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Marcie (Peanuts)
Encyclopedia
Marcie is a bespectacled fictional character
featured in Charles M. Schulz
's comic strip
Peanuts
. She serves as comedic foil and best friend to tomboy Peppermint Patty
, plays a supporting role in some of Snoopy
's heroic fantasies, and displays a romantic interest in Charlie Brown
, who seems to love her back.
. She and Peppermint Patty were the only girls in the strip to wear a t-shirt and shorts (although the girls wore pants during the winter in the strip).
. A forerunner of Marcie's character, a girl named Clara, made an appearance in a sequence at a girl's camp in June 1968. As Marcie became a part of the regular cast, she appeared in the same class as Peppermint Patty, sitting in the desk behind her.
In the animated special You're In the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown
, Marcie's surname is given as "Johnson", but Schulz never gave her a surname in the comic strip; therefore, Johnson is not considered to be her official name. In other sources, Marcie's last name is given as "Howe." In fact, in one strip, Marcie tells Charlie Brown that her grandfather plays left wing in the World Hockey Association
, a reference to Gordie Howe
.
In the strip, Marcie was a soft-spoken voice of reason to Peppermint Patty, but in most of her earliest TV appearances she was usually portrayed as naïve and somewhat dim-witted. An example of the former showed in the 1973 Emmy Award
winning special A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
; when Peppermint Patty throws a fit about the "dinner" Charlie Brown made for them, Marcie gently reminds her that he didn't invite her to dinner, but she invited herself. The latter showed through in It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown
when Marcie showed complete ineptitude in the kitchen, making several unsuccessful attempts at preparing eggs to color for Easter
, and then later biting into one without removing the shell first ("Tastes terrible, sir"), all to Peppermint Patty's great consternation.
Later, Marcie was portrayed as an overachiever (she once quipped that she had already chosen her college and enrolled her three children in preschool) and academically the brightest of the Peanuts cast. Even so, she is possibly the most credulous and naïve of the gang. She apparently is under a great deal of pressure from her parents to excel in school, and in a story in 1990 sought refuge from her demanding parents at Charlie Brown's house and fell asleep on his couch.
The first actor to do Marcie's voice in the TV specials was a boy, James Ahrens, from 1973 to 1977. Various others have played Marcie ever since. As with all of the Peanuts performers who were too young to read a script, director Bill Meléndez
sometimes had to speak the children's lines to them. Melendez (who had a distinct Mexican accent) has noted with amusement that some of the performers for Marcie imitated his reading so closely, they repeated his accented "Charlce" instead of "Charles".
Marcie is essentially the complete opposite of Peppermint Patty; where Peppermint Patty is more comfortable playing sports, the well-read Marcie prefers a quieter, more studious existence. Although Marcie repeatedly professes her dislike of sports, particularly baseball, she will occasionally take part in whatever sport Peppermint Patty is involved in at the time, though more often than not Marcie, upon showing her lack of athletic prowess and lack of knowledge of the game, usually only succeeds in frustrating Peppermint Patty.
Like Peppermint Patty, Marcie also has an unrequited crush on Charlie Brown (whom she usually calls "Charles", or occasionally "Chuck", like Peppermint Patty does); she once confessed a fondness for Charlie Brown and would be willing to marry him if he asked her. While Peppermint Patty is more likely to flirt with Charlie Brown and play mind games with him, Marcie is more frank in her admissions of her feelings, and often asks Charlie Brown in plain language if he likes her. As he does with Peppermint Patty, Charlie Brown often responds to Marcie's inquiries by trying to evade the issue, though it seems as if Charlie has feelings for her, which more than once has made Marcie so angry that she kicked him in the shins in frustration. She has on more than one occasion kissed Charlie Brown on the cheek. The first time was in the 1973 special There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown
, but she only did it so Charlie Brown could pretend that it was a goodnight kiss from Peppermint Patty. She also kissed him in the specials Happy New Year, Charlie Brown!
(1986) and He's A Bully, Charlie Brown
(2006), and in "The Wright Brother's" episode of This Is America, Charlie Brown
. She also kissed him in the strip in the "Lost Ballfield" story arc in 1981.
