Bumsteads: Forever Young at 55

--Fifty-five years ago some said their marriage would never last. But Dagwood and Blondie Bumstead, portrayed by actors, celebrated their long union in a ceremony sponsored by King Features. Dagwood, of the comic strip “Blondie,” promised to love and honor his wife “before and after shopping sprees; through unbalanced checkbooks and rude morning wake-ups.” Blondie vowed to stand by her man “before and after naps; through snack-time and through baths.” The event at the Licensing and Merchandising Conference and Exposition in Manhattan met with more approval than when the pair wed. “They’ll never be happy,” said one wedding guest in the June 7, 1933, strip. “I deal with eating, sleeping, raising children and making money,” said cartoonist Dean Young from his Clearwater Beach, Fla., home. “When I touch on one of those items, I feel I can relate to anybody.” He began drawing the strip in 1973 after the death of his father, Chic Young, who created it in 1930.

--President and Mrs. Reagan will be leaving something behind when they exit the White House--a new handmade $49,625 terra cotta, beige and green carpet for the Oval Office. “(The Reagans) wanted to leave an asset to the White House and they thought this would be attractive,” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said. Fitzwater said that Mrs. Reagan worked with curator Rex Scouten and the White House Historical Assn. to design the rug and “to secure the private donor” who paid for it but wishes to remain anonymous. The wool rug is decorated with the presidential seal in the center and bordered with olive branches, symbolizing peace. The oval carpet, which is 23 feet 9 inches by 31 feet 2 inches, weighs 375 pounds, Fitzwater said.

--An unidentified book collector turned a tidy profit on a rare first edition of Edgar Allan Poe’s first book, “Tamerlane, and Other Poems.” About three months after the amateur collector paid $15 for the book unearthed in a pile of farm machinery pamphlets at a New Hampshire antiques sales barn, it was sold at auction in New York for $198,000. The 40-page book was bought at Sotheby’s gallery by New York book dealer James Cummins bidding for an unidentified New York collector. “(The unidentified consignor) paid $15 for it,” Jay Dillon, the gallery’s rare books expert, said. “God, it was thrilling, the most exciting book discovery in years! It’s a fabulous rarity, famous to anyone who’s ever taken more than two courses in American literature.” The auctioned book, one of 12 copies of the first edition known to exist, was printed in 1827.