Dagwood Bumstead is a main character in cartoonist Chic Young's long-running comic stripBlondie. He debuted in the very first strip on September 8, 1930. He was originally heir to the Bumstead Locomotive fortune but was disowned when he married Blondie née Boopadoop, a flapper whom his family saw as below his class. He has since worked hard at J. C. Dithers Construction Company as office manager to support his family. The Bumsteads' first baby, Alexander, was originally named Baby Dumpling. The name of his younger sister, Cookie, was chosen by readers in a national contest. The family circle is rounded out by Daisy the dog. The origin of both Dagwood's last name and Daisy's name came from Chic Young's long-time friend Arthur Bumstead and his dog, Daisy.
Characteristics
His favorite things in life include his wife Blondie, his kids, naps on the sofa, long baths, and food. Dagwood is famous for concocting tall, multi-layered sandwiches topped with an olive on a toothpick, and the term "Dagwood sandwich" has entered American English. He frequently has problems with door-to-door salesmen, rude telemarketers and store salespeople, crashing into the mailman as he rushes from home, getting ready before the carpool leaves without him, getting to work on time, his boss J.C. Dithers, and Cookie's many dates. He is often suspicious of her dates and keeps a close watch on them when they come to the house. Other characters in his universe include Elmo Tuttle, a pesky little neighborhood kid who wanders in and out of the Bumstead house, next-door neighbors Herb and Tootsie Woodley, Lou, the sarcastic cook in a local diner, and Mr. Dithers' domineering wife, Cora. Dagwood's birthday is July 20, and/or April 21.
Appearances in other media
Over the years, Dagwood has appeared not only in daily newspapers, but in comic books, Big Little Books, Whitman novels for children, and other print materials, as well as radio, film, and television. Arthur Lake played Dagwood in the Blondiefilm series and the short-lived 1957 TV seriesBlondie, while Will Hutchins played him in a revival series. He makes several cameo appearances in Garfield Gets Real, alongside Grimmy from Mother Goose and Grimm. Dagwood and his wife also made a cameo appearance in a Garfield strip originally published April 1, 1997. On a fourth wall break, Garfield refers to this as "moving to a different comic strip". Dagwood made another appearance in Garfield comic strips in August 20, 2005 to invite Jon and Garfield for his and Blondie's anniversary party. Dagwood also made a cameo appearance in the 1946 cartoon Hollywood Canine Canteen, where he and his wife Blondie are portrayed as anthropomorphic dogs working in a snack bar. Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake voiced both characters respectively. In the song "Homemade Mummy" alternative rapper Aesop Rock briefly refers to Dagwood.
