List of minor characters in Peanuts

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.

555 95472

555 95472, or 5 for short, debuted in the September 30, 1963 strip, and appeared occasionally until August 16, 1981. A boy close in age to Charlie Brown and Linus van Pelt, 5 had brown spiky hair, and he wore an orange 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, although when questioned, 5 clarified that this was not his father's way of protesting, it was his way of "giving in." His last name, 95472 (the accent is on the 4), was taken from the family's ZIP code; it's also the zip for Sebastopol, California, where Schulz lived at the time.

5 had twin sisters, dark-haired girls named 3 and 4 ("Those are nice feminine names," Charlie Brown commented dryly); they appeared occasionally until the mid-sixties. All three siblings appear in A Charlie Brown Christmas where they have non-speaking roles, but demonstrate distinctive 1960's dance moves during the dancing scene. 5's dance is The Famous head-bobbing, side-to-side shuffle that has been widely parodied.

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.

Joe Agate

Joe Agate was a male character who first appeared on April 7, 1995. He usually wore an orange sweater and a green hat. He was often seen bullying Rerun Van Pelt by stealing his marbles. He went to camp with Charlie Brown and Linus Van Pelt.

His last appearance was in the animated TV special, He's a Bully, Charlie Brown on November 20, 2006.

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 (hence her name, "Crybaby"). The only thing that seemed to quiet her down was a punch from Snoopy or being told to shut up by Molly Volley. She is rarely shown with a face, rather she appears as a large open mouth with hair coming out each side, as if she has her head tilted back so as to complain very loudly. 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.

Charlotte Braun

Charlotte Braun was introduced in 1954 as a curly-haired fussbudget who flat-out denied any relation to Charlie Brown, but was quickly discarded by Schulz, who passed her crabby demeanor onto Lucy and her "naturally curly hair" onto Frieda.

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.

Eudora

Eudora was a female character who first appeared on June 13, 1978. In her first appearance, she befriended Sally Brown 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 wears a beanie hat and has straight long hair hanging down underneath. She May Be the only character who is as prone to mental lapses as Sally i.e. doing a book report on the TV Guide and she even joined Linus in the pumpkin patch at one time to wait for the Great Pumpkin.

Faron

Faron was Frieda's cat, who appeared in a total of about one week of comic strips in 1961. Faron was a lazy, "boneless" cat who never walked because he preferred being carried everywhere, draped over Frieda's arm. Faron only spoke once ("Meow", causing Snoopy to jump into the air in fright). Faron's final appearance was a Sunday strip in which the running gag was Frieda trying to get someone to hold Faron while Frieda went to the library; the last to end up holding the cat was poor Snoopy. Frieda made occasional subsequent appearances, but never with Faron again. Schulz later said he dropped Faron because he felt not only couldn't he draw a cat well enough, but Faron caused Snoopy to act too much like a "real" dog.

Faron was named for country singer Faron Young.

Floyd

Floyd appeared in the mid-1970s at a summer camp Peppermint Patty and Marcie were attending, flagging Marcie's attention by calling her "Lambcake" as an expression of his immediate infatuation with her. But whenever he called her "Lambcake," Marcie retaliated by pushing Floyd off the dock or into poison oak, or hitting him with a first-aid kit and landing him in the infirmary. But he kept stalking her with that same pet name until Marcie and Peppermint Patty left camp, leaving him heartbroken that he never even knew his heartthrob's name. Fortunately for Marcie, Floyd never surfaced again in the strip.

The Goose Eggs

Austin, Leland, Milo, and Ruby appeared in 17 strips of a 1977 storyline in which Charlie Brown ran away from home to flee the United States Environmental Protection Agency after taking revenge on a Kite-Eating Tree. He soon found himself coaching a baseball team of diminutive toddlers: Milo and Leland, half Charlie Brown's height, were two years old, while "the two biggest" on the team, Austin and Ruby, might have been three. They always addressed Charlie Brown as "Charles" and respected him as a wise elder, something he was completely unused to. The team was named the "Goose Eggs" after the baseball term for a zero score. The story ended when the visiting team turned out to be Charlie Brown's original team from home (Lucy: "We can't play them! They're too little! We'd step on them!") and it was revealed that the evidence against him was destroyed in a storm.

Head Beagle

Little is known of the Head Beagle other than he is a higher authority to which Snoopy (and apparently all other dogs) is highly deferent. It is a source of conjecture as to whether the hierarchy apparent is political, religious, feudal, or a masonic-style brotherhood. Although never seen, the Head Beagle is apparently an actual existing entity (as opposed to an unseen god or other being of debatable existence such as The Great Pumpkin) as he is also known to humans. For example, Frieda reported Snoopy to the Head Beagle due to his refusal of her order to chase rabbits. A subsequent strip shows Snoopy being required to appear before the Head Beagle in which he dons a dark hood, apparently traditional regalia for an audience with the Head Beagle. Although as in all cases, the Head Beagle is never shown, Snoopy is seen returning from the meeting noticeably shaken. Another story arc involves Snoopy receiving an assignment from the Head Beagle where he must protect an unseen operative named Thompson. The mission is a failure, as Thompson's attempt to subdue several rabbits results in disaster. Thompson's fate is unknown but Snoopy laments that the rabbits made Thompson "an offer he couldn't refuse".

