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 1891 he obtained the bachelor's degree and continued at Johns Hopkins as an assistant in the physics laboratory and a graduate student. He studied thermodynamics, electrostatics, and the electromagnetic theory of light. Henry Bumstead became an instructor at the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University in 1893, working with Charles S. Hastings. At the same time he became a student of Willard Gibbs, learning vector analysis and continuing the study of thermodynamics and the electromagnetic theory of light. He was awarded the Ph.D. in 1897, composing a thesis "A Comparison of Electrodynamic Theories". Bumstead became an assistant professor in 1900.