Tapioca soon annoyed the rest of the kids with her obsession with getting her image on T-shirts and other merchandise. Schulz briefly introduced a character named Tapioca Pudding. Charles Schulz may have thrown shade at Strawberry Shortcake. In a short scene in Gertie’s closet, the camera pans over a shelf of toys, including the Pieman and his distinctive toque and mustache. In 1982, The Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak-or rather, his Kenner doll-made a cameo in Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster sci-fi film, E.T. His last onscreen role was as financial backer The Colonel James in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1997 ode to the porno chic era, Boogie Nights. Character actor Robert Ridgely voiced the villainous Peculiar Purple Pieman in the same six specials. She even married Mickey-or rather, actor Wayne Allwine, who voiced him from 1977 to 2009-in real life. In 1991, Taylor became the voice of the seventh, and to-date longest serving, Minnie Mouse. The first actress to voice Strawberry Shortcake was Russi Taylor, who starred in all six ‘80s specials. She has connections to Disney and the ‘70s porn industry. That loophole closed in 1990 with the Children’s Television Act, which required even independents to follow the rules. But Kenner found a loophole in the law by syndicating all the specials on independent stations. “I suppose that the show is a commercial, in the largest sense of the word,” Muller told The New York Times. While toy company Kenner, which bankrolled the specials, did not openly admit to doing that, writer and voiceover actor Romeo Muller said as much in 1981. These standards were the result of a longtime campaign by parent groups worried that toy companies made shows that were just long commercials for their products. The first Strawberry Shortcake special, 1980’s The World of Strawberry Shortcake, was rejected by the networks for not meeting educational content standards for children’s programming. Her ‘80s specials never aired on network television. Realizing this meant the end of Strawberry Shortcake, Sargent returned the rights to her former employer, saying it had never been about the money, but about getting the credit. Surprisingly, the courts disagreed with American Greetings, and Sargent won. The company countered that Sargent was not the creator, but a subcontractor, and part of a bigger team. Her claim: Girl with a Daisy, the card that started it all, was her creation, and when executives decided to market their strawberry character, they turned to her and asked her to draw a pinker and berrier version nearly identical to the final product. In 1982, freelance illustrator Barbi Sargent sued American Greetings. Sales in 1981 were estimated between $300 and $500 million. She was almost lost in a lawsuit.īy the early ‘80s, the Strawberry Shortcake franchise had become a multimedia juggernaut. She became the model for “Strawberry Patches,” until the company changed the name because it was already being used elsewhere, and Strawberry Shortcake was born. A bestselling Valentine’s Day card, Girl with a Daisy, featured a little girl wearing a big bonnet with strawberries. A few years earlier, executive Jack Chojnacki had noticed how well merchandise with strawberries was selling, and asked his Cleveland team to come up with a strawberry-themed character that would also resonate with fans of the company’s popular “Blue Girl,” Holly Hobbie. The American Greetings Corporation debuted Strawberry Shortcake on a greeting card in 1979. Strawberry Shortcake started out as a greeting card. Here are 10 things you may not have known about this berry sweet cartoon franchise. Strawberry may already be in her mid-40s, but she continues to win over younger fans and maintain an impressive presence in the pop culture landscape, with a Netflix series and plenty of merchandise, much of it in the “classic” style, on store shelves. For Gen Xers and elder Millennials, there’s nothing like the scent of Strawberry Shortcake and her dessert-themed friends for bringing back fond childhood memories.
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