text: According to Danny Janssen's recollections in his liner notes for the Rhino compilation CD, when he submitted his suggested studio singers, he was unaware that all three characters in the Archie comic book were caucasian. But Hanna-Barbera's art and animation elements were already in production, so there was concern about going back and changing the character—not because of race but because of time, budget, and most of all, approvals. Janssen said that he could not return to Patrice Holloway and take her out of the trio so his only alternative was to leave the project. "They were very nice about it," Janssen said, but they agreed that he could happily return for another project in the future. However, in the meantime, Hanna-Barbera, which would not have made such a change in the midst of production without consulting with Archie Comics (who controlled the characters), CBS (who approved the series), and Kellogg's (the sponsor), did indeed replace Pepper with a new character named Valerie. Pepper disappeared from the comic book, and African-American Valerie took her place in December 1969. The timeline of her debut in the comic book bears out the production of the series and the development of the merchandise design guides, which include Valerie. Hanna-Barbera initiated this in order to replace Pepper with African-American Valerie to keep Patrice Holloway. They then hired African-American Barbara Pariot as Valerie's speaking voice. Danny Janssen wasn't aware that this had happened until weeks later when he was brought back as the music producer and made the records. The Valerie character was the first black female character on a regular Saturday morning cartoon series. The Hardy Boys drummer Pete Jones had been the first black male to appear on Saturday mornings a year earlier, but Pete's voice was not spoken by an African-American. Hanna-Barbera did cast Valerie's speaking voice accordingly and Danny Janssen cast her singing voice, setting the historic precedent.