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Molly Volley is at once an off-shoot of my own recent involvement in tennis and a caricature of human behavior on the court. She is one tough cookie who embodies the widely held American belief that the only thing that matters is winning.
~ Charles M. Schulz on Molly Volley[1]

Molly Volley is a minor female character in the comic strip Peanuts created by Charles M. Schulz, making her debut in the strip from May 9, 1977. She is a female tennis player and Snoopy's mixed doubles tennis partner of, replacing the garage, which, in Snoopy's imagination, had been his tennis partner. Molly often wears a two-toned tennis dress and a floppy tennis hat and is notorious for her hair-trigger temper (which contributed to her beating up her former partner, two linesmen and a ball boy, during a previous mixed-doubles tournament, as Charlie Brown noted when she was being introduced), her aversion to losing, her constant arguing with her opponents, and her constantly furrowed brows.

History[]

Molly Volley's biggest rival, who was introduced a year and two months after Molly herself was, is a little girl named "Crybaby" Boobie, known for her crying and complaining about absolutely everything. "Crybaby" is obviously a nickname, her real first name has never been revealed. She wears a polka-dotted tennis dress, and is always shown with her mouth wide open. "Crybaby" often drives Molly crazy with her constant complaining, and this often causes Molly to tell her to shut up and serve.

Molly has no complaints with Bobby Boobie, "Crybaby's" brother who obviously is more subdued and quieter than his sister. However she has just as many complaints about their stage-door mother, who sits in her car and honks her horn every time, "Crybaby" makes a good shot. This drives Molly to distraction, exasperation, and anger. She even goes so far as to threaten to go to the car and tear the wheel off the steering column, if Mrs. Boobie's infernal honking does not stop.

Another thing which causes her to lose her temper is being called "Fat Legs Volley", a major pet peeve (and a sore spot, as she has a tendency to gain weight), by an opponent named "Badcall" Benny (so named because he called everything out, and when he is disproved, gets upset about it). Momentarily stunned then thoroughly angered, Molly hits her insulting opponent in the mouth, which set off "Crybaby", wailing about her partner getting hit in the mouth.
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The first appearance of Molly Volley in the strip from May 9, 1977

Usually, at her matches, Charlie Brown and Linus van Pelt are the only ones watching her and Snoopy. When Linus suggests, during the Snoopy/Volley vs. Crybaby/Bad Call Benny match that they play a let; Crybaby, as usual, screams "Who's he? One of your relatives?!" At one point, the ball lands and stays on the edge of the net, both teams look at one another, and "Crybaby" yells, "Someone's cheating"!

Molly does manage to get on with Charlie Brown. She feels comfortable enough to confide to him that champions are not made at Wimbledon or Forest Hills as everyone seems to think, they are made in the local neighborhood tennis courts, where you call your own lines and keep your own score. She also measures all her line calls in centimeters, which annoys some of her opponents.

However, as is evident with Snoopy's substandard tennis playing, Volley usually ends up on the loser's side of the bracket, which makes her get mad at Snoopy. Eventually, she gets so fed up with him and his losing ways, that in 1985 she refuses to be his partner ever again. Molly was written out of the strip soon after that, so she made good on that threat.

Molly's last appearance was on September 16, 1990.

Quotes[]

  • [to Charlie Brown and Snoopy upon her first meeting] "Hi, I'm Molly Volley!"
  • [to "Bad-Call" Benny after she hit him for making an insult about her legs] "Nobody calls me "FAT LEGS", kid!!!"
  • [to "Crybaby" Boobie, all the time] "SHUT UP 'CRYBABY' BOOBIE AND SERVE!!!"
  • [to Snoopy, as she questioned an ace] "I think that was an ace, Partner. Or was it 'A" Ace? Do you call it an ace, or "A" Ace?"
  • [what she called Snoopy] "Partner"
  • [after Mrs. Boobie honks her car horn] "All right, 'Crybaby', tell your mother to cut it out! She sits there in her car, and every time you make a good shot, she honks the horn! The next time she does that I'm gonna tear off a wheel!"
  • [after more of Mrs. Boobie's car horn honking] "Will you cut that out?!" (Wherein 'Crybaby' howls, "You don't like my mother!")
  • [in rare praise of Snoopy for how he would ignore the complaints of "Crybaby" Boobie, by letting it go in one ear and out the other, by spreading his ears open] "That's the spirit, Partner!"
  • [to an off-stage opponent who was forever questioning her calls] "Out!" "You heard me!! I said it was out!! You want me to spell it for ya?! Every ball you guys have hit has been out! Every ball we've hit has been in!"
  • [to Charlie Brown, who praised her playing] "I'm in the zone, kid!"
  • [to Charlie Brown, whom she was telling it how is really is with tennis] "You know where champions are made? Well, they're not made at Wimbledon or Forest Hills, I'll tell you that! They're made right here on these dirty, bumpy, miserable courts where you call your own lines and keep your own score! You get what you go for, kid!"
  • [to the same off-stage opponent, who still questioned her calling an out] "Out! Waddya mean are we sure? We called it out, didn't we? You call your side, and we'll call ours! Out is out! Quit stalling! Hit the ball!"
  • [to the same opponent] "It was out! It was out by forty feet! What is it with you? Can't y'see?!" (Wherein Charlie Brown said at the end, "At least they've won all the arguments!")

See also[]

References[]

  1. "TV Guide:Feb 23-29"(1980), p226, Triangle Publications
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