Peanuts’ Football Gag Was Never Meant to Star Lucy – She Stole It From [SPOILER]

The football gag starring Charlie Brown and Lucy has undoubtedly become the most well-known joke in Peanuts history. While the punchline is always the same, this long-running gag has become iconic for comic fans because of its timeless delivery and punchline. However, something fans don’t know about this timeless joke is that Lucy was never meant to be the original star of it. She actually stole the gag from another Peanuts kid, taking away their chance to be the star of the most iconic joke in comics.

When the first football gag premiered on November 14, 1951, it served as the basis for the many comics that would come over Peanuts‘ 50 years in the newspaper. However, the girl featured in the comic isn’t Lucy, who wouldn’t make her first Peanuts appearance until 1952. Taking her place is another girl from the Peanuts gang who may seem like Lucy, but it’s actually Violet.

While Violet would only hold the football for Charlie Brown once, it’s amazing that she beat Lucy to the punch by being the very first. Although with Violet leaping out of the way of Charlie Brown’s kick due to fear, her original football gag strip has a very different tone from Lucy’s, whose actions were much more deliberate.

Why Did Lucy Take The Job Of Holding The Football From Violet?

The question remains at to why creator Charles Schulz would suddenly switch Violet out for Lucy when he created the next football gag in 1952. There was no definitive answer behind it. Instead, Charlie Brown teaches Lucy how to hold the ball for him, and the rest is history. It’s entirely possible that he never forgave Violet for jumping out of the way instead of holding the ball.

However, the more likely reason is that Lucy, at the time, was a funnier choice. Before she became a crabby character, Lucy was way more naive, making her interactions with Charlie Brown funnier because of her curiosity. Her first attempt at holding the ball for him ended up being a misunderstanding because of this. Years later, the nature of the gag would change to accommodate for her shift in character.

Whatever Happened To Violet In Peanuts?

As for Violet herself, she would eventually be pushed to the background more and more as Lucy took her place, until Schulz eventually phased Violet out of the comic altogether. This wouldn’t be the first time he would do this, though. Peppermint Patty went on to replace another girl named Patty when she was introduced, and Charles Schulz infamously “killed” the female Charlie Brown. As the Peanuts character roster continued to expand, choices had to be made to keep the cast at a reasonable size and not have too many charactres for a daily comic strip. Thus, characters like Violet and Patty would be pushed to the back to make room for characters Schulz felt had more potential.

It’s amazing to see just how different Peanuts would have been had Violet retained her role as Charlie Brown‘s football partner. Lucy constantly pranking him has become a major part of comics history, and it’s unknown just how different the gag would have been since Violet was a different character. Fans may never know, but it’s interesting to see that Lucy actually stole her spot in Peanuts history by taking the ball away from Violet in the 1950s.