Villainous bookstore owner Bernice Binder
Bernice Binder (B.J. Ward) is the main villainess from "The Ghost of Mrs. Shusham," the second segment from the final episode of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (airdate July 20, 1991). She is the owner of Binder's Books, a used bookstore.
Bernice had been looking to acquire an old library book titled, Pizza Parrot and the Butterbean Bunnies, which was checked out of the old Coolsville Library a long time ago by Shaggy. The book became long overdue after Scooby accidentally buried it along with his collection of bones, and as time passed, the book became rare and valuable. Having learned of the book's value, Bernice devised a villainous plan to acquire the book from Shaggy.
Early in the segment, the evil Bernice appeared at Shaggy and Scooby's treehouse dressed as the ghost of Mrs. Shusham, the strict librarian of the old Coolsville Library (who disappeared after the library was closed down), and demanded that Shaggy return the book by midnight. The gang visited Binder's Books after Velma pinpoints that a book held by the ghost was from the bookstore, and it was there that Bernice claimed to have been visited by Mrs. Shusham. After finding the book in the backyard, the gang went to the old library to return it, only to encounter the ghostly villainess once again. Shaggy and Scooby defeated the ghost when they knocked over a collection of books from a shelf and caused them to fall all over her, and it was at that moment that Bernice was unmasked and revealed as the ghost.
As to what led the gang to realize Bernice was the culprit, Shaggy stated that when Scooby fainted at the bookstore, Bernice fanned him with his napkin from the treehouse. Shaggy had also found a bookmark from the store inside a rare book price guide, which sealed the reveal. After Bernice's motive was revealed, the villainess suffered her last bit of humilation after her claim that she could have gotten away with it--when a book titled, Crime and Punishment, fell on top of her. Bernice was later arrested (off-screen).
Trivia[]
- Bernice Binder was the last one-shot villainess from A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.
- Ironically, B.J. Ward later voiced Velma Dinkley in four Scooby-Doo movies released between 1998 and 2001.
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