Gertie Greenbean (episode)

**Gertie Greenbean** is an episode of *The Little Lulu Show*. It comes after Valentine's Day and precedes Stop Fiddling Around!. Gertie Greenbean makes her *The Little Lulu Show* debut in this episode and is the episode's titular character. In a nutshell, this episode is a retelling of when she and Lulu Moppet met up and they and Wilbur Van Snobbe fight after he and Lulu get into a brawl.

## Plot

At the beginning of the episode, Lulu Moppet is rollerskating on her way through town. All of a sudden, she and Wilbur Van Snobbe meet up. They get into a little brawl where Wilbur Van Snobbe plays with his yo-yo and closes in on Lulu. However, Gertie Greenbean, the titular character, arrives on roller skates of her own and tells Wilbur to stop, lest Wilbur smacks Lulu's nose with his yo-yo. Wilbur believes that Gertie Greenbean is occupying his personal space, but she gets even with him by dragging him by his yo-yo to Lulu can escape, but they end up teaming up against Wilbur and eventually tie up the braggart with his own yo-yo.

The girls are still on their way and Gertie introduces herself and claims that she was heading to the library to get a Wendy Blake book (which reading pleases her), but she and Lulu just happened to bump into each other en route. The girls befriend each other and Lulu thanks Gertie for skating by at the right moment. Lulu then asks her mother if Gertie can stay at their house for a sleepover. Lulu's mother's reply is that Gertie's mother would have to give her daughter permission to sleep over at Lulu's. Lulu tells Gertie, but this causes Gertie to say that giving a call is impossible for her and she reveals this is because her mother is a travelling saleswoman and brings her trailer all around the country. Mrs. Greenbean explains that she gives a sleepover and Lulu was so kind when she asked if Gertie could come for a sleepover. The girls read the Wendy Blake book Gertie Greenbean checked out. After finishing, they go to bed. Gertie believes Lulu is lucky since the former has to wake up to an oil leak every morning. Lulu turns that around by revealing her desire to live in a housecar.

The next morning, the girls wake up to get a hunger of the brambleberry pancakes that Mrs. Greenbean was making for in her trailer. However, she and the trailer are gone, much to Gertie's dismay. Wilbur then arrives on his bike and expresses his verve at Gertie's plight, but she gets angry and beats up Wilbur in retaliation. Tubby and his gang arrive, apparently shocked to see a fight. Wilbur is forced to surrender to his tomboyish rival, but she is calmed down when Mrs. Greenbean returns. Mrs. Greenbean claims that her reason for missing was that she had to drive her trailer away since someone named Van Snobbe delivered a complaint. She then begins to reprimand Gertie Greenbean for beating up Wilbur, but Gertie claims she did it because Wilbur is the "Van Snobbe" guy who kicked Mrs. Greenbean out. Mrs. Greenbean is pleased to see herself avenged, and she encourages her daughter to continue. Wilbur makes his getaway and Tubby and his friends sarcastically wish him good luck.

Wilbur plots his revenge, and his father mistakes him for an alien because of Wilbur's battered appearance. Mr. Van Snobbe tells his son to stay away from Gertie Greenbean (who appeared to Mr. Van Snobbe as a "bigger boy.") for his safety. Wilbur then cries about his failure to get revenge.

Gertie Greenbean then thanks the Moppet family for helping hers. Her mother then says that they made some new friends.

## Names in the other languages

* Portugués: A Nova Amiga de Lulu (Lulu's New Friend)

## Trivia

* For some reason, Gertie Greenbean does not wear shorts throughout the most of the episode. In place of her shorts, she has a skirt.
* Whirllwinded Gertie Greenbean and Wilbur Van Snobbe create when they fight is a common gag in original comic strips when many entities fight. It first appeared in Jr. Detective Tubby.