Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake is a cartoon character used in greeting cards published by American Greetings. Strawberry Shortcake's character was originally conceived as a mascot for a line of fruit-flavored candy before evolving into the modern character. The line was later expanded to include dolls, clothing, posters, and other products featuring the character, as well as an extended cast of friends and pets. In addition, the franchise has spawned television specials, animated television series and films. The franchise is currently owned by the Canadian children's television company WildBrain through the holding company Shortcake IP Holdings LLC.
The character of Strawberry Shortcake was originally created by Barbi Sargent, who was then working as a freelance artist for American Greetings. The character first appeared on a Laurel Valentine's Day greeting card in 1972–1973. At the time, the character was simply called Girl with a Daisy or Strawberry Girl and was depicted holding a daisy while wearing an orange bonnet with a strawberry print on it. Rex Conners, American Greetings' staff art director, knew this card was very popular and determined that this was due to the strawberry motif. He requested Sargent to create four cards with a "strawberryish" outfit for the Mega Test Market. Sargent completed the assignment in early July 1977, sending American Greetings four full-color leader cards depicting the Strawberry Shortcake character in full color ("Leader cards" are used by American Greetings for consumer test purposes). These tests marked the first time that the public saw Strawberry Shortcake in her new design, which received a positive reception.
In the late 1970s, further Strawberry Shortcake concept art was drawn by Muriel Fahrion, an illustrator working in American Greetings' Juvenile & Humorous card department. Fahrion then designed a subsequent 32 characters for Those Characters From Cleveland (American Greetings' toy and licensing design division). Later characters that were added to the line were designed by Cindy Mayer Patton and Janet Jones. Artwork for the series was done by a number of different freelancers, though the majority was painted by artist Frances Kariotakis. Lynn Edwards served as the editor of the line, helping to develop the characters and storyline.
The Strawberry Shortcake line of characters each had their own fruit or dessert-themed name with clothing to match, and they each had a fruit or dessert-named pet. Like the Strawberry Shortcake doll, all the other characters' dolls had hair scented to match their theme. The characters lived and played in a magical world known as Strawberryland.
In 1979, toy manufacturer Kenner Products licensed the character and released the first Strawberry Shortcake doll. At the time, Strawberry Shortcake resembled a typical rag doll, complete with freckles, a mop of red yarn curls, and a bonnet with strawberry print. To reflect this, the first toy was constructed to be a rag doll, designed by Muriel Fahrion and made by Susan Trentel, Fahrion's sister.
In May 1983, following a court case, copyrights to Strawberry Shortcake were granted to Barbi Sargent from American Greetings Corporation. Later on, Sargent returned the copyrights to American Greetings so that they could continue with the success of the Strawberry Shortcake franchise.
During the 1980s, Strawberry Shortcake became popular with children throughout the United States. At the time, there were many related products, such as children's books, sticker albums, clothing, bedding, a video game by Parker Brothers entitled Strawberry Shortcake Musical Match-Ups for the Atari 2600, and Bike's Big Wheels.
The Strawberry Shortcake Bicycle was introduced in 1983 and production ended in 1990. Over the bike's seven-year model run, it is estimated over 1 million of the Strawberry Shortcake Bicycles were sold, making the bike one of the most popular licensed character themed bikes ever produced. Several TV specials were made featuring the characters, one each year between 1980 and 1985, by which time the characters' popularity had diminished. Kenner produced no new dolls or toys thereafter.
American Greetings manufactured Strawberry Shortcake Christmas ornaments, which are included in the Clara Johnson Scroggins collection, one of the world's largest ornaments collections.
The first animated television special featuring Strawberry Shortcake and related characters, The World of Strawberry Shortcake, aired on syndicated television stations in the United States on March 28, 1980. After the success of the special, a second special was produced, Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City which aired on April 10, 1981, of which both were syndicated through the Lexington Broadcast Services Company. A third special Strawberry Shortcake: Pets on Parade was later produced, and aired on April 9, 1982. The specials were written and produced by Robert L. Rosen and Romeo Muller, with animation provided by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson and Toei Doga, while the second was animated by Perpetual Motion Pictures in New York. Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, of The Turtles and Flo & Eddie fame, wrote the music and songs for these specials. Russi Taylor voiced Strawberry Shortcake, Robert Ridgely voiced the Peculiar Purple Pieman, and writer/producer Romeo Muller voiced the narrator, Mr. Sun.
Following these specials came three additional specials produced in Canada by Nelvana - Strawberry Shortcake: Housewarming Surprise, which aired on March 31, 1983, Strawberry Shortcake and the Baby Without a Name on March 24, 1984 and Strawberry Shortcake Meets the Berrykins on March 29, 1985. With production moving over to Canada, most of the voice cast was replaced with Canadian talent, with the exception of Russi Taylor and Robert Ridgely, who reprised their roles from the first three specials. Frequent Nelvana collaborator John Sebastian, most known for his music for Nelvana's Care Bears films and series, wrote the songs for two of these three specials.
