Blondie's Anniversary

Another familiar "I thought it was for me..." story that so often plagued poor Dagwood. This time, Mr. Radcliffe trusts Dagwood with an expensive new watch -- which he wants to give to bank secretary Adele Jergens -- to insure a loan for a construction deal. He brings it home, Blondie finds it, and she thinks its for their anniversary! What a mess.

Veteran comedy writer Jack Henley wrote this funny and frustrating story. Dagwood now has a problem with Blondie, a problem with his boss, a problem with the secretary, and gets mixed up with a loan shark called Sharkey, best played by William Frawley. He has NO CHOICE but to buy another watch -- a real, real cheap one -- give it to Gloria (Jergens) who is insulted, and tells Radcliffe to get lost!

A highlight are Dagwood's scenes with Frawley, playing the menacing loan shark, who guarantees him "compound fracture interest" if he doesn't repay the super high interest loan. You can only feel sorry for Dagwood (once again), a genuine victim of circumstances, and stretched in every possible direction. Murphy's Law on steroids.

The supporting cast is a winner, especially beautiful Adele Jergens, who appeared in so many memorable films. Also Grant Mitchell (as stern Mr. Breckenbridge), Edmund MacDonald (as Bob), familiar character actor Frank Wilcox (as Carter), and Fred F. Sears (Bert), later a popular director of 50s sci fi films.

Excellent writing by Jack Henley, who began a long career with comedy shorts in the 1930s, including some starring Fatty Arbuckle. After writing several more BLONDIE episodes, he began writing episodes for the MA AND PA KETTLE series.

Dedicated to all us Dagwood and/or Arthur Lake fans. Always on dvd, either sold separately or in box sets of the entire series. Thanks again to METV Plus for running this classic series, like the old days, on Saturday mornings.