Cherridile (Johnsonverse)

Cherridile is an anthropomorphic 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.

The 1943 comic strip story "Visiting Cherridile's Family" introduces her mother Grapiedile, her father Carrotdile, and her young nieces Pie, Blossom, and Yogurt. Like Chocodile, Cherridile debuted in Perkins' 1936 Ludicrous Limericks cartoon "The Brown Crocodile", released in January 1937, 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 in 1936, he decided to give the character a love interest, though he made sure to not have the love interest be a damsel in distress outside of parodic instances, as Perkins openly supported women's rights and disliked the concept of a stereotypical damsel in distress. 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, as Perkins believed that chocolate and cherries went "nicely together", and gave the character a red color palette to match Chocodile's brown colors, along with making Cherridile taller than Chocodile.

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, seeking to distance the character from the many Minnie clones that dominated animation at the time. After listening to the radio one night, Perkins immediately cast a then-18-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 over eighty years, from 1936 until her 2017 death. Foray went on to become the longest-serving voice actress for the same character in June 1989, after the death of Mel Blanc the previous month. In later years, Foray's voice had to be pitched 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 to flesh out the character. The resulting short, "The Red Crocodile", is considered one of the greatest animated shorts of all time. Released in June 1937, it focused on Cherridile outwitting a mad scientist named Dr. 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 and luring 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. Dr. Ricardo also became one of the series' most iconic villains, second only to Chocodile's nemesis Solomon.

Introduction of Cherridile's bakery
Throughout the 1940s, Cherridile was

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 2008.

Television
In 1955, like the 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 received praise from critics, fans, animation buffs and historians for being a

"Wait until you see my bad side."
The catchphrase, "Wait until you see my bad side", was first spoken in "The Red Crocodile", when Cherridile warns Dr. Ricardo