Marcie and Peppermint Patty also shared a crush on a boy named Pierre in the animated movie Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!!). Although Marcie was the one in whom Pierre seemed to express interest, Peppermint Patty misread the signs and seemed convinced that Pierre liked her instead.
Though Marcie is usually slow to anger, she can occasionally lose her temper when provoked. Case in point, in a sequence from July-August 1973, when she reluctantly joins Peppermint Patty's baseball team, she becomes the target of a male teammate named Thibault , who constantly follows Marcie around tormenting her with chauvinistic
insults until she ultimately slaps him senseless. Ironically, Thibault completely ignored the fact that Peppermint Patty was also a girl.
Another example from the Spring of 1974 was when Peppermint Patty, in protest, refused to go to school, holding vigil on top of Snoopy's doghouse (which Patty still referred to as Chuck's guest cottage). Eventually Marcie's anger again got the better of her and, while pulling Peppermint Patty down, destroyed the doghouse. In so doing, Marcie also made Peppermint Patty face the reality that Snoopy was a beagle, and not the "funny-looking kid with the big nose" that Peppermint Patty often referred to him as.
, a fact reinforced when Peppermint Patty, in a moment of exasperation, refers to Marcie's "Billie Jean King glasses". Also, the sport of tennis was an occasional theme in the Peanuts strip and King was a close personal friend of Schulz.
Because of the close friendship between Marcie and Peppermint Patty, some have inferred a romantic relationship between them. However, the comic strip's content does not lend support to this conclusion. This usually is only referred to in pop-culture satirists like Family Guy
, comedian Stephen Lynch
, and Robot Chicken
. For example, Marcie's only explicitly depicted romantic interests were (as noted above) male characters, especially Charlie Brown.
episode "Vegetable Funfest" voiced by Katelin Peterson. In the skit, she is seen at Linus van Pelt
's funeral, kissing Peppermint Patty
. She isn't seen in Hell in the end, and probably survived with Charlie Brown
or got killed by the Great Pumpkin and did not go to Hell.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
featured in Charles M. Schulz
Charles M. Schulz
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.-Early life and education:Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Schulz grew up in Saint Paul...
's comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
Peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
. She serves as comedic foil and best friend to tomboy Peppermint Patty
Peppermint Patty
Patricia "Peppermint Patty" Reichardt is a fictional character featured in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts. A freckle-faced auburn/brunette, she is one of a small group in the strip who lives across town from Charlie Brown and his school friends...
, plays a supporting role in some of Snoopy
Snoopy
Snoopy is an fictional character in the long-running comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. He is Charlie Brown's pet beagle. Snoopy began his life in the strip as a fairly conventional dog, but eventually evolved into perhaps the strip's most dynamic character—and among the most recognizable...
's heroic fantasies, and displays a romantic interest in Charlie Brown
Charlie Brown
Charles "Charlie" Brown is the protagonist in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz.Charlie Brown and his creator have a common connection in that they are both the sons of barbers, but whereas Schulz's work is described as the "most shining example of the American success story", Charlie...
, who seems to love her back.
Appearance
Marcie is one of the few bespectacled characters in the strip. She has dark brown chin-length hair and she usually wears a t-shirt and shorts, like Peppermint PattyPeppermint Patty
Patricia "Peppermint Patty" Reichardt is a fictional character featured in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts. A freckle-faced auburn/brunette, she is one of a small group in the strip who lives across town from Charlie Brown and his school friends...
. She and Peppermint Patty were the only girls in the strip to wear a t-shirt and shorts (although the girls wore pants during the winter in the strip).
History of the character
Marcie made her first appearance in the daily strip from July 20, 1971, but her name wasn't mentioned until the strip from October 11. She first appeared on television in the 1973 special There's No Time for Love, Charlie BrownThere's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown
There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown is the eighth prime-time animated TV specials based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It was originally aired on the CBS network on March 11, 1973 and released to DVD as a bonus feature on January 2, 2004...
. A forerunner of Marcie's character, a girl named Clara, made an appearance in a sequence at a girl's camp in June 1968. As Marcie became a part of the regular cast, she appeared in the same class as Peppermint Patty, sitting in the desk behind her.
In the animated special You're In the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown
You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown
You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown is the 37th prime-time animated TV specials based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It first aired on January 18, 1994 on NBC, making it the first Peanuts special to air on a different network after 27 years on CBS...
