List of minor Peanuts characters

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The following is a list of all notable secondary characters in the American comic strip Peanuts. Begun in 1950 by Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts saw several secondary characters come and go throughout the strip's fifty-year run.

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Contents

[edit] 555 95472

555 95472, or 5 for short, debuted in the September 30, 1963 strip, and appeared occasionally until 1981. A boy close in age to Charlie Brown and Linus Van Pelt, 5 wore a shirt with the number 5 on it. 5 was given a numerical name by his father, who was upset over the preponderance of numbers in people's lives; 5's twin sisters are named 3 and 4 (two black-haired girls who appeared occasionally until the mid-sixties, with non-speaking roles in A Charlie Brown Christmas). 5 also played for Charlie Brown's baseball team; it is conjectured that 5 played third base, since 5 is scorer's shorthand for the third baseman. His last name, 95472, was taken from the ZIP code for Sebastopol, California, where Schulz lived at the time.

[edit] Crybaby Boobie

Crybaby Boobie was a female character who first appeared on September 5, 1978. She usually wore a polka dotted tennis dress, and her specialty on the tennis court was whining about how everything was unfair (except when she won a game). The only thing that seemed to quiet her down was a punch from Snoopy or being told to shut up by Molly Volley. She had a brother, Bobby, who was more sedate than she was; and she had a huge fan in her stage-door mother, who often honked her car horn whenever Crybaby made a good shot. Almost any time a character hears her name mentioned, their reaction is "Crybaby Boobie?"

Her last appearance was in the Summer of 1999, in a match against Snoopy.

[edit] Emily

Emily was a female character who first appeared on February 13, 1995. She usually dances with Charlie Brown when he seems to need a mood lift. Sometimes Snoopy comes along with Charlie Brown, which usually leads to a premature end to Charlie Brown's visits with Emily. After Emily's first appearance in the strip, it was revealed that she was nothing more than a figment of Charlie Brown's imagination. However, she did appear a few more times in the strip through 1999, though the question of whether Emily was a real or imaginary person was never actually resolved.

[edit] Eudora

Eudora was a female character who first appeared on June 13, 1978. In her first appearance, she befriended Sally and eventually developed a similar crush on Linus. Once, Eudora played on Charlie Brown's baseball team, taking the outfield spot next to Lucy Van Pelt, supplanting Frieda in that position. Eudora's last appearance was in 1987, nine years to the day after her first appearance.

[edit] Lydia

Lydia was a female character who first appeared on June 9, 1986 (although months passed before readers found out that Lydia was her real name, as she had a habit of calling herself by different names (such as Melissa, Anna, or Olivia) depending on the day). Her normal sitting place was behind Linus, and for a long while answered his inquiries with the phrase "Aren't you kind of old for me?" Eventually Lydia developed a crush on Linus, but only after Linus started ignoring her in much the same way he tried to do with Sally.

Once she declared that her name was Jezebel, only to abruptly change it to "Susan" after Linus told her about the Biblical Jezebel and her gruesome death.

[edit] Miss Othmar

Miss Othmar served as Linus's teacher starting in the late 1950s. As with most adults in the strip, Miss Othmar was never seen. Linus developed a long-lasting crush on her. Eventually, Miss Othmar married, assuming her married name of Mrs. Hagemeyer; Linus, however, continued to call her Miss Othmar, and other characters in the strip began referring to her as Miss Othmar again as well.

[edit] Poochie

Poochie was a female character who first appeared on January 7, 1973. She was almost the first person to adopt Snoopy but was distracted by an English Sheepdog while Snoopy was fetching a stick Poochie threw; Snoopy held a grudge against Poochie for this for years afterward. In her sole physical appearance in the strip (she had been mentioned by name in previous strips), it was also revealed that it was she who had first started to call Snoopy's owner Charlie Brown.

