Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 12, 1995 TAG: 9510120072
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
The comic strip couple, who have enjoyed connubial bliss since 1933, hit a bump in the marital road when Blondie decided last week to move her catering business outside the family home.
In this Sunday's comic, a co-worker will mention the ``m-word'' - marriage counselor. But fear not: Cartoonist Dean Young said there are no plans to draw up divorce papers.
``Let's not get too profound,'' Young said Wednesday from his Florida studio. ``In the grand scheme of things, this is a comic strip.''
On Monday, the couple will decide to visit Dr. Marjorie Squabble. The good doctor will spend a week helping Blondie and Dagwood get their marriage back on track in what Young calls a ``racy'' episode for the strip.
The idea of the Bumsteads trying to get in touch with their inner children has Young laughing already.
``They are a couple in the realm of Romeo and Juliet, Anthony and Cleopatra, Napoleon and Josephine,'' said Young, tongue firmly in cheek. ``When you think of Dagwood and Blondie heading to a marriage counselor, there's going to be laughs and chuckles.''
Dagwood hasn't found much sympathy from other characters in the strip while trying to persuade Blondie to stay home. Cora Dithers, the wife of Dagwood's boss, offered this advice on Wednesday: ``Keep your big fat mouth shut!''
Blondie opened her business over Labor Day 1991, making the Bumsteads a two-income family for the first time since Dagwood's parents disinherited him during the Depression. Back then, Young's father, Chic Young, was drawing the strip.
Young, who took over the strip in 1973 from his father, Chic, said: ``I think at some point, their identity transferred from two-dimensional to some kind of form that people relate to on a real basis.''
by CNB