Footlight Glamour (1943)

Director:

Frank R. Strayer

Writers:

Karen DeWolf (writer)
Connie Lee (writer)

Release Date:

30 September 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

DAGWOOD IN TROUBLE AGAIN! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

Rich tool manufacturer hires Dagwood for a new plant, but Blondie upsets things when she casts the rich man's daughter in a play. |

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Based On Comic | Sequel

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Penny Singleton	...	Blondie Bumstead
Arthur Lake	...	Dagwood Bumstead
Larry Simms	...	Alexander Bumstead
Ann Savage	...	Vicki Wheeler
Jonathan Hale	...	J.C. Dithers
Irving Bacon	...	Mr. Crum
Marjorie Ann Mutchie	...	Cookie Bumstead
Danny Mummert	...	Alvin Fuddle
Daisy	...	Daisy

Runtime:

68 min | USA:72 min (original US 16 mm television syndication prints)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The fourteenth of twenty-eight Blondie movies starring Penny Singleton as Blondie Bumstead and Arthur Lake as Dagwood Bumstead.

Quotes:

[Dagwood is on stage when a dove flies out of his rented costume]
Alexander: Where did that come from?
Alvin: I don't know. But, someone was sure to give him the bird.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Blondie Knows Best (1946)

Stage Door Bumsteads

FOOTLIGHT GLAMOUR (Columbia, 1943), featuring Blondie and the Bumsteads, directed by Frank R. Strayer, is the 14th chapter in the popular "Blondie" feature film series, the second and last without Blondie's name in the title. It was originally intended as the final installment, however, due to the popularity of the series, Columbia revived the series with 14 more installments to come starting in 1945.

In FOOTLIGHT GLAMOUR, Blondie (Penny Singleton) and her spouse, Dagwood (Arthur Lake) help out a client's daughter by taking part in a dramatic play titled "Mad Moonlight" written by show-biz hopeful Vicki Wheeler (Ann Savage), daughter of Randolph Wheeler (Thurston Hall), a show-business hating client of Dagwood's boss, Mr. Dithers (Jonathan Hale), who has Vicki stay at the Bumstead household in order to keep her away from her no-good boyfriend, Jerry Grant (Rafael Storm). Jerry, however, manages to find her and appear in her play anyway. Also appearing in Vicki's play are Cora Dithers (Grace Hayle) as the maid, and Mr. Crum, the neighborhood postman, (Irving Bacon) playing the English butler, etc., with boy "genius" Alvin Fuddow (Danny Mummert) helping out with the sound effects. But the dramatic play accidentally turns out to be a comedy hit with the audience, thanks to Dagwood's bumbling, which includes him walking on stage only to have a trap door open from under him, and in true silent comedian Harold Lloyd fashion, Dagwood later acquires a dinner jacket belonging to a magician and unwittingly does some magic tricks. The curtain also falls on top of Dagwood moments later to have only his head seen visible below as he calls out for "BLOONDIE!!!" During the course of all this, Dithers tries to prevent Mr. Wheeler from finding out about his daughter's play being in production, but in spite of everything going wrong, things become right again in typical Bumstead fashion.

In smaller roles, Larry Simms and Marjorie Ann Mutchie return as the Bumstead children, Alexander and Cookie, along with Daisy, the Bumstead pooch, up to "her" old tricks again to obtain laughs. Some good humor among the footlights can be had in this average comedy. Formerly shown on the American Movie Classics channel from 1996 to 2001, "Footlight Glamour" can be found on either video cassette or the DVD format.(**)