Blondie Takes a Vacation

Blondie Takes a Vacation (1939) starring Arthur Lake, Penny Singleton, Donald Meek, Donald MacBride

Blondie Takes a Vacation – Blondie & Dagwood take a vacation, help an older couple running a motel against a competitor, and nearly lose Baby Dumpling (and Daisy) in a fire!

Comedy highlights

• Blondie’s new hat!
• Alvin’s suggestion to get Blondie to leave for the train on time.
• “Barking contest” on the train.
• What did you do with our baby!?!
• Baby Dumpling sleeping in the baby car with Daisy (and other dogs).
• “No babies or dogs allowed! It’s a new rule.”
• Dagwood scaring himself, looking at the empty rooms in the new motel.
• Firebug Mr. Gillis “helpfully” starting a fire in the Bumsteads’ room.
• Dagwood and Blondie realize that they didn’t start the fire – and they think they’re the only ones in the motel.
• Chair collapsing while Dagwood’s sitting in it.
• Daisy chased up a tree … By a cat!
• Daisy helping Baby Dumpling dry the dishes.
• Prop comedy with the motel bus.
• Dagwood fixing the vacuum cleaner.
• Comedic effect of the skunk on Morton’s motel.

Cast

• Penny Singleton (Blondie Knows Best) … Blondie Bumstead. Loving wife and mother. On the train to their vacation, she wonders how it will be when she and Dagwood grow old. And at the motel, she sees the elderly couple in trouble. And her empathy kicks in.
• Arthur Lake (Blondie’s Holiday) … Dagwood Bumstead. Blondie’s loving husband, and Baby Dumpling’s father. Despite his clowning goof ups, he’s truly a family man. Willing to go to jail, for a crime he didn’t commit, once he knows that Baby Dumpling is safe.
• Larry Simms (Blondie’s Secret) … Baby Dumpling Bumstead. The Bumstead’s young son, who keeps getting into trouble — with Daisy’s help. Chasing a skunk, getting locked inside a burning motel …
• Daisy. The family dog, and secret hero. She chases a skunk into Morton’s motel, causing it to empty. And, all the guests come to the Dickerson’s motel! Then, when she and Baby Dumpling are locked into a motel room in Morton’s burning motel, she finds the key to let them out.
• Donald Meek (Bathing Beauty) … Jonathan N. Gillis. The uncle who tries to help the Dickersons & the Bumstead’s. He also rescues Baby Dumpling from the burning motel room. He was going to burn the motel down, but some “dirty dog” beat him to it!
• Donald MacBride (If a Body Meets a Body, Here Comes Mr. Jordan) … Harvey Morton. The villain of the movie. He’s going to foreclose on the Dickerson’s motel. And commits arson, to cash in on his fire insurance.
• Thomas W. Ross … Matthew Dickerson. Elderly husband and hotel owner.
• Elizabeth Dunne (Stage Door) … Mrs. Emily Dickerson. The older woman who, along with her husband, runs the motel. At the end, she offers half ownership of the motel to the Bumsteads, for all they’ve done. But Blondie refuses!?!

Secondary characters

• Robert Wilcox (The Man They Could Not Hang) … John Larkin. Mr. Gillis’ nephew. He knows about Gillis’ pyromania, and he’s come to take him back home. But Mr. Gillis talks him into staying at the motel for a few days.
• Harlan Briggs (The Bank Dick, Abe Lincoln in Illinois) … Mr. Holden. The bank president, who would legitimately like to help the Dickersons. But he can’t loan them the money unless it’s a thriving business …
• Irving Bacon (Gone with the Wind) … Mailman. It wouldn’t be a Blondie movie without Dagwood running over the poor mailman…. He made the mistake of thinking the Bumsteads were on vacation, and he was safe!
• Danny Mummert … Alvin Fuddle. Baby Dumpling’s neighbor and best friend. He gives advice to Dagwood on how to handle Blondie, when Blondie’s offended over Dagwood’s reaction to her new hat.
• Christine McIntyre (Scotched in Scotland) … Resort Singer – singing ‘Love in Bloom‘ when the skunks … effects … are felt!

Trivia

• The third of twenty-eight Blondie movies.
• The $30 the Bumstead’s paid for the week’s rent of the room, adjusted for inflation, would equate to $567.66 in 2021.
• The $416.52 in bills that Dagwood paid off, adjusted for inflation, would be $7,881.34 in 2021.

Quotes

• Baby Dumpling: Every time I hear that phone ring, I get goose pimples.
• Baby Dumpling: They’re a good mommy and daddy, but sometimes it’s mighty hard to live with ’em.
• Alvin: The Creator made us with two ends, one on which to sit, the other with which to think. Success depends on which one we use the most. Heads we win, tails we lose.
• Blondie: Baby, you have to get cleaned up.
  Baby Dumpling: I thought this was a vacation.
• Dagwood. It’s scary.
  Baby Dumpling: Don’t be scared, Daddy. We’re with you.
• Blondie: How can you say such a thing? Why, that’s wicked.
  Baby Dumpling: When I’m drying dishes, I feel wicked.

Editorial review of Blondie Takes a Vacation courtesy of Amazon

In this third in the Blondie series, Blondie and Dagwood are in charge of operations at a mountain motel. The elderly owners of the establishment are in danger of losing their life savings. Among other things, arson threatens.