, Marcie's surname is given as "Johnson", but Schulz never gave her a surname in the comic strip; therefore, Johnson is not considered to be her official name. In other sources, Marcie's last name is given as "Howe." In fact, in one strip, Marcie tells Charlie Brown that her grandfather plays left wing in the World Hockey Association
World Hockey Association
The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major competition for the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926...
, a reference to Gordie Howe
Gordie Howe
Gordon "Gordie" Howe, OC is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player who played for the Detroit Red Wings and Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League , and the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers in the World Hockey Association . Howe is often referred to as Mr...
.
In the strip, Marcie was a soft-spoken voice of reason to Peppermint Patty, but in most of her earliest TV appearances she was usually portrayed as naïve and somewhat dim-witted. An example of the former showed in the 1973 Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
winning special A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is the tenth prime-time animated TV special based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It was originally aired on the CBS network on November 20, 1973, and won an Emmy Award the following year...
; when Peppermint Patty throws a fit about the "dinner" Charlie Brown made for them, Marcie gently reminds her that he didn't invite her to dinner, but she invited herself. The latter showed through in It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown
It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown
It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown is the 12th prime-time animated TV special based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz...
when Marcie showed complete ineptitude in the kitchen, making several unsuccessful attempts at preparing eggs to color for Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
, and then later biting into one without removing the shell first ("Tastes terrible, sir"), all to Peppermint Patty's great consternation.
Later, Marcie was portrayed as an overachiever (she once quipped that she had already chosen her college and enrolled her three children in preschool) and academically the brightest of the Peanuts cast. Even so, she is possibly the most credulous and naïve of the gang. She apparently is under a great deal of pressure from her parents to excel in school, and in a story in 1990 sought refuge from her demanding parents at Charlie Brown's house and fell asleep on his couch.
The first actor to do Marcie's voice in the TV specials was a boy, James Ahrens, from 1973 to 1977. Various others have played Marcie ever since. As with all of the Peanuts performers who were too young to read a script, director Bill Meléndez
Bill Melendez
José Cuauhtémoc "Bill" Meléndez was a Mexican-American character animator, film director, voice artist and producer, known for his cartoons for Warner Brothers, UPA and the Peanuts series...
sometimes had to speak the children's lines to them. Melendez (who had a distinct Mexican accent) has noted with amusement that some of the performers for Marcie imitated his reading so closely, they repeated his accented "Charlce" instead of "Charles".
Personality
Marcie is close friends with Peppermint Patty, constantly addressing her as "sir" (she called her "sir" in her first line in the strip). Originally, Peppermint Patty kept telling Marcie to quit, but eventually grew accustomed to the name. Initially, Peppermint Patty addressed Marcie as "dorky" and, when talking to others, "my weird friend from camp".Marcie is essentially the complete opposite of Peppermint Patty; where Peppermint Patty is more comfortable playing sports, the well-read Marcie prefers a quieter, more studious existence. Although Marcie repeatedly professes her dislike of sports, particularly baseball, she will occasionally take part in whatever sport Peppermint Patty is involved in at the time, though more often than not Marcie, upon showing her lack of athletic prowess and lack of knowledge of the game, usually only succeeds in frustrating Peppermint Patty.
Like Peppermint Patty, Marcie also has an unrequited crush on Charlie Brown (whom she usually calls "Charles", or occasionally "Chuck", like Peppermint Patty does); she once confessed a fondness for Charlie Brown and would be willing to marry him if he asked her. While Peppermint Patty is more likely to flirt with Charlie Brown and play mind games with him, Marcie is more frank in her admissions of her feelings, and often asks Charlie Brown in plain language if he likes her. As he does with Peppermint Patty, Charlie Brown often responds to Marcie's inquiries by trying to evade the issue, though it seems as if Charlie has feelings for her, which more than once has made Marcie so angry that she kicked him in the shins in frustration. She has on more than one occasion kissed Charlie Brown on the cheek. The first time was in the 1973 special There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown
There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown
There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown is the eighth prime-time animated TV specials based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It was originally aired on the CBS network on March 11, 1973 and released to DVD as a bonus feature on January 2, 2004...
, but she only did it so Charlie Brown could pretend that it was a goodnight kiss from Peppermint Patty. She also kissed him in the specials Happy New Year, Charlie Brown!