The first two specials were released on a single DVD by Allumination FilmWorks in March 2007; they were later re-released in February 2015, by Paramount Home Media Distribution. The remaining four specials have not seen another physical media release since their VHS releases in the 1980s; plans have not been announced for a release of the remaining specials on physical media or streaming.
In 1991, THQ relaunched the franchise by producing an updated line of Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Strawberry and five of her classic friends each got a makeover with new clothes, hair, and eyes, but the line saw only modest success and was very short-lived, lasting only a year. American Greetings' VP of licensing, Michael Brown, said in 2002 that the THQ relaunch failed due to being around at the wrong time, with the audience who enjoyed the franchise in the 1980s only being in their teenage years at the time.
In 2001, American Greetings appointed DIC Entertainment as the exclusive licensing agent for the franchise. DIC and American Greetings officially revealed their plans in March 2002 to relaunch the franchise for a new generation with a series of four specials released direct-to-video through 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment beginning in 2003 and later air on television, alongside various merchandise deals including a major toy licensing deal with Bandai. Merchandising would initially focus on the classic designs, which would be released in the second half of 2002, while merchandise featuring the new look would be released in 2003 to coincide with the specials.
The relaunch focused on a main core cast of characters - Strawberry Shortcake, Custard the cat, Pupcake the dog, Angel Cake, Orange Blossom, Huckleberry Pie, Apple Dumplin' and new character Ginger Snap. The existing characters were redesigned to look more like actual children than dolls. Custard and Pupcake also had major redesigns to look more like actual animals than stuffed toys, of which Pupcake now belongs to Strawberry Shortcake. Apple Dumplin' would also become Strawberry Shortcake's sister. Additionally, Strawberryland was divided into "districts", such as Cakewalk, Orange Blossom Acres, Huckleberry Briar and Cookie Corners. The relaunch also introduced fillies to the series, with Honey Pie Pony being the main filly, and the only one who could talk and have a pet of her own.
For the second year of the relaunch, the characters each gained their own fillies and pets, and several additional characters were added.
An Argentine live-action TV series based on the franchise was shown on El Nueve in 2005, with Laura Anders as Strawberry Shortcake, Camila Offermann as Angel Cake, Luz Luccarini as Ginger Snap and Alan Ferraro as Huckleberry Pie, and was produced and directed by Paula Venditti and Jonathan Hofman, with 36 episodes.
Starting in January 2006, Playmates Toys became the franchise's master toy partner along with DIC Entertainment. Alongside that, a line of merchandise for infants and toddlers was also introduced. Playmates' toy range was entitled "A World of Friends" and introduced several "international" characters to the recurring cast who would also appear in the series. Playmates also introduced new fillies, but the removal has not spread beyond the scope of the toy line.
To coincide with the franchise's 25th anniversary, DIC planned to produce three additional direct-to-video specials for release in 2006. DIC produced a feature-length computer-animated film based on the franchise, titled Strawberry Shortcake: The Sweet Dreams Movie, which was released in select cities by Kidtoon Films in October 2006. The series villains, the Purple Pieman and Sour Grapes, who were notably absent from the 2003 TV series, are reintroduced in the film, but Sour Grapes is reintroduced as the Purple Pieman's sister in materials related to the Sweet Dreams Movie. It was released on DVD on February 6, 2007, and has also aired on networks and released on DVD and VCD worldwide.
In 2008, Hasbro acquired the rights to produce a new line of Strawberry Shortcake toys. The extensive relaunch involved numerous large redesigns and a reboot of the franchise's universe.
The relaunch began in the Summer of 2009, with the release of a CGI film, The Strawberry Shortcake Movie: Sky's the Limit, with Anna Cummer voicing Strawberry Shortcake. A TV series, Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures, debuted in October 2010 on The Hub.
The characters of the show are reduced to an initial lineup of six main characters: Strawberry Shortcake, Lemon Meringue, Orange Blossom, Raspberry Torte, Plum Pudding, and Blueberry Muffin. Cherry Jam, a new character made for the series, is introduced in the second season. Huckleberry Pie was reintroduced in the third season as a recurring character, while Sweet and Sour Grapes (no relation to the villainess character) debuted in Series 4, alongside the return of Apple Dumplin'.
In 2014, The Bridge Direct became the new master toy partner for the franchise. The products shown appeared to retain the designs of the 2009 Strawberry Shortcake relaunch and included several dolls, pets, doll furniture, and musical instruments.
In February 2015, Iconix Brand Group acquired the rights to Strawberry Shortcake from American Greetings for $105 million.
In 2016, IDW Publishing began releasing an ongoing Strawberry Shortcake comic series written by Georgia Ball and illustrated by Amy Mebberson. Both Ball and Mebberson identified as fans of the 1980s series, with Ball drawing inspiration from girls with "doubts and challenges but their friends back them up and support them".
In May 2018, DHX Media and its subsidiary, WildBrain, debuted a new 2D animated series of Strawberry Shortcake on YouTube and YouTube TV produced by WildBrain Studios. The series features the return of the Purple Pieman and Raisin Cane to the series. The cast for the series features Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld as Strawberry Shortcake, Amanda Barker as Orange Blossom, Dylan Jones as the Purple Pieman, Kaylin Lee Clinton as Raisin Cane, and Laurie Hymes as Sour Grapes.
