Everyone knows Linus and Lucy, Schroeder and Pig Pen, however there are dozens of children from Charles Schulz’s Peanuts strips that the ol’ blockhead himself would have hassle figuring out. Like Shermy — Charlie Brown’s one-time greatest buddy and unique enemy — and Violet, who was mainly Lucy earlier than Lucy. These are characters that Schulz created, toyed round with and ultimately discarded or relegated to the background. However should you’ve bought a giant examination arising about obscure Peanuts characters, right here’s your research information to the ten most notable of them…
Shermy
Once more, from 1950 to 1953, Shermy was Charlie Brown’s greatest buddy, or just about earlier than Linus and his blanket towel-snapped him out of the limelight. Linus first appeared in 1952, and by 1954, Shermy was roughly gone, turning into a background character for the remainder of the sequence, together with varied motion pictures and specials. What’s significantly loopy about Shermy’s demise is that he was the very first character to talk in a comic book strip, when he talked about how a lot he hated Charlie Brown in Schulz’s debut comedian.
Patty
No, not Peppermint Patty, that is simply common, flavorless Patty. Together with Shermy, Charlie Brown and Snoopy, Patty was one of many 4 unique Peanuts characters, debuting in that very same first strip on October 2, 1950. She didn’t have a lot of a persona, and inside just a few years, she was simply overshadowed by the likes of Lucy and Violet (see beneath). By 1966, Patty was so irrelevant that Schulz launched a brand new, extra peppermint-y Patty and by no means appeared again.
Violet
Violet isn’t that obscure, however you in all probability don’t know her identify, she’s simply that different black-haired woman that isn’t Lucy. She debuted a 12 months earlier than Lucy, in 1951, and had one thing of a snobby, mildly obnoxious persona. However then Lucy arrived a 12 months later being a hell of much more obnoxious and a hell of quite a bit funnier, which meant Violet would normally solely seem in strips the place they wanted a handful of ladies.
Frieda
If, like so many different folks, you watch A Charlie Brown Christmas yearly, you’ll acknowledge Frieda because the redhead who brags about her “naturally curly hair” whereas Lucy is casting the Christmas play. This ties again to her origin story from 1961 when she was launched with a definite joke about her “naturally curly hair.” By 1965, when the Christmas particular got here round, she was nonetheless going robust, however her hair — and her satisfaction in it — remained her solely persona trait. In time, the joke bought previous, and by 1985, the character was gone utterly, not even showing within the backgrounds of strips for the final 15 years of its run.
Charlotte Braun
Like Frieda, Charlotte Braun was a one-note character who bought tiresome, although her whole run was merely 10 strips from 1954 to 1955. She was supposed as a counterpart for Charlie Brown, which is why her identify is a feminine tackle his, however Schulz by no means actually knew what to do along with her. Charlotte would speak loudly and was considerably obnoxious, however Lucy already had each of these persona traits in spades. Schulz lastly determined to eschew the character fully when he bought a letter from a fan complaining about Charlotte. In reply, Schulz hilariously wrote again to the fan, saying, “I’m taking your suggestion concerning Charlotte Braun, & will ultimately discard her… Keep in mind, nonetheless, that you just and your pals could have the dying of an harmless youngster in your conscience. Are you ready to simply accept such a duty?”
He additionally included an image of Charlotte actually being axed, which is sort of a bit darker than the strip ever bought.
Peggy Jean
The latest character on this listing first appeared in 1990, giving her solely 10 years to make an influence earlier than the strip concluded. She was Charlie Brown’s girlfriend for many of that point and she or he appeared in some specials from that interval, however her late arrival meant she by no means had the influence of different outstanding characters. Her design was ultimately handed over to “The Little Crimson-Haired Woman” within the wonderful The Peanuts Film in 2015, although it’s price mentioning that Schulz had made The Little Crimson-Haired Woman an unseen object of Charlie Brown’s affection starting method again in 1961.
The Little Crimson-Haired Woman
Talking of The Little Crimson-Haired Woman, she was talked about on and off from 1961 till the late Nineties. Within the precise cartoon, she isn’t seen, although Schulz did sketch the character as soon as in 1950 (above). In different Peanuts-related media, The Little Crimson-Haired Woman has appeared a variety of occasions, however she at all times seems to be completely different.
Eudora
Eudora was a ditzy child who was Sally’s greatest buddy from 1978 to 1987. The Peanuts fandom usually considers her to be the final “main” character to affix the solid, even when she solely lasted a decade within the strip.
Rerun Van Pelt
Lucy and Linus have a youthful brother named Rerun, who debuted in 1979. Nevertheless, Schulz quickly ran out of concepts for him and relegated him to the background. Schulz admitted that he regretted creating the character in 1984, however on condition that Rerun was a sibling of two of the star youngsters, he couldn’t be disappeared like a few of the different children above (this isn’t Household Issues, in any case). He remained a background character till 1996, when he was aged as much as 5 years previous and depicted getting into kindergarten.
5
The weirdest entry on this listing is a child whose identify was the quantity 5, which was quick for “555 95472” (95472 being his final identify). 5 additionally had two siblings named 3 and 4. As unusual because it sounds, 5 was used as a method for Schulz to criticize the creation of zip codes, which had been first launched in 1963 (95472 was Schulz’s zip code). Schulz’s uncommon protest didn’t have a complete lot of influence, after all, and 4 and three had been final seen in 1968 and 5 by no means appeared after 1983, which, coincidentally, was the identical 12 months “zip +4” was launched.
