Welcome to the 944th installment of Comic Book Legends Revealed, a column where we examine three comic book myths, rumors and legends and confirm or debunk them. This is the second of TWO special themed installments combining Peanuts legends and Far Side legends (so that I don’t have three straight Peanuts legends or three straight Far Side legends). In this second legend, learn how Charles Schulz created an imaginary dance partner for Charlie Brown…but then changed his mind about her being imaginary!
As I have noted in the previous two Peanuts legends, one of the things that Charles Schulz struggled with in Peanuts was whether he could have Charlie Brown ever actually get into a relationship with a girl. As I pointed out in the first legend on this topic, Schulz noted to Gary Groth how annoyed he was that he had to “sell out” for a TV special by having Charlie Brown actually kiss The Little Red-Haired Girl, “Yeah, it’s almost inevitable. When you do as many things that we have done. Drawing a strip every day for all these years and then trying to do all those animated shows and try to attract attention and keep them on the air and keep getting good ratings. And keeping the people at the Networks interested. You have to do things that will attract some kind of attention and do something. And there’s no doubt that that was just one of those stupid stories we never should have done. But it happens. It happens all the time.”
However, at the same time, Schulz couldn’t help but want to give Charlie Brown some occasional wins, even in romance, so in 1990, Charlie Brown met a girl at Summer Camp, Peggy Jean, and she actively liked Charlie Brown, and they even KISSED!
That wasn’t Charlie Brown’s FIRST kiss, but it was clear that Peggy Jean was the first girl that was close to being considered his “girlfriend” in the strip. Of course, since Schulz couldn’t have Charlie Brown have a FULL win, Peggy Jean first has problems writing to Charlie Brown, as she knows him as Brownie Charles (the name he gave her when he was so nervous that he couldn’t say his own name correctly, but since she found it cute, he kept using it with her), and so when she writes to “Brownie Charles” at the Brown residence, Charlie’s little sister, Sally, rejects all of the letters from Peggy Jean. Charlie Brown gets through that, but eventually, she just stops writing (and in her last appearance, in the last full season of the strip in 1999, she tells Charlie Brown she has a boyfriend).
That sense of wanting to give Charlie Brown a win, but also NOT is what led to the bizarre tale of Emily, Charlie Brown’s fictional dance partner…or WAS she?
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How did Charlie Brown first meet his fictional dance partner, Emily?
In February 1995, Charlie Brown goes to Lucy for advice about feeling lonely, and she suggests taking dance lessons…
At the dance lessons, Charlie is shocked when a pretty girl named Emily wants to dance with him!
The next day, which happened to run on Valentine’s Day (I’m sure that wasn’t a coincidence), saw Charlie Brown have some nice dreams about Emily…
However, when he goes to dance class the next day, he is shocked when it turns out that Emily doesn’t exist!!
This seems to be pianly evident when we see Charlie Brown dancing with “Emily,” and we soon see that he is dancing by himself, and even he realizes it…
He turns to the Van Pelts for help, and Linus tries to make him feel better, while Lucy doesn’t know WHAT to do with him, except that he used up all of the five cents that he paid her…
So there ya go, a simple case of Charlie Brown being so lonely that he invented a dance partner..
But wait!
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When did Charlie Brown learn that Emily was actually a real person?
The following year, Emily is suddenly REAL, and invites Charlie Brown to a dance…
Charlie Brown goes to the dance, and he meets Emily again, and he is very nervous about dancing with her…
As it turned out, though, Charlie Brown didn’t realize that Sboopy would follow him to the dance, so they all got kicked out due to a dog being at the dance. Charlie apologizes to Emily on the phone the next day…
Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s real, as I guess this could be a really elaborate delusion. However, in her final appearances in 1999, she dances with Charlie Brown AND Snoopy!
However, once again, Charlie Brown is thrown out for bringing his dog. He and Emily get a very nice, Great Gatsby-esque, farewell. THe strip ended in early 2000.
Even though he and Emily don’t see each other again, it is important to note that, unlike Peggy Jean, Charlie Brown actually gets to have a pretty HAPPY farewell with Emily, which was a nice move by Schulz, while still, you know, making sure that Charlie Brown was left without a girlfriend by the time the strip ended. It is still fascinating, though, that Schulz went from having Emily be fake to having Emily become a real character.
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Be sure to check out my Entertainment Legends Revealed for more urban legends about the world of film and TV. Plus, Pop Culture References also has some brand-new Entertainment and Sports Legends Revealeds!
Feel free to send suggestions for future comic legends to me at either cronb01@aol.com or brianc@cbr.com.
