1938 and 1950 — all starring Penny Singleton as Blondie and Arthur Lake as Dagwood. In 1957, legendary Hal Roach Studios brought the comic strip couple to the small screen with Pamela Britton as Blondie and Lake reprising his role as Dagwood… a role he seemed born to play.
A delightful 1950s sitcom that perfectly captures the jovial domestic spirit of the strip, Blondie also stars Stuffy Singer and Ann Barnes as the Bumstead children (Alexander, formerly Baby Dumpling, and Cookie). It also features Florenz Ames as J.C. Dithers, Dagwood’s autocratic boss and Harold “The Great Gildersleeve” Peary as Dagwood’s friendly nemesis Herb Woodley.
Character great Elvia Allman is also part of the fun, with guest appearances by Alan Mowbray, Frank Nelson, Barbara Nichols, June Vincent, Judi Meredith, Gregg Palmer, Alan Reed, William Schallert, Pamela Duncan, Fritz Feld and many more!
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
Product Dimensions : 7.25 x 5.25 x 0.5 inches; 4.8 ounces
Director : Paul Landres
Media Format : NTSC
Run time : 10 hours and 50 minutes
Release date : September 25, 2018
Actors : Arthur Lake, Pamela Britton, Stuffy Singer, Florenz Ames, Ann Barnes
Studio : Classicflix
ASIN : B07FV8SVQT
Country of Origin : USA
Number of discs : 1
Blondie: The Complete 1957 Television Series
$35.49$39.99 (-11%)
Newly transferred from original 35mm elements, and virtually unseen for over 60 years, Blondie – The Complete 1957 Television Series makes its home video debut with all 26 sparklingly sharp episodes in this 4-disc DVD set.
Still read today in over 2,000 newspapers across 55 countries, cartoonist Chic Young brought carefree flapper Blondie Boopadoop and her boyfriend Dagwood Bumstead to “the funny papers” in 1930. But it wasn’t until the two of them tied the knot three years later that Blondie became one of the most popular comics in the history of the medium.
The success of the strip spawned one of the longest-running franchises in the Golden Age of Cinema with 28 features produced by Columbia between 1938 and 1950 — all starring Penny Singleton as Blondie and Arthur Lake as Dagwood. In 1957, legendary Hal Roach Studios brought the comic strip couple to the small screen with Pamela Britton as Blondie and Lake reprising his role as Dagwood… a role he seemed born to play.
A delightful 1950s sitcom that perfectly captures the jovial domestic spirit of the strip, Blondie also stars Stuffy Singer and Ann Barnes as the Bumstead children (Alexander, formerly Baby Dumpling, and Cookie). It also features Florenz Ames as J.C. Dithers, Dagwood’s autocratic boss and Harold “The Great Gildersleeve” Peary as Dagwood’s friendly nemesis Herb Woodley.
Character great Elvia Allman is also part of the fun, with guest appearances by Alan Mowbray, Frank Nelson, Barbara Nichols, June Vincent, Judi Meredith, Gregg Palmer, Alan Reed, William Schallert, Pamela Duncan, Fritz Feld and many more!
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
Product Dimensions : 7.25 x 5.25 x 0.5 inches; 4.8 ounces
Director : Paul Landres
Media Format : NTSC
Run time : 10 hours and 50 minutes
Release date : September 25, 2018
Actors : Arthur Lake, Pamela Britton, Stuffy Singer, Florenz Ames, Ann Barnes
Studio : Classicflix
ASIN : B07FV8SVQT
Country of Origin : USA
Number of discs : 1
by Martin Grams, Jr.
Complete Series, Remastered
The complete series, every half-hour episode digitally restored in superior picture and sound. Short-lived programs like this have too few episodes to allow for reruns on TV, so they tend to fall into obscurity. For fans of 1950s retro television, this is a treat. Thank goodness for Classicflix who went to the expense of getting the series licensed and spending time and money restoring these. Do yourself a favor and grab this DVD (or BluRay) today and enjoy!
by Robert L. Anderson
‘BLONDIE’ IS A DELIGHT
THIS SHORT LIVED TV SERIES IS A DELIGHT. I HARDLY REMEMBER THE SERIES, BUT IT HOLDS UP VERY WELL. AS ALWAYS ARTHUR LAKE PLAYS THE ONE AND ONLY DAGWOOD AND PAMELA BRITTON PLAYS BLONDIE. PENNY SINGLETON WILL BE MISSED AS PLAYING THE TITLE CHARACTER OF BLONDIE SINCE SHE PLAYED BLONDIE IN THE 28 MOVIE VERSIONS OF BLONDIE, BUT PAMELA BRITTON DOES A FINE JOB AND SHE ACTUALLY LOOKS MORE LIKE THE COMIC STRIP VERSION ON BLONDIE THAT PENNY DID.THIS SERIES WAS MADE IN 1957 AND WAS STANDARD FAIR FOR THE TIMES. THE ONLY COMPLAINT I HAVE ON THIS SERIES IS THAT AWFUL ‘CANNED LAUGHTER, BUT I GUESS THEY CAN’T REMOVE IT FROM THE SOUNDTRACK. THE PICTURE QUALITY IS PERFECT, SO THEY MUST HAVE DONE A LOT OF WORK ON THAT.I AM GOING TO GET A COUPLE OF MORE COPIES AND GIVE THEM OUT AS CHRISTMAS PRESENTS WHO I KNOW LOVED CHICK YOUNG’S BLONDIE. I TRULY BELIEVE THAT THIS SERIES HOLDS UP MUSH BETTER THAN MOST OF THE TV SERIES THAT CAME OUT IN THE 50’S.
