A look at "Very Special Episodes" Part 2: Cherie Lifesaver - Punky Brewster

“Cherie Lifesaver” - Punky Brewster

Season 2, Episode 16

Original Air Date: 19^th of January 1986

To a contemporary viewer, the Punky Brewster Very Special Episode “Cherie Lifesaver”, which revolves around Punky Brewster’s (Soliel Moon Frye) friend Cherie Johnson (Cherie Johnson) getting stuck in a refrigerator and subsequently being revived by CPR, may sound like a bizarre and unlikely concept. However, children perishing from being trapped inside old-style fridges was not uncommon at the time of the episode’s original screening. In the US, the Consumer Product Safety Commission received 59 reports of suffocation deaths due to children, usually aged between four and seven years old, crawling into refrigerators and being unable to open the door from the inside. Although the government passed the Refrigerator Safety Act in 1956, requiring manufacturers to design fridges with a magnetic

mechanism inside the door, making it easy to open from the inside, many households, particularly in impoverished communities, still held on to their pre-magnetic latch design models. The passing of the Act was also the catalyst for mass dumping of pre-1950s fridges without removed doors for several decades after. Definitely a tempting hide-and-seek prop for bored kids roaming the neighbourhood, as is demonstrated in “Cherie Lifesaver”. In context with Cherie’s refrigerator mishap, the episode also highlights the importance of learning and knowing how to practice cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at any age. The producers took the issue seriously enough to send the young cast to CPR training. This realistic approach ensured equally convincing performances – during recording of the episode in front of a live audience, worried young fans were yelling “Oh no! Get her out!” during the fridge entrapment scene. Subsequent reports to Punky Brewster cast and crew about children administering CPR in real life emergencies after watching the show are a legacy of the chord it struck with viewers. Witnessing one of the series’ most beloved characters almost die remains one of the most lasting memories of old-school Punky fans – Cherie Johnson herself confirmed this: “I really had no idea that 34 odd years after it aired, people would still be talking about it. Like it has such a cult reputation.”

“Cherie Lifesaver” begins with Henry Warnimont (George Gaynes), Punky Brewster’s

adopted father, explaining to Punky how reliable his ancient refrigerator is: “I love this machine. It was built in the day when things were made to last.” He has no choice but to buy a new one however when it finally breaks down. While lamenting the loss of his beloved old fridge, Punky and Cherie mention to Henry and Cherie’s mother Betty (Susie Garrett) that they’re going to be learning CPR at school that day. The girls’ teacher, Mike Fulton (T.K. Carter), explains that it’s just as essential for kids to know the technique as well as adults. The students, including Punky’s other friends Allen Anderson (Casey Ellison) and Margaux Kramer (Ami Foster) go through the drill, practicing resuscitation on dummies. Allen doesn’ttake any of it seriously as he doesn’t think he’ll never need to practice CPR on anyone (“I just figured this is stuff for grown-ups”), so spends the time goofing around and marking smart comments until Mr. Fulton sends him to the principal’s office. Meanwhile Henry purchases a new refrigerator and temporarily leaves the old one in the yard while he waits for the Salvation Army to collect it. Punky invites Cherie, Allen and Margeux to her house after school and they decide to play hide and seek outside. Cherie sees the fridge as an ideal hiding spot, and stows herself in it.  Unfortunately she is unaware that the door cannot be opened from the inside. Henry warns the kids not to play near the refrigerator and that he is going to remove its door after it stops snowing – but it’s too late. Punky, Allen and Margeux go indoors with Henry to take cover from the snow, mistakenly thinking that Cherie is in the apartment. It’s only after the yard is empty when Cherie realises she can’t get out – she screams for help but can’t be heard. The others eventually realise she is missing and search for her, before Henry thinks to look in the old fridge. To his shock, Cherie is unconscious. Knowing the kids have been learning CPR in school, Henry tells Allen, who is nearby, to help Cherie. Allen has no idea what to do as he didn’t pay attention, so he rushes off to dial 911. On the way he lets Punky and Margaux know what’s happened.  Recalling their CPR lessons, the girls manage to stay calm and fortunately are able to successfully revive Cherie. Allen feels terrible and racked with guilt at being unable to help his friend. Henry consoles the distraught Allen by saying that he didn’t know CPR either, and that he should have removed the refrigerator door straight away. The episode concludes on a light note when Betty asks her daughter how she’s feeling, and Cherie cheerfully replies “Hungry”.

