[Some things haven't changed. Dagwood's unspoken motto remains: When in doubt, take a nap.] That's still his favorite sport, ... He loves napping and eating. He has a black belt in buffets. And he still can't get that raise from his boss. All those things are constants. |
[Was it hard to turn the Bumsteads into a dual-career family?] I debated a long time before I did it, ... I wasn't sure what business I wanted Blondie to go into. Catering was perfect. The eating business was real close to home. |
All of a sudden, big wealthy playboys weren't funny anymore. |
Are you kidding? These are cartoonists. |
As a kid, I remember my dad working on the strip, ... There'd always be just roars of laughter coming from his studio. The strip was fun for him and I think that sense of fun was infectious. |
As they settled into marriage, 'Blondie' started to resonate with more people, ... Dagwood wasn't too different than a lot of guys. He forgets to take out the garbage. He'd rather eat one of his huge sandwiches than go out to any fancy restaurant. Hopefully, most people don't have bosses like Mr. Dithers but they could definitely relate to some of the challenges at the workplace. |
But it's hard to count 'Blondie' out, ... We do what we do. And we do it well. Year after year. The strip's just as funny now as it's ever been and, to be perfectly honest, just as popular. |
Eating, sleeping, raising children and making money: It's the human experience. Everybody can identify with it. |
God bless my daddy, ... He was the genius who created this wonderful menagerie of characters. A monkey could do my job with the characters I have to work with. He left me this cast of characters and this dominant gene. |
How could he not? ... Look at his head: He's got all that hair sticking out. My dad realized he had certain intrinsic qualities, his hair, his eating habits. A lot of funny idiosyncrasies. |
I think the durability of Blondie has to do with three things, |
I try to get it in there when I can, ... When they come back from Hawaii, maybe they'll swing through Gainesville. |
It'll be quite the comedic blow out! |
My dad's comedic sensibilities were uniquely his own and very different from mine, ... But he was very good. He said if I should ever inherited the strip, he wanted me to infuse my own sense of humor into the strip. He wanted me to make it my own. |
My four basics are eating, sleeping, raising children and making money, |