Dixie Cheney, played "Cookie" on shortlived "Blondie" TV series
deb...@comcast.net
Cheney, Dixie A. Lansing, MI Passed away September 13, 2005 at the age
of 60 years. She was born June 17, 1945 in Lansing and was a Hollywood
star as a child, playing "Cookie" on the Blondie Series. Surviving are
two sons, two daughters, three grandchildren, and one sister. She was
preceded in death by her mom. No services are planned. Arrangements by
Estes-Leadley Greater Lansing Chapel.
Published in the Lansing State Journal - September 22, 2005
(Imdb says "Cookie" was played by Ann Barnes- stage name?)
Charlene
Either way, Cheney is almost certainly her married name.
wd41
Brad Ferguson
<deb...@comcast.net> wrote:
Dunno, but IMDb says Ann Barnes had relatives in Lansing and visited
there "one summer to the delight of fans from nearby neighborhoods." I
suppose the A in Dixie A. Cheney could stand for Ann, and her age would
be about right.
Ann Barnes later played Wally Cleaver's girlfriend in a couple of 1960
episodes of "Leave It to Beaver," and that was pretty much it for her.
Barnes' "Blondie" ran in 1957. A later series, in 1968, had Pamelyn
Ferdin as Cookie.
--
FREE JUDITH MILLER
James Neibaur
> Cheney, Dixie A. Lansing, MI Passed away September 13, 2005 at the age
> of 60 years. She was born June 17, 1945 in Lansing and was a Hollywood
> star as a child, playing "Cookie" on the Blondie Series.
>
> (Imdb says "Cookie" was played by Ann Barnes- stage name?)
Cookie was played by Marjorie Ann Mutchie, who was billed as Marjorie Kent
in the Blondie movie series that starred Penny Singleton as Blondie and
Arthur Lake as Dagwood.
Ann Barnes played Cookie on the TV series with Pamela Britton (Mrs. Brown on
My Favorite Martian) as Blondie, and Lake again as Dagwood.
Ann also appeared a couple of times on Leave it to Beaver as a girlfriend of
Wally (her character name was Frances).
It is indeed Ann who just died. Marjorie is still living.
JN
James Neibaur
> Ann Barnes later played Wally Cleaver's girlfriend in a couple of 1960
> episodes of "Leave It to Beaver," and that was pretty much it for her.
She was at the Ray Courts autograph shows eight or nine years ago
JN
Brad Ferguson
<jnei...@wi.rr.com> wrote:
> deb...@comcast.net 9/23/05 11:36 PM
>
> > Cheney, Dixie A. Lansing, MI Passed away September 13, 2005 at the age
> > of 60 years. She was born June 17, 1945 in Lansing and was a Hollywood
> > star as a child, playing "Cookie" on the Blondie Series.
> >
> > (Imdb says "Cookie" was played by Ann Barnes- stage name?)
>
> Cookie was played by Marjorie Ann Mutchie, who was billed as Marjorie Kent
> in the Blondie movie series that starred Penny Singleton as Blondie and
> Arthur Lake as Dagwood.
>
> Ann Barnes played Cookie on the TV series with Pamela Britton (Mrs. Brown on
> My Favorite Martian) as Blondie, and Lake again as Dagwood.
Adding to this confusion, the Blondie movies were recut into half-hour
episodes for television in the 1950s. They even added a perky theme
song. There were IIRC 32 (!) Blondie movies.
I remember "Blondie" being rerun on NBC in the early afternoon, circa
1960. They had a live host who introduced the show and did
commercials. Perhaps these were the episodes assembled from the
movies.
> Ann also appeared a couple of times on Leave it to Beaver as a girlfriend of
> Wally (her character name was Frances).
>
> It is indeed Ann who just died. Marjorie is still living.
We're sure that Ann was Dixie, then?
--
FREE JUDITH MILLER
James Neibaur
> Adding to this confusion, the Blondie movies were recut into half-hour
> episodes for television in the 1950s. They even added a perky theme
> song. There were IIRC 32 (!) Blondie movies.