by Bruce R. Florida
the three main characters/ all were great actors
First of all I just finished this series,although it was short lived I’ve never laughed so hard in all my years, Pamela Britton was just great as Blondie,what a multi-talented actress, and lets not forget Arthur Lake as Dagwood such a bumbling,stumbling husband just keeps you laughing all the way through the series,and his conniving neighbor Herb Woodley, both of whom seem to get into so much trouble without any help from there wives, and lets not forget the guest stars who actually made the big time back in the 50’s so here you have it go ahead and get this pay the money sit back with a bag of pop-corn and laugh your head off, this is what T.V. is supposed to be like,not of bunch of foul language every other word out of actors mouths these days,remember how it was when you were growing up.
by rtweedy1124
definitely worth watching.
I don’t remember this show when I was young but, I bought the movie pack and loved them so I gave it a shot. It was a nice dose of clean comedy a little at a time. It was nice to see the things that were funny back then and how some things still are issues today. It might of been a little more interesting with the commercials. But if you enjoy the old shows you will like it. Only one episode had a sound issue and it was barely noticeable.
by Retired Soldier/Sailor.
Excellent quality audio & video.
We all have our God-given assets and defects. The two leads in this series made many movies together— in the franchise —Cannot say that I noticed in the many movies, but in the clarity of these TV episodes… and the fact that “Dagwood Bumstead” is photographed, mostly, from his right-side is a hint. It appears that his eyes don’t match, and much like the male lead’s eyes in a favorite show of mine [THE GOOD WITCH] are, often, askew. In my younger days this was termed “cross-eyed”. I suppose MY eyes are my BEST feature…. in my MASK.
by Charles 22
Why is This Funny?
I first would like to stress that I have only seen the first episode thus far. I wasn’t expecting much out of a series that lasted only one year, but I’m a Pamela Britton fan, plus Arthur Lake is always good for laughs.The video seems to have been restored and looks very good, as well as the audio.From the first episode I found one thing annoying compared to the movies I recall, and doubtlessly I haven’t seen all the movies, so I may be wrong. But what I found annoying were about eight Daisy type dogs running around and I have no idea why that is a good idea. Obviously they’re going to be played for the same shallow laughs, often enough, that I saw on the first episode; I can pray not. The only other thing that annoyed me was at first I was noticing the laugh track, and I think it was because it was activated at unfunny spots at times (like the dogs – ARGGGH!)Now for the pleasantries. This show is funnier than I thought it would be, and I expected nothing. I must had laughed out loud three or four times, as it can get pretty clever with the dialogue in places. Odd that I wouldn’t find the dogs funny, because Daisy was so cute in the earlier movies, but just dogs running around as a bunch causing commotion just isn’t funny to me.So why is it as funny as it was? There’s one simple answer, that being Hal Roach Studios, which I saw at the end of the episode (over 25 minutes thank you!). My, my, suddenly I’m optimistic about the comedy prospects in future episodes.Update: I have seen all but the last 6 episodes thus far, and it’s a mixed bag. The first episode was good as I said earlier, but after that it had like a string of several episodes which didn’t tickle me at all, and just about when I was ready to give up, at least give up on finding laughs, it came through with like three funny ones in a row, especially one called Deception. Deception involves a bunch of the cast having to play as somebody else impromptu, which to me seems to always come across as funny. Blondie’s cast did it well, but I can only compare this sort of formula to what Burns and Allen frequently did, whom were masters at it.In the last episode I saw, Pamela Britton gets to show some of her acting versatility as she plays a double role, one of which comes across as a nightclub sort of Marilyn Monroe type (but with a rough speaking voice), and she does it pretty well. She also sings in it (twice), and does that well too, but I could had swore the only other time I ever heard her sing, which she had done in a Peter Gunn episode (a SUPER episode), that she sang much deeper in this Blondie episode. Man, that lady could even sing with versatility if I’m not mistaken.It seems virtually every time I see Pamela in something different, she surprises me with a side to her talent that I didn’t know she had – quite nice. While her Blondie role in this series could easily seem similar to her Lorelei Brown role in My Favorite Martian, this somewhat Marilyn Monroe one episode imitation is quite a different side to her indeed. Either side of her using her voice, seems very natural, and so I can only wonder what her real voice sounded like.I have noticed something else almost kind of tragic going on here so far. While the cast are doing better jobs, and since the last half of the show is getting funnier, since the show only lasted one year, it looks as though they really started getting their legs, but the audiences that saw the show didn’t get to see them at their best. Yes, for the string of mostly dull episodes I saw in a row, I think I would had cancelled the show too, but there are quite a few gems amidst the whole thing, especially in the latter half. It has also occureed to me that the more you see this show, especially when you get into the latter half, the cast really starts to grow on you, even if they weren’t improving, which they were.Fortunately for me, while the dogs are always in the episodes to some degree, they aren’t used too terribly badly, and don’t become the great enormous dull joke of constantly running around the house, that I feared. BTW, one of the little hidden treasures of this series, is their rarely used sound effects, which used very judiciously is done very well.
by justmeAmazon Customer
Quality
I love it
by Dixie Ahne
Get what you pay for.
Not as good as the movies but still a completion of this Americana. The disappointment lies in the omission of the original comic strip in favor of the formula this all became. Perhaps someone will someday take up the slack, even bringing some of the other oldies to cinematic reality.