Cherridile (Johnsonverse)

Cherridile is an anthromorphic cartoon character created by Randy Perkins for the Ludicrous Limericks line of cartoon shorts. In the first Chocodile comic strip story, "Chocolate and Cherries", her full name is given as Cherrimena Frances Dile, although this is seldom used.

The 1943 comic strip story "Visiting Cherridile's Family" introduces her mother Grapiedile, her father Carrotdile, and her nieces Pie, Blossom, and Yogurt. Like Chocodile, Cheridile debuted in Perkins' 1937 Ludicrous Limericks cartoon "The Brown Crocodile", in which she helped Chocodile outwit Solomon by using various tricks. She is depicted as Chocodile's love interest in many appearances.

Origins of the character
After Perkins designed Chocodile, he decided to give him a love interest. He sketched several designs before coming up with a crocodile wearing a dress. He came up with the name "Cherridile" after hosting a house party in which one of the foods served was chocolate-covered cherries. He also gave the character a red color palette to match Chocodile's brown colors.

For the first Chocodile cartoon, "The Brown Crocodile", Perkins wanted a voice actress who could give the character a "rich, sultry" voice instead of a high-pitched, Minnie Mouse-esque voice. After listening to the radio one night, Perkins immediately cast a 19-year-old voice actress by the name of June Foray. Foray, then an unknown, would go on to voice the character over a span of 80 years, from 1937 until her 2017 death. In June 1989, Foray became the longest-serving voice actress for the same character after surpassing Mel Blanc, who voiced Chocodile from "The Brown Crocodile" to his death in May of that year. In later years, Foray's voice had to be sped up slightly to keep the character's youthful voice.

"The Red Crocodile"
After the success of "The Brown Crocodile", Perkins decided to direct a follow-up short focusing on Cherridile. The resulting short, "The Red Crocodile", is considered one of the greatest animated shorts of all time. It focused on Cherridile outwitting a mad scientist named Ricardo who planned to capture her and use her for experiments by outwitting him, though it involves more elaborate planning than Chocodile's outings. It also introduced Cherridile's penchant for seducing her targets, a trait that would become iconic. The success of the short led to Cherridile becoming an integral character in the Ludicrous Limericks series. Ricardo also became one of the series' most iconic villains, second only to Chocodile's nemesis Solomon.

Contemporary appearances
After Foray's death in 2017, Candi Milo was cast to replace her. Milo had voiced in Ludicrous Limericks shorts since 1992, and had understudied under Foray since 2015.

Television
In 1955, like other Ludicrous Limericks characters, Cherridile made her television debut with the anthology series Chocodile and Friends. Serving as Chocodile's co-host,

Reception
Since her debut, Cherridile has received praise from critics, fans, animation buffs and historians for being a