Peanuts Tried a Cat Sidekick for Snoopy and It Lasted Six Months

Screen Rant reports that in 1961, Peanuts creator Charles Schulz tried giving Snoopy a cat counterpart. The cat was named Faron, introduced on May 23 as Frieda's pet. He was meant to be a foil for Snoopy, but the whole thing fizzled in about six months.

Faron's problem was fundamental: Snoopy doesn't talk, he only thinks. Schulz himself explained in the 1975 book Peanuts Jubilee that having a cat and dog think at each other felt totally unreasonable. So Faron mostly just sat there, meowing, while Snoopy either froze or looked scared. Not exactly the dynamic that made the beagle a star.

Schulz also admitted he couldn't draw cats well, which might explain why Faron was treated more like a prop than a character. Frieda would hand him off to other kids to hold while she ran errands. Nobody wanted to be stuck with him. The cat's last strip ran Nov. 20, 1961, with only one Sunday strip to his name.

Faron isn't alone in the Peanuts graveyard of forgotten characters. Screen Rant notes Shermy was phased out, Pig-Pen rarely got memorable moments, and Charlotte Braun was so disliked her removal is still discussed. Schulz made the right call dropping Faron. The neighbor's cat later appeared offscreen, which worked fine.

For a better cat-dog pair, Screen Rant points to Patrick McDonnell's Mutts, where Mooch and Earl click without compromising either character. Peanuts had plenty of magic, but Faron wasn't part of it.

• Charles M. Schulz
• comic strips
• Faron
• Peanuts
• Screen Rant
• Snoopy