Patricia "Peppermint Patty" Reichardt is a fictional character featured in
Charles M. SchulzCharles 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 stripA 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....
PeanutsPeanuts 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...
. A freckle-faced auburn/
brunetteBrown hair is the second most common human hair color.Brown hair varies from light brown to almost black hair. It is characterized by higher levels of the dark pigment eumelanin and lower levels of the pale pigment pheomelanin. Its strands are thicker than those of fair hair but not as much as...
, she is one of a small group in the strip who lives across town from
Charlie BrownCharles "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...
and his school friends. She generally displays the characteristics of a
tomboyA tomboy is a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of the gender role of a boy, including the wearing of typically masculine-oriented clothes and engaging in games and activities that are often physical in nature, and which are considered in many cultures to be the...
/
hippieThe hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
, although that was slightly changed when
MarcieMarcie 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...
was paired with her in
There's No Time for Love, Charlie BrownThere'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...
in 1973. She made her first appearance on August 22, 1966. The following year, she made her animated debut in the TV special
You're in Love, Charlie BrownYou're in Love, Charlie Brown is the fourth prime-time animated TV specials based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It originally aired on CBS on June 12, 1967...
and began (in the comics) coaching a baseball team that played against Charlie Brown and since has had other adventures with him. She calls Charlie Brown "Chuck" and
LucyLucille "Lucy" van Pelt is a fictional character in the syndicated comic strip :Peanuts, written and drawn by Charles Schulz. She is the main bully and the older sister of Linus and Rerun. Lucy is a crabby and cynical eight-year old girl, and often bullies the other characters in the strip,...
"Lucille" and is the only character to do so (although Peppermint Patty's close friend Marcie has been known to call Charlie Brown "Chuck" on occasion, she usually calls him "Charles").
Peppermint Patty's birthday is on October 4, as determined from the October 4, 1970, strip in which Patty's father (who always calls her his "little gem") gives her roses on her birthday.
History of the character
One story about Peppermint Patty has it that Charles Schulz named the character after the
York Peppermint PattieYork Peppermint Pattie is a dark chocolate enrobed peppermint confection produced by The Hershey Company, under license from Cadbury plc ....
, and in response the makers of the candy,
Peter-PaulAn Almond Joy is a candy bar manufactured by Hershey's. It consists of a coconut-based center topped with two almonds and enrobed in a layer of milk chocolate...
(later
Peter-Paul CadburyCadbury is a confectionery company owned by Kraft Foods and is the industry's second-largest globally after Mars, Incorporated. Headquartered in Uxbridge, London, United Kingdom, the company operates in more than 50 countries worldwide....
) ended up being one of the exclusive sponsors (along with
McDonald'sMcDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
and
Dolly MadisonDolly Madison is a U.S. bakery brand owned by Hostess Brands, marketing pre-packaged baked snack foods. Bakeries are located throughout the U.S.- Marketing :...
) of the animated
Peanuts television specials on
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in the 1970s. However, the York Peppermint Pattie was not introduced nationally until 1975, several years after Peppermint Patty was introduced (it had been previously available only in the Northeast, where the California-based Schulz was unlikely to come across one). Schulz has said in several interviews that he named Peppermint Patty after a dish of peppermint candies he had in his office, and simply thought the name too good to pass up. (He once said he originally intended to develop Peppermint Patty as a character distinct from the Peanuts strip; however, he never had time to pursue a separate project and ended up introducing the character into the strip.)
Schulz said that he had developed the Peppermint Patty persona in response to the burgeoning
Women's Liberation MovementThe Women's Liberation Movement was a political movement, born in the 1960s from Second-Wave Feminism.It generated mythology almost before it was born such as bra burning - and it was allegedly a matter of deep concern to those within it at the time that its history would allegedly be rewritten...
that was sparked in the latter half of the 1960s, and that he desired to create a character that defied gender stereotypes and embraced social norms that had yet to become fashionable. Peppermint Patty was the first female character outfitted with shorts and sandals, rather than dresses; and had a personality with much more easygoing tomboyish behaviour without forcing mean aggressivity than the girls who played on Charlie Brown's baseball team, a more truly careless boyishness not competitive and measuring up to with the boys, thus her closeness with Charlie not as the other girls condescending but as pal to go by nicknames,
Chuck; and the first character to be the product of a single-parent household.