In 1970, Snoopy himself was promoted to Head Beagle; his induction ceremony was carried on live TV. ("He'll probably get impeached!" said an unimpressed Lucy.) But the pressure of the job soon got to him and he abandoned his post to hang out with Peppermint Patty. Eventually Snoopy was replaced in the top job, and he returned to his normal life.

Lila

Lila was a minor character in the comic strip Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz. She was the original owner of Snoopy, before his eventual life with Charlie Brown and friends.

Lila was first mentioned in the strip in the 1960s. It was revealed that she had taken Snoopy home from the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm (where he was born and raised), but was forced to return him after her family moved to an apartment building where dogs were forbidden.

While she was initially an unseen character who was only recollected by Snoopy in the third person, she eventually made an appearance in the strip in 1968.

In 1972 Lila appeared in the animated film Snoopy, Come Home, voiced by Johanna Baer. Seriously ill, she is unexpectedly reunited with Snoopy when he comes to visit her at a hospital in Nebraska, and now that she is recovering and will be released very soon, asks him to return to her (forcing him to choose between his "old" life with Lila or his "new" one with Charlie Brown). Finally, out of love for Lila, Snoopy chooses to return to her, but is also heartbroken over leaving Charlie Brown. However, in an ironic twist when Snoopy arrives at Lila's new apartment, Snoopy finds out (to his surprise) that Lila has a pet cat. They both also discover to their shock that dogs aren't permitted there either. Snoopy bids Lila farewell and returns to Charlie Brown.

She then appeared again in "Snoopy's Reunion".

Mary Jo

Mary Jo was another of Charlie Brown's "True loves". He first saw her on a broadcasting of Super Bowl XVI, she was in the audience and a honeyshot zoomed in on her face. The only difference with her than any other of his loves is that Charlie sought after her in a wild goose chase attempt to find her and win her heart over. Linus joined him in the first scene, but in the end, it was Linus she ended up loving not Charlie. The short scene became an episode of the TV series titled: "Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown"

Maynard

Maynard was Marcie's cousin, who appeared in the strip in the late 1980s when Peppermint Patty's father hired him as her tutor to help her in school. His condescending attitude was apparent from the start when he asked her, "Hi, are you the dumb one?" upon first meeting her, and when he said, "Well, there were these numbers on the houses, see..." when she asked him how he had found her house. In turn, Maynard couldn't stand Peppermint Patty's own condescending attitude, when she kept calling him "Captain Tutor" and he kept having to remind her that his name was Maynard.

When Marcie revealed to Peppermint Patty that her cousin was getting paid to tutor Peppermint Patty, she threw Maynard out of the house, because she thought he was tutoring him "out of the kindness of his heart." However, Maynard justified his recompense with a Biblical passage: "The laborer is worthy of his hire" (Luke 10:7). Having been fired as Peppermint Patty's tutor, Maynard never appeared again in the strip.

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. As a result, Linus held her in unreasonable esteem, which made his discovery that she earned a salary for her profession a crushing disillusionment he tried to rationalize away.

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. (As Linus said, "In real life she's [still] Miss Othmar!")

Although Miss Othmar quit teaching after she got engaged, she returned to teaching a few years later, much to Linus' delight. However, in 1968, Miss Othmar was fired following a teacher's strike, and Linus was devastated. Miss Othmar's replacement was Miss Halverson ("Halverson" being the maiden name of Charles M. Schulz's first wife, Joyce), whom Linus initially refused to accept as his new teacher, although he eventually seemed to learn to live With It.

Miss Othmar talks briefly to Sally in the TV special You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown.

Marcie mentions that she is taking organ lessons from a "Mrs. Hagemeyer" in a 1979 strip, but it is unclear whether this Mrs. Hagemeyer and Miss Othmar are one and the same.

Other Teachers

Aside from Miss Othmar and Miss Halverson, few other teachers were mentioned by name in Peanuts (and none were ever drawn), with the children most often addressing their teacher as "Ma'am" (only once was a male teacher mentioned, in the infamous "GEORGE WASHINGTON!!!" storyline from 1967 featuring Sally and Charlie Brown).

