Blondie (comic strip) was adapted into a long-running series of 28 low-budget theatrical B-features, produced by Columbia Pictures. Beginning with "Blondie" in 1938, the series lasted 12 years, through "Beware of Blondie" (1950). The two major roles were Penny Singleton as Blondie and Arthur Lake (whose first starring role was another comic strip character, Harold Teen) as Dagwood. Faithfulness to the comic strip was a major concern of the creators of the series. Little touches were added that were iconic 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
Henry A. Bumstead In 1905 Bumstead spent a sabbatical year at the Cavendish Laboratory. Performing an experiment suggested by J. J. Thomson, Bumstead examined the effect of X-rays (then called Röntgen rays) when applied to lead and zinc, finding that "twice as much heat is produced in lead compared to zinc". When Arthur Williams Wright retired in 1906, Bumstead became professor of physics at Yale College and Director of the Sloan Physics Laboratory. In World War I Bumstead was selected to serve as the head of the Scientific Section in London under Admiral William Sims, Commander of the American Forces countering the U-boat