From here on out I will refer to her as "strawb" for brevity.
Strawb originally debuted as a greeting card character. Initially she was known as "Strawberry Girl" or "Girl with a daisy." She was drawn in 1973 by artist Barbi Sargent while working freelance for American Greetings.
After popularity of the strawberry girl, Sargent was asked to create four new card designs leaning into the berry themes of the strawberry girl. below is one of those 4 designs
In 1978 and 1979 the art was reworked and restyled by other staff artists working with the American Greeting Card Company. Her initial name was "Strawberry Patches" but was later changed to Strawberry Shortcake.
these designs still very closely resembled the artwork of Barbi Sargent
images source
vintageshortcakeephemeraThe main artist credited for this redesign is Muriel Fahrion. Fahrion went on to create 32 additional characters of the strawberry shortcake world. Fahrion also designed the first Strawb doll. Which was a ragdoll made to resemble the artwork.
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vintage shortcake ephemeraWe first saw Strawb enter our 3 dimensional world in 1979, when we were introduced to her and three others, all residing in the mystical Strawberryland. These first edition dolls look very similar to the second doll release in 1980, but these dolls have flat hands.
a fifth doll for this series was released later the same year.
In 1980 her first special "The World of Strawberry Shortcake" was produced but due to being a transparent advertisement it was rejected by the main 3 networks. Kenner instead released it on independent networks. It aired on March 28, 1980.
A strawberry shortcake feature length special was released each year until 1986.
Remember Barbi Sargent the original artist of strawberry girl? well shes back. and shes not happy at how profitable the so called "rework" has been while looking very close to her original artwork. She took American greetings to court in 1982.
here is a Link to a very in depth article about the lawsuit
American Greetings argued that Strawb "evolved" from Sargents designs and that she was an employee of theirs at the time. Since she was only Freelance at the time, and since she had evidence of how similar her art was to the final design, she won the lawsuit.
there was also a follow up doll line released this year. It included 11 dolls.
Strawberry Shortcake; pet cat Custard Lime Chiffon; pet parrot Parfait Parrot Lemon Meringue; pet frog Frappe Raspberry Tart; pet monkey Rhubarb Orange Blossom; pet butterfly Marmalade Angel Cake; pet squirrel souffle
In 1983, Sargent was granted the copywrites for Strawberry Shortcake, but later returned them to American Greeting so they could continue creating Strawb ip.
In 1983, Strawb bought her first home, a modest shortcake as seen in the television special.
She must have made a pretty penny from her starring role, because that same year she also purchased a second home. A large two story country house for her and all her friends to escape to on the weekends.
In 1983 SSC customized her own bike with her face and released it to the masses. They ate it up and it will go down in history as one of the best selling children's character bikes of all time.
American Greetings releases christmas ornaments. They are included in the Clara Johnson Scroggins collection. This first ornament is currently listed for $600 on etsy.
Fleeing the country SSC? Or did we just discover your secret Brazilian sister? Look at the photos and you decide.
In 1991, the license for strawberry shortcake dolls was sold to Toy Headquarters or THQ. THQ released 4 versions of Strawb as well as 5 other characters. The playsets came with a doll with an outfit, a stand with artwork, and a second doll made from paper with a second outfit. This line lasted only 1 year.