In the 1966 strip storyline about Charlie Brown's competing in the class spelling bee (later adapted into the movie A Boy Named Charlie Brown), Charlie mentions that his teacher's name is Mrs. Donovan, but he was later shown in Miss Othmar's class with Linus. Peppermint Patty and Marcie's teacher - Miss Tenure - was mentioned by name in 1978, in a storyline in which Patty disguised herself as a janitor to investigate the theft of Miss Tenure's box of gold star stickers and to clear her name of said theft. In a late 1970 strip Peppermint Patty's teacher was named Miss Swanson.

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.

Tapioca Pudding

First appeared in April 4 1986. She is Linus's classmate. Tapioca has a small crush on Linus, which annoys Sally. Tapioca is also keen on licensing of brand names. Sally is jealous of the friendship. Tapioca's last appearance is September 19th 1986 when Snoopy acting as her agent offered an appearance at the Olympic Games ( held 2 yrs before). Her dessert-based name and association with merchandise may peg her as a parody of Strawberry Shortcake.

Roy

Roy was a male character who first appeared on June 11, 1965. Roy first meets 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. Roy was Peppermint Patty's closest friend until Marcie entered the picture.

He disappeared in the comic strips in the 1970s.

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. Shortly afterwards, Royanne appears in a story arc where she tries to sell "the bat used by Roy Hobbs", despite her revalation that Roy Hobbs is a fictional character ("So if I sold you this bat, it would be a real con job.") Lucy purchases this bat and lashes out at her upon being informed by Charlie Brown that Roy Hobbs is fictional. Royanne then admits that she wanted to play on Charlie Brown's team, but utterly refuses to play with Lucy.

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 (according to one strip his lifetime batting average is .004), as it is often 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, even though his aim was so poor he hit Charlie Brown on the head throwing it back to him).

Charlie Brown has been seen attempting to purchase or otherwise acquire various Shlabotnik memorabilia. In one of the most famous Peanuts comic strips (which to this day a blown up copy is on display at the Topps Company) published on April 12, 1964, Charlie Brown spends five dollars (a substantial sum of money for a child at the time) on 500 one-card penny packs of baseball cards hoping to get one of Shlabotnik. With Lucy watching, Charlie Brown opens all the packs and does not get even one Shlabotnik. Lucy then buys one penny pack and to Charlie's dismay, finds the one and only Shlabotnik inside. In a Sunday strip from August 18, 1963, Charlie tries desperately to trade for the card (including several Hall of Famers like Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays) but Lucy refuses because "she thinks he's kinda cute". Later however, she throws the card in the trash because he "wasn't as cute as she thought he was".

Other miscues include a failed attempt to meet and dine with Mr. Shlabotnik at an all-star athlete's banquet to which he was invited. Unfortunately, Shlabotnik didn't show up, because he had marked the wrong date, event and city on his calendar. Shlabotnik also was invited to a testimonial dinner for Charlie Brown, but couldn't make it because he had gotten lost en route from his day job at a car wash (which ultimately didn't matter; the dinner had already been canceled because Charlie's team decided it would be hypocritical and they would be saying things about their manager that they didn't really believe). And Charlie Brown also had a newsletter dedicated to Mr. Shlabotnik (despite his demotion to the Green Grass League), reporting Joe's .143 batting average, his catches of routine fly balls, and his success at putting out a runner who had fallen down between first and second base. This "Joe Shlabotnik Fan Club" newsletter lasted only one issue, owing to Lucy's comment, "Who needs it?"

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."

Also,in a series of 1996 strips,Charlie Brown tried to get a baseball autographed by Joe Shlabotnik, but, it was a forgery (because he spelled Shlabotnik wrong.), resulting in Charlie Brown forging autographs.

"Shut Up and Leave Me Alone"

That was all this nameless, faceless kid ever said whenever Charlie Brown tried to be friendly with him. He was Charlie's bunkmate at the summer camp where Marcie was introduced in 1971. He did nothing but sit on his bed and look at the wall so we could see only the back of his head. Those were even his parting words to Charlie when camp was over. After camp, Charlie wrote him a letter, but the response was, of course, "Shut up and leave me alone."

Miss Helen Sweetstory

Miss Helen Sweetstory was the author of Snoopy's favorite series of books, The Six Bunny-Wunnies series (including The Six Bunny-Wunnies Go to Long Beach; The Six Bunny-Wunnies Join an Encounter Group; The Six Bunny-Wunnies and Their XK-E; The Six Bunny-Wunnies and Their Layover in Anderson, Indiana; and so on). While Linus and Sally also enjoyed reading her works, Snoopy was by far her biggest fan.

While she never appeared in the strip physically, Miss Sweetstory was an integral part of several Peanuts storylines in the early 1970s, the first of which involved Snoopy's falling in love with her and misinterpreting the form letters he received as replies to the fan letters he sent her as "love letters." Snoopy fell out of love with Miss Sweetstory just as quickly, however, when he learned that she owned 24 cats. He soon apparently forgave her, for a few months later he supposedly signed a deal with her to write her biography (which he wrote in typical "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night" style, with one random sentence after another); however, Miss Sweetstory soon would claim in an interview that no such biography was being written, and thus it was unclear whether the whole thing, like her alleged "love letters" to him, was a figment of his overactive imagination.

