I KNOW SHE'S NOT REAL BUT........

 

The 1970's was an interesting decade for cartoons. It marked the beginning of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids and  marked the debut of the character Valerie Brown  from Josie and the Pussycats. The Valerie character was the first African-American female character on a regular Saturday morning cartoon series. The Hardy Boys drummer Pete Jones had been the first African-American male to appear on Saturday mornings a year earlier, in 1969.







Josie and the Pussycats was a cartoon about a pop music group. While they were doing their tours they always found themselves in the middle of some type of strange mystery. Kind of like Scooby Doo which was also produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions.
  Patrice Yvonne Holloway

The cartoon ran from 1970 to 1972. Valerie's singing voice was provided by Patrice Holloway, sister of singer Brenda Holloway, and her speaking voice was done by Barbara Pariot shown in the picture below. Reruns of the cartoon started in 1975 and continued through the 1980's and the 1990's. Now the cartoon can be found on DVD so Valerie will be immortal ! There's a lot of things we now take for granted but watching Valerie as a small kid was a very unique experience !

LISA