Although writer Stephanie Mathison is credited for “Cherie Lifesaver”, the genesis of the episode was thanks to then seven year old Jeremy Reams. A contest was held by the producers of Punky Brewster where children could send in their story ideas, and the best one would be filmed. Reams’ premise, involving the kids learning CPR in school, then finding themselves in a situation where they needed to use it, was chosen and scribed by Mathison. She and the show’s creators decided on the idea of the refrigerator after reading about the amount of fatalities caused by abandoned old models which could be only opened from an outside latch, often occurring during games of hide and seek. According to Joyce Fowler of the Fort Scott Tribune: “...the appliance or chest provided a deceptively good place to hide. When the door slammed shut, the tight fitting gasket on most of the appliances cut off air to the child. This, along with the insulated construction of the appliance, also prevented the child’s screams from being heard.”  Cherie Johnson praised Punky Brewster’s producers for aiming for both the show’s fans and cast alike to learn some valuable lessons about life, rather than the episodes just being throwaway entertainment. “The producers were so right on target, that not only did we do an episode all about the importance of CPR, but we kids actually took lessons on it and learned how to do it! So we were all like CPR experts by the end of the week. I think it’s so amazing that the producers cared that much and got us on board to actually know the practice rather than just do this Very Special Episode where it could have just been treated as strictly entertainment. Nothing like this happens now, producers don’t care about that kind of thing. They’d just wanna do their show and be done with it. The producers on Punky Brewster felt it was their duty to instil some life lessons not only for the audience, but for the cast of the show, which I think is amazing. There was a sense of responsibility.”

“Cherie Lifesaver” drives home the point of CPR being an invaluable skill set for all ages in the scene where Allen is sobbing and repeatedly apologising for not being to help Cherie because he didn’t listen when Mike Fulton was teaching it. He’s extremely shaken up knowing that his foolishness rendered him useless in this critical situation. In addition, the importance of the issue was not trivialised by having Mr. Fulton laugh at Allen’s annoying goofing off or playing along with his banter – the exasperated teacher banishes Allen to the principal’s office. Henry’s qualities as a soft-hearted, protective and paternal guardian, not just to Punky but also to her friends, are touching shown when he expresses his guilt over not detaching the refrigerator door immediately after moving it to the yard. Although not as obvious a statement, there is also a message conveyed in “Cherie Lifesaver” in that safety should always take precedence over sentimentality. For example, someone hanging on to their unroadworthy, highly unsafe rustbucket of a car solely because they are attached to it. Henry was not holding onto his failing pre-Act fridge out of financial desperation, he could have updated it many years previously, but clung to it for sentimental reasons, despite having to clear out ice from the freezer every few days.

As with “Just Say No”, Cherie Johnson has fond memories of filming “Cherie Lifesaver”. Regarding the filming of the refrigerator entrapment scene, she recalled “Physically doing the stunt was awesome! The first time I got into the refrigerator, the back was not off. There were two producers standing behind the fridge, the director and a stage manager and they bought me towards the fridge all together because they didn’t want me to be afraid. Now I was a tomboy, so I was like “Hey! I can’t wait to do this!” I mean this was one of my first ever stunts. I was excited. They told me if I got nervous they would open up the fridge, so we did it and I was fine, and when I came back to do another run through, they had cut a hole in the back. The stage manager said that he wasn’t comfortable with me being inside a sealed fridge, he was just not happy with me getting in there without a hole being cut out. So, while I was doing the scene, the stage manager kept asking me “Are you OK? Are you OK?” and I was like “I’m fine!” Now come tape night, the whole back of the refrigerator had been taken off, I mean this stage manager was just so afraid of me being in that thing! These adults that worked on the show really cared about us as kids.  While the audience was there, the stage manager was still asking if I was OK!” Johnson also credits the episode for forever ingraining CPR in her mind: “We learned so much from working on Punky Brewster. I had a baby recently and I got put on bed rest and I thought, “I should take up child CPR classes”, then I started laughing, “I know CPR from Punky Brewster!” But then I thought that I should get recertified. And my recertification was so easy because I knew it from doing the show those many years ago. It was like riding a bike, you never forget – thanks to Punky Brewster it was easy to pass my test!”

Both Punky Brewster’s creators and actors were moved upon hearing feedback of children being inspired to learn CPR, and in a few instances, actually utilising it. Johnson recalls: “There was a story where a little girl was trapped inside a fridge and her brother saved her by using CPR after he saw the episode, so that was amazing.” In a 2016 Mental Floss interview producer Rick Hawkins recalled: “That show aired and the best reward I ever got was a phone call we got the next Monday afternoon. A woman from the Midwest called to say her husband worked for the power company, had been electrocuted on the line, and had fallen to the ground just as some kids were getting off the bus. They had seen the episode, ran over, gave him CPR, and saved his life.”

Thankfully since the days of “Cherie Lifesaver”, refrigerator-related deaths are now

almost non-existent (although as recently as 2013, three children in South Africa perished after becoming stuck in an abandoned fridge when playing near their home). But for many 1980s kids who grew up watching Punky Brewster, hearing little Cherie Johnson’s unheard cries for help and weeping during her refrigerator ordeal was more than enough to scare them from venturing into dumped whitegoods for life. The episode’s effect was such that some young fans were even inspired by Punky and her friends to learn CPR themselves. I’ll leave the last word to the episode’s namesake, Cherie Johnson: “…people are still tweeting me about [“Cherie Lifesaver”] all the time [saying] “If Punky Brewster taught me nothing else, it kept me out of a fridge.”