Clara

Clara as she appeared in Snoopy Come Home.

Clara is a minor female character in the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. Clara made her first appearance along with Sophie and Shirley in 1968 in a series of strips set at summer camp. Peppermint Patty is her tent monitor. She appears in the movie, Snoopy, Come Home, in which she is voiced by Linda Ercoli and sings the song "Fundamental Friend Dependability". She is the minor antagonist of this film.

Clara versus Marcie

Due to the fact that Clara and Marcie look very similar, they both have short dark hair and glasses, many readers think Clara and Marcie are the same person.

The fact that they are not is possible due to the fact that Clara is much shorter and younger than Marcie is, and unlike Marcie, her eyes are shown through her glasses. Furthermore, they have different names, so they are not very likely to be the same girl.

Clara, on the left, as she appeared in the Peanuts comic strip in 1968.

Clara in the strip from July 18, 1987.

Many Peanuts readers, however, believe that they are the same person. Age does not matter much in the world of Peanuts, in Schulz's words, "characters 'rapidly age' all the time, so as to better fit in with the other kids". The fact that they have different names does not matter much either, Schulz would be free to change a character's name if he wanted to. There are no two other characters who look so similar in the strip, with the exception of Linus and Rerun, who are brothers. So, it is possible that Clara and Marcie are the same character.

There is evidence from within the Peanuts comic strip that Marcie and Clara are different characters In a series of strips that was first published in July 1987, Peppermint Patty becomes a tent monitor again. This time Marcie, Sophie, Shirley, and Clara appear again. This appears to be proof that Clara and Marcie are not the same person, because the two characters appear at the same time.

However, those who believe Marcie and Clara to be the same character can have a disclaim on that. Apart from her hair color, the 1987 Clara looks nothing like the Clara from 1968. She does not wear glasses, has a bow in her hair, and is even younger than the previous Clara. Although characters do rapidly age often in Peanuts there is no other Peanuts character who has ever become younger, It is, therefore, probable that the 1987 Clara is a different girl who just has the same name.

Schulz never revealed whether or not Clara and Marcie were intended to be the same character.

Role in Snoopy, Come Home

Clara appears in Snoopy, Come Home as an antagonist and is the only character to actually (verbally) sing any of the songs in the movie, namely "Fundamental Friend Dependability".

Clara is first seen digging in the yard when Snoopy meets her. She then squeezes him by the neck and takes him into her house, asking her mother's permission to keep him, thinking Snoopy is a stray. With her mother's permission to keep him, Clara ties him to a fence with a rope. Clara then catches Woodstock, thinking he is lost and asks for permission to keep him too. She then calls Snoopy (whom she thinks of as a "sheepdog") "Rex", takes him in for a bath, and then cross-dresses him for a tea party. When she pours too much tea on his cup, some of it spills on the tea table and on Snoopy's dress. She blames him for making his dress dirty (despite it being her fault and not Snoopy's) and spanks him. She yells at him for kicking on the door and stops him from making any phone calls. She scolds him for raising commotion and takes him to the vet, only for him to elude her while she gets attacked by other dogs. As Snoopy tries to rescue Woodstock, Clara comes home and chases him around the house with the leash. At one point, she bumps her head on the bedroom dresser when the two animals hide inside one of its drawers. They encounter each other in the bathroom, and as she chases after them, Snoopy pulls the rug cloth on the piano with a fishbowl on it. The fishbowl lands over her head, covering it up, while the fish continue to swim inside it, allowing Snoopy and Woodstock to escape her home.

Strip from November 12, 1970.

An unnamed girl who is very similar to Clara from the movie is encountered by Snoopy in the strip from November 12, 1970. While traveling south for the winter with Woodstock, Snoopy stops to ask directions from a girl who is playing with a shovel and pail. The girl takes Snoopy for a stray and decides to keep him. In the following day's strip, Snoopy is seen tied up with a thick rope in the girl's yard. The beagle is rescued by Charlie Brown, who hears his dog's howl of despair, in the strip from November 17, 1970.

External links

• "Marcie or Clara? The Great Debate" on FiveCentsPlease.org.
• Clara on Villains Wiki.