[edit] Roy

Roy was a male character who first appeared on June 11, 1965. Roy first met Charlie Brown in camp, where Charlie Brown quickly befriends him. He meets Linus Van Pelt at camp the following summer. He later introduces Peppermint Patty to Charlie Brown and his friends. Peppermint Patty befriends Roy until Marcie entered the picture. He disappeared in the comic strips in 1970s.

[edit] Royanne

Royanne was a female character who first appeared on April 1, 1993. Royanne, who claimed to be "Roy Hobbs' great-granddaughter," was a pitcher on the opposing team when Charlie Brown hit a game-winning home run. Showing up later that summer, she is again pitching when Charlie Brown hits one of her pitches for an Inside-the-park home run. Later that summer, Royanne confesses that she let Charlie Brown hit those home runs because she liked him; Charlie Brown retaliated by informing her that "Roy Hobbs" is a fictional character.

[edit] Joe Shlabotnik

Joe Shlabotnik is another recurring character who, like most adults in the strip, remained unseen. Shlabotnik is a baseball player whom Charlie Brown admires. Apparently Shlabotnik is not a very skilled player, as it is ofted noted in the strip that he has been sent down to the minor leagues (Charlie Brown tried to write a letter to Shlabotnik after one such incident, and was so upset that he broke down crying and was unable to finish the letter). He once was made manager of a team known as the "Waffletown Syrups," but was fired from the job after his only game as manager ended in disaster when he called for a squeeze play with nobody on base (although Charlie Brown did get him to autograph a foul ball he caught in the stands after the game).

Charlie Brown has been seen attempting to purchase various Shlabotnik memorabilia, such as baseball cards (he once bought five dollars' worth of cards without a single Shlabotnik card appearing in the bunch, and to add insult to injury, Lucy purchased only a penny's worth of cards and found a Joe Shlabotnik card inside her package) or autographed baseballs. Other miscues include failed attempts to honor Mr. Shlabotnik by Charlie Brown, and a newsletter dedicated to Mr. Shlabotnik that only lasted one issue.

A couple of similar named characters preceded Joe Shlabotnik the baseball player. A "piano great" named "Joseph Schlabotnik" (note spelling) was mentioned in the 22 February 1957 Peanuts strip by Schroeder, after which Schroeder admits to having made the name up; and in the 24 November 1957 comic strip It's Only a Game, a Mr. "Schlabotnic" (note spelling) was the sponsor of a bowling team that placed the phrase "Schlabotnic's Meat Market " in one line that went from the cuff of one arm to the cuff of the other arm on the back of the shirt, leading to the comment "I don't know...maybe we should have put each word on a separate line.".

[edit] Thibault

Thibault was a male character who first appeared on June 4, 1970. Thibault is a bully on Peppermint Patty's baseball team. He borrowed Charlie Brown's baseball glove (via a favor for Peppermint Patty), and after the game refused to give the glove back, telling Charlie Brown "I know you kind. You come around thinking you're better than us." Charlie Brown, by this time thrilled that anyone would think of him as superior in any way, let Thibault keep the glove. This shocked Thibault.

He also ran afoul of Peppermint Patty and Marcie after he chauvinistically told her she shouldn't be playing baseball. This infuriated Patty, who told him if he didn't be quiet, he would be shredded by her. After insulting her one too many times, Marcie called a time-out and told Thibault that if he said one word, she would slug him. When he said, "Oh?", Marcie made good on her threat and clobbered him.

[edit] Truffles

Truffles was a female character who first appeared on March 31, 1975. Named by her Grandfather after the fungus that grows underground in France, she was the first female who caught Linus's heart. However, after the first encounter in 1975 Linus lost track of her; and when Linus found her again in 1977 Truffles would be frightened away by Sally, who would call her his "Sweet Babboo" for the first of many times.

[edit] Molly Volley

Molly Volley was a female character who first appeared on May 6, 1977, and was often Snoopy's doubles partner. She had an extremely bad temper and a reputation for beating up others (including other doubles partners). Tired of losing while playing doubles with Snoopy, she eventually refused to be his doubles partner and disappeared from the strip.

[edit] References