Blondie (radio) to the strip, like the appearance of Dagwood's famous sandwiches - and the running gag of Dagwood colliding with the mailman amid a flurry of letters, (which preceded the title sequence in almost every film). The films were typical of family-fare situational comedies of the period, and are endearingly funny in a low-key way. As the series progressed, the Bumstead children grew from toddlers to young adults onscreen. Larry Simms as Baby Dumpling (later known as Alexander) reprised his role in all the films. Daughter Cookie was played by three different child actresses, beginning in 1942 with her first appearance
Albert H. Bumstead Admiral Richard Byrd and by the Navy aviators in the Arctic expedition led by Donald MacMillan. In addition, he developed a method for making marble bas-reliefs from photographs using a dual vision device, a prime with two reflecting surfaces. Albert died on January 9, 1940. Mount Bumstead in the Antarctic is named for him. Harvard University records indicate that Bumstead's father Horace Bumstead (1841–1919) was the son of Josiah Freeman Bumstead, a Boston merchant, and Lucy Douglas Willis Bumstead. He was educated at the Boston Latin School and Yale College (Class of 1863) and became a Congregationalist minister and educator.