In 2016, Iconix Brand Group and DHX Media (now WildBrain) began to develop a new Strawberry Shortcake animated series. The series was scheduled to run for three seasons, totaling 39 episodes, although no cast, crew, or release date were revealed at the time, and would have used 3D computer animation similar to the 2009 series. The only known elements of this show was Strawberry possessing a magical power, and there were berrykins.
In 2017, DHX Media acquired Iconix's entertainment brands, including Strawberry Shortcake, for $345 million. This meant that DHX fully took over production of the planned revival. It was finalized on June 30. This respective reboot was soon revealed to have been an early concept of the current series: Berry in the Big City.
In 2021, WildBrain began the preparations to relaunch the franchise with a new look and redesign for the characters. A 2D-animated web series from WildBrain Studios, titled Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City, began airing on YouTube on September 18, 2021, with 40 episodes for the first season, before expanding to television and streaming. Two additional seasons have also been produced.
The central cast of this adaptation features Strawberry Shortcake, Custard, Orange Blossom, Lemon Meringue, Blueberry Muffin, and returning character Lime Chiffon. Raspberry Torte, who is renamed back to Raspberry Tart, is featured as Strawberry's arch-rival and is accompanied by Sour Grapes and new character Bread Pudding. The Purple Pieman stars as the main antagonist.
A series of four holiday-themed CGI specials were also produced. The first special Strawberry Shortcake and the Beast of Berry Bog, premiered in Canada on Family Jr. on September 22, 2023, and premiered globally on Netflix on October 2. WildBrain pre-sold the four specials internationally to a selection of broadcasters, while NCircle Entertainment handles home media distribution of the series and the specials in the United States.
In October 2024, WildBrain announced the production of The Care Berry Switch, a forty-four minute special that crosses over with Cloudco Entertainment's Care Bears franchise.
Kid Stuff Records released albums based on Strawberry Shortcake in the early 1980s. After the 2003 revival, Koch Records issued soundtrack CDs containing music from the TV series and DVDs, as well as one for the film. A CD was also released along with a piano book.
The first Strawberry Shortcake video game was produced in 1983 for the Atari 2600. No further games based upon the franchise were produced until 20 years later, in 2003, with Strawberry Shortcake: Amazing Cookie Party for PC. Since then, games have been published for the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, PC, and Mac. A standalone plug-and-play game based on Konami's Dance Dance Revolution franchise was also produced. In addition, mobile apps for the iOS and Android platforms have been released.
In 2003, the webcomic Penny Arcade posted an "advertisement" for a fictional computer game, American McGee's Strawberry Shortcake, a parody of the actual computer game American McGee's Alice, a twisted and violent take on Lewis Carroll's works. American Greetings took offense to the parody and issued a cease-and-desist letter, to which the authors begrudgingly complied (but not without making their indignation very clear). A follow-up strip cites bad timing as a contributing factor to the situation; according to the strip, Holkins and Krahulik were not aware that American Greetings was about to relaunch the Strawberry Shortcake line at that time.
Some argue that Penny Arcade's case was not covered under the fair use doctrine because the use of the characters, in this case, was for satire; they claim that fair use only protects the unauthorized use of copyrighted characters in parodies of the original material, and that satire and parody are totally different concepts. Others, however, take the view that parody and satire are equally protected by law. Penny Arcade did not intend to offend American Greetings in the comic, but instead American McGee and McFarlane Toys, who collaborated to create a toy line based on a dark and twisted version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Various animated television shows, including Futurama ("Saturday Morning Fun Pit"), Drawn Together, Robot Chicken, The Fairly OddParents ("Channel Chasers"), and South Park ("Imaginationland Episode II") have since also parodied or satirized Strawberry Shortcake in various ways.
In 2008, Cookie Jar Entertainment began the process to merge with DiC Entertainment, who held the rights to the Strawberry Shortcake animated series. The merger was completed on July 23. On the same day as the finalization of the merger, Cookie Jar Entertainment announced further intentions to acquire the Strawberry Shortcake franchise (along with Care Bears and Sushi Pack) from American Greetings itself. The deal was expected to finalize on September 30, but up until April 2009, there was no further word on the status of the acquisition.
Cookie Jar delayed the acquisition that December due to difficulty in financing it. It was also revealed that Cookie Jar offered (US) $195 million for the franchise. Due to the situation, American Greetings put the franchise back on sale. French company MoonScoop expressed interest and offered (US) $95 million for the franchise, $100 million less than what was offered by Cookie Jar, who competed against MoonScoop's bid, having until the end of April 2009 to counter the offer. This led to various lawsuits between Cookie Jar, American Greetings, and MoonScoop.
In November 2012, American Greetings emerged as the victor of the case and retained ownership of the brands. Iconix Brand Group later bought the Strawberry Shortcake brand from American Greetings in February 2015 for (US) $105 million, $10 million more than what was offered by Moonscoop.