Peppermint Patty was first voiced by Gail DeFaria in the CBS specials, then by various other child performers both male (such as
Christopher DeFariaChris DeFaria is an American production manager and producer of television and movies, with credits including Cats & Dogs, Watchmen, and Looney Tunes: Back in Action...
and Stuart Brotman) and female (including Donna Forman (1974),
Linda ErcoliLinda M. Ercoli is an American actress. As a child she was regularly featured as one of the voice actors in the Peanuts cartoons, playing various parts in the films and television specials.-Acting Roles:...
(1974), Victoria Vargas (1983), Gini Holtzman (1984–1985), and Joanne "Jo" Reed (2010-2012).
"Peppermint Patty" was also the title of a song by pianist
Vince GuaraldiVincent Anthony "Vince" Guaraldi was an Italian American jazz musician and pianist noted for his innovative compositions and arrangements and for composing music for animated adaptations of the Peanuts comic strip...
which appeared in Peanuts specials in the 1970s.
Notable character traits
Peppermint Patty is noted for her persistent habit of profoundly misunderstanding basic concepts and ideas that most people would consider obvious, leading to ultimately embarrassing situations. For a long time she seemed unaware that
SnoopySnoopy 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...
was a dog, referring to him as "the funny looking kid with the big nose." This was a recurrent gag in the strip until an incident (featured in a series of strips from March 1974) in which Patty declared she was through with school and planned to spend the rest of her days staying in "Chuck's guest cottage" (Snoopy's dog house). By the end of this particular story arc, Marcie, in a fit of exasperation, angrily informed Peppermint Patty exactly what the "funny looking kid with the big nose" actually was, which left Patty in stunned shock for several strips. In a later phone call to Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty finally accepted the truth: "Let's just say my pride had the flu, okay, Chuck?"
Peppermint Patty has brown chin-length hair, and she has freckles on her face. She almost always sports a pair of sandals, even in winter weather. In one series of strips, in which she was forbidden to wear the sandals in school, it was revealed that these were a gift from her father because she was "a rare gem." For a time, Patty also put her candy cigarettes in her sleeve.
She also thought a school for
gifted childrenIntellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average. It is different from a skill, in that skills are learned or acquired behaviors...
meant that she would get free gifts if she enrolled. Likewise she once confused a dog
obedience schoolAn obedience school is an institution that trains pets how to behave properly. When puppies are young and in the first stages of training, they are often taken by their owners to obedience schools. Most obedience schools are located in the United States. Training usually takes place in small groups...
with a human private school, going so far as to enroll and graduate with the other dogs. It was only later, when she tried to use that diploma to show that she did not have to go to regular school, that she discovered that she had publicly humiliated herself for a meaningless honor. Although initially angry with Snoopy, who had recommended the school to her, she forgave him after she got into a fight with World War III, the cat who lived next door to Charlie Brown (having mistaken it for Snoopy in a cat suit) and Snoopy came to her aid.
She is widely known for receiving a D− grade on every test or assignment in school (in 1999, the final full year of "Peanuts", her teacher presented her with a certificate naming her to the "D-Minus Hall of Fame"). In one comic strip, Patty got a Z-, which she called "sarcasm". In a series of strips in 1984, Peppermint Patty was held back a grade for failing all of her classes—only to be allowed to return to her old class when her old desk in front of Marcie started to emit snoring noises, leading kids and faculty alike to suspect that the classroom was haunted by a "snoring ghost".
Peppermint Patty's bad grades are possibly exacerbated by her tendency to sleep through class. This was explained by the fact that her father works late, and Patty is too insecure to sleep until he returns home. In one series of strips, Marcie suggests that it is Patty's unrequited love for
Charlie BrownCharles "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...
(see below) which causes her to fall asleep. At Marcie's urging, Patty also went to a
sleep disorderA sleep disorder, or somnipathy, is a medical disorder of the sleep patterns of a person or animal. Some sleep disorders are serious enough to interfere with normal physical, mental and emotional functioning...
s treatment center to be tested for
narcolepsyNarcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder, or dyssomnia, characterized by excessive sleepiness and sleep attacks at inappropriate times, such as while at work. People with narcolepsy often experience disturbed nocturnal sleep and an abnormal daytime sleep pattern, which often is confused with insomnia...
