Today, Blondie - the comic strip, not the band - is 75 years old. A remarkable run. Krazy Kat can't boast that sort of longevity, Terry and the Pirates didn't have that sort of staying power. And I think we all know that Ziggy won't see its diamond anniversary.
Blondie also found success in the 1930s and 1940s in Hollywood, with a series of films starring the blond housewife, her hapless husband, Dagwood, and their precocious offspring, Baby Dumpling - a curse of a name, if you ask me.
It's a feat matched by few comic strips. For every one that made the jump, there are a half-dozen Garfields that, try as they might, just didn't translate. Here are a few that did:
LITTLE NEMO (1911): Although the animation in the silent tale of a young boy's journey through his own dreamscape is pretty primitive, it's still an interesting adaptation of the art form. The film was single-handedly animated by Winsor McCay, the artist responsible for the strip. Great from both a historical and entertainment perspective.
LI'L ABNER (1940): There are actually two film versions of this long-running hillbilly comic. I prefer the first, which is a straight comedy, over the musical version produced in 1959. Though some of the archetypes thrown up are ridiculous, if not offensive, today, the broad, stylized approach and period feel make it worthwhile.
POPEYE (1980): Often unfairly maligned, this musical, directed by Robert Altman, is actually smart and stylish. Successful as a sharp satire, a bold musical and an affectionate ode to the original strip's surrealist roots, it's a movie worth reassessment.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY (1991): It's to the filmmakers' credit that they went not to the '60s sitcom, but to the morbidly dark single-panel strip for Addams inspiration. Gleefully dark-hearted and very, very funny, it's a movie that has aged well.
THE PHANTOM (1996): Another movie that got a bad rap. Fine, it's not an insightful deconstruction of modern man's embrace of his primitive self - but there's a certain joy in seeing a guy in purple tights kicking period tail. A great action-adventure movie in the Saturday matinee vein.
Reach Steven Uhles at (706) 823-3626 or steven.uhles@augustachronicle.com.
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