Dagwood Bumstead getting ready before the carpool leaves without him, getting to work on time, his boss J.C. Dithers, and Cookie's many dates. He is often suspicious of her dates and keeps a close watch on them when they come to the house. Other characters in his universe include Elmo Tuttle, a pesky little neighborhood kid who wanders in and out of the Bumstead house, next-door neighbors Herb and Tootsie Woodley, Lou, the sarcastic cook in a local diner, and Mr. Dithers' domineering wife, Cora. Dagwood's birthday is July 20. Over the years, Dagwood has appeared not only in daily newspapers, but
Dagwood Bumstead in comic books, Big Little Books, Whitman novels for children, and other print materials, as well as radio, film, and television. Arthur Lake played Dagwood in the "Blondie" film series (1938–50) and the short-lived 1957 TV series "Blondie", while Will Hutchins played him in a revival series (1968–69). He makes several cameo appearances in "Garfield Gets Real", alongside Grimmy from "Mother Goose and Grimm". Dagwood and his wife also made a cameo appearance in a "Garfield" strip originally published April 1, 1997. On a fourth wall break, Garfield refers to this as "moving to a different comic strip". Dagwood made