; once again, though, it was determined that staying up too late at night, and not narcolepsy, was the cause of Patty's falling asleep in class.
Peppermint Patty hired Snoopy twice to serve as her watchdog so she could sleep better at night, but both incidents ended disastrously. The first time, Snoopy was unable to get off Peppermint Patty's waterbed in the guest room to catch the burglars who were robbing the house at that very moment, and the second time, Snoopy was distracted by a girl poodle who became his fiancee (the engagement was called off on the day of the wedding), leading Peppermint Patty to angrily call Charlie Brown in the middle of the night and demand that he come to her house to serve as watchdog in Snoopy's place. Besides guard duties, Peppermint Patty also retains Snoopy's services as an attorney, once even enlisting his help to openly defy the school's dress code. The first strip in which the character's full formal name, Patricia Reichardt, was mentioned, published January 15, 1972; her formal name appeared again at least one more time, in the February 5, 1993 strip, in which she reads to Marcie an ad she has placed in the paper:
- First panel: PP: See Marcie? My ad is in the paper..
- Second panel: PP: "Help wanted.. attractive young lady can't remember history dates."
- Third panel: PP: "Doesn't understand fractions. Call Patricia Reichardt at number below.."
- Fourth panel: PP: What do you think, Marcie? M: You are extremely weird, sir.
Patty is also a star athlete, especially in baseball, where her team regularly trounces Charlie Brown's squad. In the first series of strips in which Patty appeared in 1966, she actually joins "Chuck's" team as its new pitcher, relegating Charlie Brown to the outfield. However, she quits in disgust after only one game; despite tossing a no-hitter and slamming five
home runIn baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
s, her new team lost, 37–5, because of their somewhat porous defense. In another occasion she let Charlie pitch the last throw of the game (Patty pitched a no-hit, no-run game and were leading 50–0 on the 9th inning, 2nd out, 2nd strike), only to see Charlie lose the game. The final score was 51-50.
Peppermint Patty lives with her father and enjoys a particularly close relationship with him, even though he apparently has to do a lot of traveling. He refers to his daughter as his "rare gem", a nickname with which Patty is extremely pleased. Her mother apparently died long ago, for Peppermint Patty has no memories of her. No siblings are ever mentioned, thus Peppermint Patty is presumed to be an
only childAn only child is a person with no siblings, either biological or adopted. In a family with multiple offspring, first-borns, may be briefly considered only children and have a similar early family environment, but the term only child is generally applied only to those individuals who never have...
. She has often lamented her lack of a mother to help her prepare for skating competitions and such:
- Peppermint Patty: "Skating mothers are like stage mothers and swimming mothers. They grumble and complain and gossip and fuss, but you really need them!"
- Marcie: "How do they get that way, sir?"
- Peppermint Patty: "Early rising and too much coffee."
Peppermint Patty mentions her mother over the course of the television special
He's Your Dog, Charlie BrownHe's Your Dog, Charlie Brown is the fifth 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 February 14, 1968...
, but Schulz repeatedly stated that the situations presented in the cartoon adaptations are not canonical to the strip.
Relationships with other characters
Peppermint Patty's closest friend, Marcie, calls her "Sir". It is never revealed whether this eccentric habit, dating to Marcie's first appearance in the strip in 1971, is the result of misguided manners, poor eyesight, or some other reason. For a long time, this was a major annoyance to Patty, and she would continually snap at Marcie, "Stop calling me Sir!" but, eventually, she got used to it, although she still preferred that Marcie
not call her "Sir". She also called her "Priscilla" in
A Charlie Brown ThanksgivingA 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...
, but the shock on both Peppermint Patty's and Charlie Brown's face may imply that the name was in jest.
The first character to call Peppermint Patty "Sir" was not Marcie, but a pigtailed girl named Sophie in Peppermint Patty's cabin at summer camp, who appeared in the same series of strips in the summer of 1968 that introduced Marcie's predecessor, Clara. When Sophie and Clara (this time sans glasses) re-appeared in
Peanuts in the summer of 1987, they called her "ma'am", which also annoyed her.
