Blondie and Dagwood, the Perfect Cartoon Couple Quiz

Answer: Chic Young

Chic Young was born in Chicago in 1901 and was brought up in St Louis, before moving to New York. Already an established cartoonist, he introduced his comic strip 'Blondie' to his fans in 1930, and it became an instant success. On his death in 1973 his son, Dean Young, took over writing the strip, which has been drawn over the years by several cartoonists, and by John Marshall since 2005. The 'Blondie' cartoons are syndicated to newspapers in over fifty countries and still remain enduringly popular.

Fred Neher created the 'Life's Like That' comic strip, Bill Watterson brought us 'Calvin and Hobbes' and Jim Davis is the cartoonist behind the 'Garfield' cartoons.

Answer: Bumstead

Blondie Boopadoop, an attractive 'flapper', and wealthy playboy Dagwood Bumstead, the son of a billionaire tycoon, at first seemed an unlikely pairing, but the strip was well received. When, however, the financial effects of the Great Depression really kicked in, the strip suffered a dip in popularity.

When they fell in love and got married, Dagwood's father didn't approve of Blondie and immediately disinherited him. With the simpler lifestyle they then had to adopt, people identified with them more and their future was assured.

Answer: Cookie

Both Alexander and Cookie resemble their parents. Alexander is in his late teens. From being a mischievous small child, now he is older he is quite sensible, and keen on sport, playing football and basketball. When he was born in 1934 his was known by his nickname 'Baby Dumpling' before it emerged that his name was Alexander.

His younger sister Cookie is a lively teenager who loves clothes and seeing her friends, and excels at school. Like many cartoon characters, once the children grew through childhood into their teens they remained at that age.

Answer: J C Dithers

Despite several threats to fire him, often for falling asleep at his desk, Dagwood has worked at the J C Dithers Construction Company for several years. One of the strip's main running gags and problems in his life is managing to get to work on time. He seems to be completely lacking in timekeeping skills, and even managing to make the carpool pickup as he dashes out of the house each morning can pose a challenge.

Answer: catering

Herb and Tootsie Woodley live next door to the Bumsteads and are Dagwood and Blondie's best friends respectively. Blondie, who is very level-headed and has excellent business sense, started a catering business with Tootsie in 1991, which added another dimension to the strip. Over the years the 'Blondie' cartoons have kept pace with the times, gradually incorporating computers and modern technology into the strip, as well as current fashions, to keep the series up to date.

Answer: a dog named Daisy

Daisy loves all the family, but her favourite is Dagwood, who she adores, and accompanies him most of the time he is home. She has been in 'Blondie' since the early days of Blondie and Dagwood's marriage. When Alexander was a baby Daisy gave birth to a litter of puppies who featured in the cartoons for some time before being gradually phased out.

Answer: sandwich

The 'Dagwood sandwich' is a mighty tower of ingredients; various cold meats, salad vegetables and cheese to name but a few, all interspersed at different levels with slices of bread which also make up the top and bottom of this veritable feast. It is Dagwood's favourite snack when he raids the refrigerator. Quite how he retains his slim figure remains a mystery.

Answer: Penny Singleton

All the above actresses were born in 1908. Former child star Penny Singleton (1908 - 2003) played Blondie on screen, pairing with Arthur Lake as Dagwood for all 28 films and also voicing the character on radio. Penny Singleton also voiced the character of Jane Jetson in 'The Jetsons' cartoon series.

Answer: postage stamps

Twenty pre-1950 cartoons were commemorated by the US Postal Service in a set of postage stamps of famous cartoons along with 'Popeye', 'Dick Tracy', 'Krazy Kat' and other well-known strips of the era, under the name 'Comic Strip Classics'.

Chic Young was also honoured in 1948 by winning the Billy DeBeck Award for Cartoonist of the Year (now the Reuben Award).

Answer: postman

Dagwood often has issues with various salesmen throughout the strip, but it is Mr Beasley the postman who bears the brunt of Dagwood's collisions and the resulting pile of dropped mail.

I hope you enjoyed taking this quiz and it brought back many memories. I have to confess I had never heard of 'Blondie' until a few years ago, but I was interested in learning more, so I bought the DVD collection of the films, and even though they were made some years ago still found the humour very fresh and funny.