Happy New Year, Charlie Brown!
Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! is the 30th prime-time animated TV special based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It was originally aired on CBS on January 1, 1986...
(1986) and He's A Bully, Charlie Brown
He's a Bully, Charlie Brown
He's a Bully, Charlie Brown is the 44th prime-time animated TV special based on the popular comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. It was originally aired on the ABC network on November 20, 2006. It is the second most recent Peanuts television special and is primarily based on a story from the...
(2006), and in "The Wright Brother's" episode of This Is America, Charlie Brown
This Is America, Charlie Brown
This is America, Charlie Brown was an eight-part animated TV mini-series, depicting events in American history with characters from the Charles M. Schulz comic strip Peanuts. It aired from 1988 to 1989 on CBS. These eight episodes, originally released singly on videocassette, were released in a...
. She also kissed him in the strip in the "Lost Ballfield" story arc in 1981.
Marcie and Peppermint Patty also shared a crush on a boy named Pierre in the animated movie Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!!). Although Marcie was the one in whom Pierre seemed to express interest, Peppermint Patty misread the signs and seemed convinced that Pierre liked her instead.
Though Marcie is usually slow to anger, she can occasionally lose her temper when provoked. Case in point, in a sequence from July-August 1973, when she reluctantly joins Peppermint Patty's baseball team, she becomes the target of a male teammate named Thibault , who constantly follows Marcie around tormenting her with chauvinistic
Chauvinism
Chauvinism, in its original and primary meaning, is an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a belief in national superiority and glory. It is an eponym of a possibly fictional French soldier Nicolas Chauvin who was credited with many superhuman feats in the Napoleonic wars.By extension it has come...
insults until she ultimately slaps him senseless. Ironically, Thibault completely ignored the fact that Peppermint Patty was also a girl.
Another example from the Spring of 1974 was when Peppermint Patty, in protest, refused to go to school, holding vigil on top of Snoopy's doghouse (which Patty still referred to as Chuck's guest cottage). Eventually Marcie's anger again got the better of her and, while pulling Peppermint Patty down, destroyed the doghouse. In so doing, Marcie also made Peppermint Patty face the reality that Snoopy was a beagle, and not the "funny-looking kid with the big nose" that Peppermint Patty often referred to him as.
Legacy
Marcie also bears a strong resemblance to tennis star Billie Jean KingBillie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
, a fact reinforced when Peppermint Patty, in a moment of exasperation, refers to Marcie's "Billie Jean King glasses". Also, the sport of tennis was an occasional theme in the Peanuts strip and King was a close personal friend of Schulz.
Because of the close friendship between Marcie and Peppermint Patty, some have inferred a romantic relationship between them. However, the comic strip's content does not lend support to this conclusion. This usually is only referred to in pop-culture satirists like Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, comedian Stephen Lynch
Stephen Lynch
Stephen Lynch may refer to:*Stephen Lynch , American musician and comedian*Stephen Lynch , United States Representative from Massachusetts's 9th congressional district...
, and Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...
. For example, Marcie's only explicitly depicted romantic interests were (as noted above) male characters, especially Charlie Brown.
In popular culture
Marcie appeared in the Robot ChickenRobot Chicken
Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...
episode "Vegetable Funfest" voiced by Katelin Peterson. In the skit, she is seen at Linus van Pelt
Linus van Pelt
Linus van Pelt is a character in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts. The best friend of Charlie Brown, Linus is also the younger brother of Lucy van Pelt and older brother of Rerun van Pelt. He first appeared on September 19, 1952; however, he was not mentioned by name until three days later....
's funeral, kissing Peppermint Patty
Peppermint Patty
Patricia "Peppermint Patty" Reichardt is a fictional character featured in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts. A freckle-faced auburn/brunette, she is one of a small group in the strip who lives across town from Charlie Brown and his school friends...
. She isn't seen in Hell in the end, and probably survived with Charlie Brown
Charlie Brown
Charles "Charlie" Brown is the protagonist in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz.Charlie Brown and his creator have a common connection in that they are both the sons of barbers, but whereas Schulz's work is described as the "most shining example of the American success story", Charlie...
or got killed by the Great Pumpkin and did not go to Hell.