Blondie for Victory

In Blondie for Victory, Blondie organizes the Housewives of America to support the war effort. But that leaves all the housework to the husbands! And they don’t like it!

Blondie for Victory (1942) starring Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake

[Blondie has observer duty at the local dam]
J.C. Dithers: If she were my wife, I’d tell her a thing or two!
Dagwood Bumstead: Can’t you pretend that she is?
…
J.C. Dithers: A wife’s place is in the home… and not by a dam site! 

Comedy highlights

• Mrs. Dithers invites nine soldiers to stay at their house.
• Mr. Dithers’ astigmatism (eye trouble) is acting up, and he walks into a closet.
• Dagwood putting a clothespin on the nose of a snoring woman in Cookie’s bedroom.
• Dagwood’s browbeaten by Blondie into letting the Housewives of America meet in their home — where he’s supposed to be working.
• Daisy and the pups coming in with Alexander & Alvin from buying bonds drive. Where the dogs eats his sandwich!
• Blondie using poor Dagwood as a dummy when she bandages him as a demonstration. And he looks like a mummy! Then Mr. Dithers walks in! And the ladies grab him for more demonstrations!
• Dagwood and Mr. Dithers called to an “emergency” at … a dress shop, where Blondie’s part of a fashion show to support the war.
• Alvin and Alexander blackmailing Dagwood with his old diary. Only to find out that Alvin already charged Blondie to read it to her earlier!
• Dagwood accidentally feeding dog food to himself Mr. Dithers! And barking at the dogs!
• Mr. Dithers gets the idea from Dagwood to have Dagwood pretend to enlist, to remind her of what her true priorities are. And they chase a poor soldier to “borrow” his uniform!
• And the boys shake down the soldier, for them to tell him where Dagwood is, since he needs his uniform back immediately. And Mr. Dithers bids against him!
• The ploy actually works, and Blondie disbands the Housewives of America. So the ladies can take care of the households, and the husbands can support the war effort. And then the soldier gives away the whole story! And the military comes to collect Dagwood!
• And the fleeing Dagwood runs over the poor mailman one more time! On the way to prevent a saboteur from blowing up the dam.

Cast of characters

• Penny Singleton (Blondie’s Hero) … Blondie Bumstead
• Arthur Lake (Blondie Plays Cupid) … Dagwood Bumstead
• Larry Simms (Blondie’s Big Moment) … Alexander Bumstead
• Daisy (Blondie in Society) … Daisy
• Majelle White … ‘Cookie’ Bumstead (as Cookie)
• Stuart Erwin (Pillow to Post; Merton of the Movies) … Pvt. Herschel Smith
• Jonathan Hale (Blondie: It’s a Great Life) … J.C. Dithers
• Danny Mummert (Blondie Meets the Boss) … Alvin Fuddle
• Edward Gargan (Annabel Takes a Tour) … Sergeant

Additional Cast

• Eddie Acuff (The Petrified Forest; Blondie’s Big Moment) … Husband Whose Wife Knits Socks (uncredited)
• Georgia Backus … Mrs. Jones, Housewife of America (uncredited)
• Irving Bacon (A Girl a Guy and a Gob) … Mr. Crumb, Former Mailman (uncredited)
• Don Beddoe (The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer) … Mr. Larkin, Husband Who Nominates Dagwood (uncredited)
• Volta Boyer … Housewife of America (uncredited)
• Marshall Bradford … Minor Role (uncredited)
• Ruth Cherrington … Housewife of America (uncredited)
• Eddie Coke … Minor Role (uncredited)
• Helen Dickson … Housewife of America (uncredited)
• Minta Durfee (Twenty Minutes of Love) … Housewife of America (uncredited)
• Edythe Elliott … Housewife of America (uncredited)
• Sylvia Field … Mrs. Williams, Housewife of America (uncredited)
• Harrison Greene … Mr. Greene, Man with Mr. Crumb (uncredited)
• Harry Harvey … Gwendolyn’s Husband (uncredited)
• Russell Hicks … Colonel (uncredited)
• Jean Inness … Housewife of America (uncredited)
• Eddie Laughton … Minor Role (uncredited)
• Blanche Payson (Below Zero) … Minor Role (uncredited)
• Renie Riano (Pajama Party) … Miss Clabber, Cookie’s Babysitter (uncredited)
• Dewey Robinson … Threatening Husband (uncredited)
• Almira Sessions … Mrs. Larkin, Blondie’s Second in Command at Dam (uncredited)
• John Tyrrell (Three Stooges) … Soldier Chasing Dagwood (uncredited)
• Bess Wade … Housewife of America Saying ‘No Patriotism’ (uncredited)
• Charles Wagenheim … Sugar Hoarder (uncredited)
• Nella Walker … Mrs. Holbrook, Fashion Show Director (uncredited)
• Mary Young … Mrs. Webster, Housewife of America (uncredited)

Editorial review of Blondie for Victory courtesy of Amazon

Blondie throws herself into war work, neglecting the house and her husband, but Dagwood wins her back…by almost wrecking the war effort.