Not until a few years after she was introduced into the strip did it become apparent that Peppermint Patty had a crush on Charlie Brown. Peppermint Patty frequently plays lovers' games with Charlie Brown, and gets frustrated or even angry when he does not take the bait; he
does like Peppermint Patty, but only as a friend (though their friendship is occasionally strained by her strong personality and bossiness toward him). Originally, Peppermint Patty played reverse psychology; she would often say, "You kind of like me, don't you, Chuck?" when it was clear that it was Peppermint Patty who had the crush on Charlie Brown, while he not only did not have a crush on her, he also did not quite know what to make of her. His true love was the unattainable
Little Red-Haired GirlThe Little Red-Haired Girl is an unseen character in the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, and is a symbol of unrequited love. While never seen in the strip, she appears onscreen in several television specials. Her name is sometimes cited in these as Heather. She serves as the object of...
, and having a girl actually like him was unexplored territory, although Patty once angrily expressed her jealousy to Charlie Brown for his affection of that girl. Patty frequently denied having a crush on Charlie Brown at first, writing him off as too wishy-washy and because she "could strike him out on three straight pitches", and during a game of Ha-Ha Herman crudely insulting him when she thought he was not listening. Yet it was still obvious to Marcie that Peppermint Patty liked Charlie Brown as more than a friend, wishy-washy or not.
In one Sunday strip from 1979 (drawn as part of a storyline in which Charlie Brown was in the hospital), Peppermint Patty essentially admitted her feelings for Charlie Brown and, in the same strip, Marcie admitted loving "Chuck," so far as to affirming her willingness to marry Charlie Brown. Even this strip ended in a denial of sorts; Patty brought Marcie up to the front desk of the hospital and tried to have her admitted as a patient, saying, "I think she's sicker than
heCharles "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...
is!"
Peppermint Patty often tries to talk to Charlie Brown about matters of the heart (often depicted with both characters sitting under a tree) and even calls him often on the phone (usually taking up the majority of the conversation), but Charlie Brown usually manages to somehow evade the issue, often by simply playing dumb. Patty often grumbles, "I hate talking to you, Chuck!" whenever she tries to confide in him and he does not tell her what she wants to hear.
Peppermint Patty also developed a crush on
Pig-Pen"Pig-Pen" is a character in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. He is a young boy who is, except on very rare occasions, very dirty.-History:"Pig-Pen" is a nickname, invariably written in quotation marks in the strip...
for a while in 1980, after Charlie Brown set them up on a date for a
Valentine's DaySaint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
dance. Also, in the movie
Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!!), both she and Marcie were shown as being attracted to Pierre, the son of their host family in Paris, France. Pierre only returned Marcie's affections, however, a fact to which Peppermint Patty remained oblivious even when they were holding hands right in front of her.
Peppermint Patty also had a strong friendship with Snoopy. For years, owing to Snoopy's often human-like behavior, Patty often referred to Snoopy as a "funny-looking kid with a big nose". The rest of the cast was often confused by Patty's obliviousness, but she was finally corrected in the strip from March 21, 1974, by Marcie. Patty has since accepted that Snoopy is a dog but often still treats him like a human, which pleases Snoopy as he's a dog who thinks he's not one.
In Popular Culture
- She appeared in the 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...
episode "Vegetable Funfest". In the Peanuts skit, she is first seen at Linus van PeltLinus 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; depicted as a lesbian, she is also shown kissing Marcie. She is later seen in Hell, and was presumably killed by the Great Pumpkin.
- In the 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...
episode "Stuck Together, Torn Apart", it was revealed that Peppermint Patty and Peter GriffinPeter Griffin is a fictional character and the protagonist of the animated comedy series Family Guy and the patriarch of the Griffin family. He is voiced by cartoonist Seth MacFarlane and first appeared on television, along with the rest of the family in the 15-minute short on December 20, 1998....
once dated. When Peter tried to get back together with her while on trial separation, she is seen to have aged gracefully. She credits Marcie, who is now her lesbian domestic partner.