A later storyline involved the school board's banning of her latest work, The Six Bunny-Wunnies Freak Out!, from the school library, and Linus' demanding that Charlie Brown talk to his pediatrician, who happened to be a member of the school board, about the censorship. After fainting during the course of his conversation with Charlie, the doctor admitted that he had never read the book (having only read medical journals).

Thibault

Thibault (pronounced TEE-BO) 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 your 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 in 1973 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.

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 second girl who caught Linus's heart. (His slight crush on Sally Brown being the first.) However, Linus' blossoming relationship with Truffles would be thwarted twice; first in 1975 by Snoopy as he and Linus go on a truffle hunt. Two years later, when Linus found her again while on a school field trip in 1977, Sally, who would call him her "Sweet Babboo" for the first of many times to his annoyance, saw to it that his reunion with Truffles was short-lived with an assist from Snoopy.

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). She had a tendency to be highly sensitive about her weight. (In fact, one of her opponents, a bully called "Bad-Call" Benny had called her "Fat Legs". For that insult, she hit him in the mouth) She also measured all her ground-calls in centimeters. Tired of losing while playing doubles with Snoopy, she eventually refused to be his doubles partner and then she disappeared from the strip.

Woodstock's Friends

Woodstock is sometimes accompanied by as many as seven other yellow birds. Their names have been given as Bill, Harriet, Olivier, Raymond, Fred, Roy and Conrad, though often only a few of them appear, and it is impossible to tell which ones, since they all look identical (with the exception of Raymond, who is darker). Despite this, Snoopy seems to be able to tell the difference.

World War II

World War II (also referred to as "The Cat Next Door" or merely the Stupid Cat who lives next door) is a powerful cat and one of Snoopy's biggest foes. He is owned by Charlie Brown's next door neighbors who consider it a "kitten" to Snoopy's disbelief ("Kitten?! That stupid 'kitten' weighs three hundred pounds!") Like the baseball teams that play Charlie Brown's, the cat is never seen (although its arm has appeared briefly). Unlike the team (which can be assumed to change), we are given more insight to the cat's personality, which (coupled with its orange color), make it mildly similar to Garfield. Many strips depict Snoopy teasing the cat from atop his doghouse; usually this results in a huge slashing of his house by the cat, leaving him with only a small fraction of the house to sit atop. While Snoopy prefers to verbally chastise the cat, the cat has much more violent, sometimes sociopathic tendencies, and does not hesitate to respond to Snoopy's insults with violent attacks. At one time, Woodstock was reported to be fighting with the cat next door, causing Snoopy to dive over there to help him. Of course, it was a yellow glove and not Woodstock, but this was the first time Snoopy actually stood up to the cat. Also, at various times, other characters have fought with World War II. Linus van Pelt, when he went over to apologize for the mixup that caused Snoopy to fight him over what was supposedly Woodstock, but was the yellow glove (his quip after being thrashed was, "That's no kitten! That's a thousand pound gully cat!"); and Peppermint Patty when she thought that World War II was Snoopy in a cat costume. It was at that time that the Cat was said to be called World War II.

The Garage

The Garage is a non-speaking nominal character who has acted as Snoopy's tennis doubles partner. Snoopy is often seen training with the Garage in preparation for their doubles match. Apparently, his best tennis attribute is that "He never foot faults." After one particularly frustrating defeat, Snoopy claimed that he had played well, but "the Garage choked." Eventually he retired, and that paved the way for Snoopy to partner with the bad-tempered Molly Volley.

The Kite-Eating Trees

Innocuous-looking trees which snatched Charlie Brown's kites and would devour them over a period of a few days. In several episodes, the line "Chomp, chomp, chomp" was attributed to the tree. Once Lucy threw Schroder's piano into what turned out to be a kite/piano-eating tree.

The School Building

The school building where the main characters attend school became a character in its own right when Sally Brown started talking to it in 1975, at first out of spite, but soon forming a close, affectionate friendship. It, or "he", had visible thoughts, and could willfully drop a brick on the head of anyone who gave him trouble (his usual victims were Lucy Van Pelt and Linus Van Pelt). His personality was GeneRally world-weary, and he held a low opinion of the students and faculty. In 1976, the building collapsed, or, as Sally described it, "committed [...]". There were subsequent school building appearances, but it was never made clear whether it was the same one rebuilt or a successor.

Further Reading/Sources

• Derrick Bang with Victor Lee; Fifty Years of Happiness, 1999, ISBN 0-9685574-0-8
• Various Cartoons, published in various book including the The Complete Peanuts series.