They added the perky theme song (which Penny Singleton told me she just
hated), but didn't cut them to thirty minutes. They were just over an hour
long each, and they ran in a ninety minute time slot. To fill time, they
would run a scene from the movie before the movie (usually it was a spoiler,
which is unnerving). The films were syndicated this way, and even show up
on DVD with these openings. AMC ran the films with the original titles and
no spoiler previews around ten years ago or so.
> I remember "Blondie" being rerun on NBC in the early afternoon, circa
> 1960. They had a live host who introduced the show and did
> commercials. Perhaps these were the episodes assembled from the
> movies.
Might have been the TV show, as that was widely syndicated back then as
well.
I interviewed both Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake back in the 80s and got
to know Arthur fairly well (he was a LOT like the Dagwood character). They
spoke very well of each other then, but didn't like each other when doing
the series. I knew Edward Bernds pretty well -- he wrote and directed many
of the films. Larry Simms and Marjorie Kent (Alexander and Cookie from the
movie series) are still living. Danny Mummert (next door neighbor Alvin
Fuddle) is a lost player. Even Arthur and Penny wondered as to his
whereabouts.
Other than Lake, I didn't know anyone from the 1957 TV series. The later
series (1967 or 68) had Will Hutchins (Sugarfoot) playing Dagwood, and he
told me they had him watch films of Arthur Lake and asked him to copy his
mannerisms.
JN
Brad Ferguson
<jnei...@wi.rr.com> wrote:
I just wanted to add that the movies may not have been cut into
half-hour bits for TV, but I do remember them being shown as part of
some sort of half-hour "Blondie" thing weekday afternoons on NBC. I
remember this because I knew there were two Blondies just as there were
two Lois Lanes, and I had no problem with that.
This was in a era where TV stations thought nothing of showing a movie
for an hour, stopping it when time was up, and showing the rest of it
the next day. I remember a morning movie block where they'd finish a
movie and start the next one right away, letting it run for whatever
remained of the hour. Maybe that sort of thing happened with
"Blondie." After all, it wasn't as if stopping a Blondie movie in the
middle was going to hurt it.
I saw a lot of that AMC marathon. That was when AMC was worth watching.
--
FREE JUDITH MILLER
James Neibaur
> This was in a era where TV stations thought nothing of showing a movie
> for an hour, stopping it when time was up, and showing the rest of it
> the next day.
Yeah I do remember TV stations serializing movies back then.
JN
James Neibaur
> I certainly remember Pamela Britton 'Mrs. Brown'! But not that tv
> 'Blondie' series. I guess I was just too young (in '57) and it only lasted
> 26 eps. (Jan. 4-Sept. 27)!
I saw it in reruns when CBN ran it back in the early 1980s. I never saw it
before then, but was familiar with the movies. It was cute and disarming
like the movies were.
>> It is indeed Ann who just died. Marjorie is still living.
>
> Oh, what a shame! I know her face now that you mentioned her stage
> name, 'Ann Barnes'. She had big eyes. As 'Frances' she wore Wally's
> sports-lettered sweater and wouldn't give it back when he asked her.
Yes, that is the one who died.
JN
James Neibaur
> And Lucien
> Littlefield was in a 'Superman' tv episode. The man who designed a robot
> that some bad guys took over his remote control to do bad things. Until it
> met up with Superman, who took it apart arm-by-arm and leg-by-leg. <g>
Lucien Littlefield was also in many Laurel and Hardy comedies, most notably
Dirty Work as the crackpot scientist.
> Elvia Allman played the 'Factory Manager' in the classic "I Love Lucy"
> 'candy factory' episode.
I think Elvia Allman was on every TV and radio show!
JN
deb...@comcast.net
I mostly remember her for playing Prof. Kelp's mother in "The Nutty
Professor".
James Neibaur
> I mostly remember her for playing Prof. Kelp's mother in "The Nutty
> Professor".
and if you buy the DVD you'll see moi in the Special Features.
Not that this would be a selling point...
JN