It's a Great Life

Blondie and Dagwood are about to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary but this happy occasion is marred when the bumbling Dagwood gets himself involved in a scheme that is promising financial ruin for the Bumstead family.

Anthony Kiedis and Sofia Coppola try to escape the fashion influence of Debbie Harry.

Things get under way when Blondie Bumstead demands that her husband request a raise from his boss Mr. Dithers, so that she can afford to hire a maid. But Dithers has no time for any salary disputes: his construction firm is currently stuck with an unsaleable old mansion that is rumored to be haunted. To disprove this theory, Dithers asks the Bumstead family to spend a night in the crumbling old house, throwing a retinue of servants into the bargain.

Dagwood wants to join the trout club and Blondie wants a fur coat. Jealousy reigns when Dag's old girlfriend Joan shows up, but nothing else matters when a drawing at the movie theatre provides money for the coat.

The Bumstead family is off to see relatives in the country when Blondie runs into Charlie and Millie, an eloping couple needing her help.

Mr. Dithers invites the Bumsteads on a South American cruise. Somehow Dagwood winds up as the female drummer in the ship's band, while Penny Singleton gets to show off her Broadway background in some lively musical numbers.

Blondie decides she wants to be a star and nearly turns her household upside down in this entry in the long-running domestic comedy series. Dagwood has mixed emotions about his wife's theatrical aspirations and eventually he decides to get her to quit. As usual - disaster ensues.

This was a "Musikladen Extra" special from Bremen TV, West Germany from 1978. It was originally released on DVD by Pioneer Artists/EME as The Best Of Musikladen-Live: Blondie. Track List: 1. X-Offender; 2. Little Girl Lies; 3. Look Good in Blue; 4. Man Overboard; 5. In the Flesh; 6. I'm on E; 7. Love at the Pier; 8. I Didn't Have the Nerve; 9. Bermuda Triangle Blues (Flight 45); 10. Kidnapper; 11. Youth Nabbed as Sniper.

The story behind Blondie's album Parallel Lines, which sold 16 million copies and captured the spirit of 1970s New York at a time of poverty, crime and an exploding artistic life.

A look at New York's dynamic punk rock scene through the lens of the ground-breaking Lower East Side club started by eccentric Hilly Kristal in 1973 which launched thousands of bands.

Blondie's first video album was produced in conjunction with the record "Eat to the Beat", featuring a music video for each of the album's twelve songs. It was the first such project in rock music. Most of the songs were filmed in and around New York, the exception was the "Union City Blue" music video, which was filmed at Union Dry Dock, Weehawken, New Jersey. Each video was directed by David Mallet and produced by Paul Flattery. The video was initially available as a promotional VHS in 1979 and subsequently released on videocassette and videodisk in October 1980.

With Tschaikowsky's music on the sound track, this parody of long-hair, temperamental orchestra conductors and concert pianists is a long string of sight gags. The pianist has a new hair-do in every scene he is in, all designed to help him see the piano. One fat musician nonchalantly wanders in in the midst of the concert, takes off his hat, coat, muffler and gloves, unpacks his instrument, a triangle, hits one note, repacks, puts on his gloves, muffler, coat and hat, and goes home.

Olive is going shopping and drops Swee'pea off for Popeye to watch. Popeye carves a sailboat for him, but the tyke spots Popeye's battleship, and the puny toy boat will no longer do. He climbs aboard, and there's the expected mayhem. Notable sequences include a stint on the ship's cannon's control board, with Popeye caught on the barrel, then in the gears; also, at the end, Swee'Pea hitches a ride atop a torpedo just as Olive is returning and Popeye's out cold.

Bluto's in the Army; he tries to sneak off base, but can't. Popeye passes by, Bluto invites him in, then swaps uniforms. Popeye ends up in a tank drill.

When enemy planes attack the battleship he's serving on, Popeye fights back.

Popeye's on a battleship, on which he's banished to the boiler room. A Japanese sub comes along. Can Popeye save his ship from the enemy?

Popeye and Bluto agree that women are too much trouble, so they agree to swear off them, which lasts about five seconds, until Olive comes on board ship for a tour. The boys vie for her attention.

Bugs Bunny is wanted "dead or alive" by the Mounted Police, led by Elmer Fudd. The "Fresh Hare" episode was banned from television for almost 30 years because it was considered too racey for the time.

An old woman has a cat, a dog, and a canary. The cat and dog fight even worse than normally. Fed up, she tells them both off, then threatens to throw them both out if there's any more trouble.

Popeye sits down to make a cartoon. He shows the results to Olive and his nephews: it's a damsel-in-distress scenario, starring him and Olive, with live music and sound effects by Popeye.