Dagwood is about to sacrifice all . . . BY KEITH MARVIN     When the late Chic Young, created his immortal comic strip, "Blondie", it was akin to the opening of a Pandora's Box, but a nice box, not all that unpleasant, as one reads in Greek mythology. To quote from a few years ago, this "comic strip creation, 'Blondie'. remains the most popular comic strip in history, appearing in more than any rival- 1,800 throughout the world." *1 I've not checked today's figures, but I'd be willing to bet that fact has remained unchanged since that statement was made. A lot of us still remember Blondie and Dagwood, their children Alexander and Cookie, their dog Daisy and her five pups. Most of us know J. C. Dithers and the Dithers Construction Company, Dagwwods employer and his wife Cora. I think we all know the hapless Mr. Beasley, the mailman who usually gets knocked down on the front steps as Dagwood hurries to catch a bus. We know their next door neighbors Herb and Tootsie Woodley, and the chinless moppet, Elmo, who seems to be forever barging into the bathroom while Dagwood is in the tub. But how many of us remember more than that? How many of us know that Dagwood was the son of multi-millionaires who became attracted to Blondie Boopadoop, a flapper of the time which dates to 1930 when the comic strip first saw the light of day? It was a long and difficult romance culminating with their marriage in 1933 and the birth of their two children in 1934 and 1941. To me the Bumsteads are and always have been the prototypes of the next door neighbors of my own childhood. It is true that these good people weren't named Bumstead. They were named Downing and Wheeler respectively, but somehow I get that really mixed up with the Bumsteads, the more so as I grow older for, in most upper middle class neighborhoods of the period, all next door neighbors were very much alike and after reading Chic Young's strip (now drawn by his son, Dean Young and his collaborator Stan Drake), for nearly 60 years, the Bumsteads are no more a myth to me than was Pandora. They are very real and their day to day activities, somehow don't seem really unusual in most cases, funny as they may be. What is relevant to me in the above left panel dating from Dagwood's bachelor days, is the car. The strip dates from 1932 and that sedan or limousine is a perfect example of that years Pierce-Arrow. But why would Chic Young have chosen a Pierce-Arrow? That was a pretty expensive machinery in those worst years of the depression and, in nearly all other cases, cartoonists favored non-descript vehicles (although "Daddy" Warbucks did ride in a Rolls-Royce now and then). In Sydney Smiths strip, "The Gumps" Andy Gump's one seated roadster was absolutely impossible to identify, but there were few comic strip readers who didn't relate to its license number "348". One might have thought that if Chic Young would go into detail, a Rolls-Royce might have been more befitting the son of a multi-millionaire, but I think there was more thought in his choice than meets the eye. I think that Young drew the Pierce-Arrow not only because it represented well-bred elegance and obvious affluence, but because it was so identifiable by everyone interested in automobiles (and nearly everyone was, whether they could afford one or not). A Cadillac or Lincoln wouldn't have been readily identifiable by the average reader. The Packard would have been a better choice because of its distinctive radiator. But the Pierce-Arrow had the patented headlights in their front fenders and anyone could relate to that and although only 2,316 cars were built by Pierce that year, since the cars were almost impervious in wearing out if properly maintained and most of them were kept for many years by their original owners, these facts alone, plus the headlight novelty, guaranteed immediate identification as to make and the kind of person who owned the car itself. We do know from "Blondie" strips of the past that Dagwood did own automobiles of his own but these were all of the generic variety, their use was restricted to picnics or other family affairs. Dagwood always went to and from his job via public transportation. Generally just managing to catch the bus after knocking down Mr. Beasley, the mailman, en route. "Blondie" has become a national institution over the years, more or less. We all have friends and neighbors like the Bumsteads and I think that collectively we are much the better for it. Numerous books and magazines have been written about them as well as 30 films starring Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake. It has been projected on both radio and television over the years. There are few if any comic strips which can match it for overall popularity and it has been translated into many languages in strip form. But I have for many years wondered - was the 1932 Pierce-Arrow in Dagwoods own name or was it registered to his father? I'll probably never find out, perhaps you can...   *1- "Blondie & Dagwoods America", by Dean Young, Harper & Row New York NY 1981   BIBLIOGRAPHY Various original Blondie comic strips dating back to the 1930's 25 Years With Blondie, by Chic Young. Simon & Schuster, New Your, NY 1958 Cavalcade of Old Time Comic Strips - Volume 1. Tower Press Inc. Lynn, MA 1967 Blondie & Dagwoods America By D. Young and R. Marschall, Harper & Row N.Y. NY 1981 There is No Mistaking a Pierce Arrow by Brooks T. Brierley. Garett & Stringer, Inc.   Coconut Grove, Fla. 1979 & 1986.