Raggedy Ann
Raggedy Ann is a character created by American writer Johnny Gruelle (1880–1938) that appeared in a series of books he wrote and illustrated for young children. Raggedy Ann is a rag doll with red yarn for hair and a triangle nose. The character was created in 1915, as a doll, and was introduced to the public in the 1918 book Raggedy Ann Stories. When a doll was marketed with the book, the concept had great success. A sequel, Raggedy Andy Stories (1920), introduced the character of her brother, Raggedy Andy. Further characters such as Beloved Belindy, a black mammy doll, were featured as dolls and characters in books.[1][2][3]
"Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy" redirects here. For the 1941 film, see Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy (1941 film).Raggedy Ann
Origins[edit]
The exact details of the origins of the Raggedy Ann doll and related stories, which were created by Johnny Gruelle, are not specifically known, although numerous myths and legends about the doll's origins have been widely repeated.[4] Gruelle biographer and Raggedy Ann historian Patricia Hall notes that the dolls have "found themselves at the center of several legend cycles—groups of stories that, while containing kernels of truth, are more myth than they are history. What makes this even more intriguing is that fact that Johnny Gruelle, either unwittingly or with the great sense of humor he was known for, initiated many of these legends, a number of which are continuously repeated as the factual history of Raggedy Ann and Andy."[5]
Hall further explains that according to an oft-repeated myth, Gruelle's daughter, Marcella, brought from her grandmother's attic a faceless cloth doll on which the artist drew a face, and that Gruelle suggested that Marcella's grandmother sew a shoe button for a missing eye. Hall says the date of this supposed occurrence is given as early as 1900 and as late as 1914, with the locale variously given as suburban Indianapolis, Indiana, downtown Cleveland, Ohio, or rural Connecticut.[6] More likely, as Gruelle's wife, Myrtle, reported, it was her husband who retrieved a long-forgotten, homemade rag doll from the attic of his parents' Indianapolis home sometime around the turn of the twentieth century before the couple's daughter was born. Although the incident is unconfirmed, Myrtle Gruelle recalled, "There was something he wanted from the attic. While he was rummaging around for it, he found an old rag doll his mother had made for his sister. He said then that the doll would make a good story."[5] Myrtle Gruelle also indicated that her husband "kept [the doll] in his mind until we had Marcella. He remembered it when he saw her play [with] dolls.... He wrote the stories around some of the things she did. He used to get ideas from watching her."[5]
Additionally, Gruelle did not create Raggedy Ann as a tribute to his daughter following her death at 13 from an infected vaccination. Hall notes Gruelle's May 28, 1915, U.S. patent D47789 application for the design of the prototype that became the Raggedy Ann doll was already in progress around the time that Marcella fell ill, and the artist received final approval by the U.S. Patent office on September 7, 1915, the same month as Marcella's death.[5] Nonetheless, the anti-vaccination movement adopted Raggedy Ann as a symbol,[7] though Marcella died from an infected vaccination, not from the side effects of the vaccination itself.[5]
Naming Raggedy Ann[edit]
On June 17, 1915, shortly after submitting his patent application for the doll's design, Johnny Gruelle applied for a registered trademark for the Raggedy Ann name, which he created by combining words from two of James Whitcomb Riley poems, "The Raggedy Man" and "Little Orphant Annie". (Riley was a well-known Hoosier poet and a Gruelle family friend and neighbor from the years when they resided in Indianapolis.[6][8]) The U.S. Patent Office registered Gruelle's trademark application (107328) for the Raggedy Ann name on November 23, 1915.[9]
Legal challenges[edit]
In 1935 Gruelle brought suit against Mollye Goldman (Gruelle vs. Goldman) after her company, Molly-'Es Doll Outfitters, continued to manufacture unauthorized versions of the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. Goldman's attorney argued that Gruelle's design patent for Raggedy Ann had expired in 1929, and Gruelle did not apply for a design patent or a trademark for a doll specifically named Raggedy Andy. The U.S. Patent office registered Goldman's application for a trademark for her Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls in 1935. Her patent application U.S. patent D96382 for her Raggedy Andy design was granted on May 7, 1935. Goldman's versions of Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy closely resembled the Gruelle-designed rag dolls, which he had authorized the Exposition Doll and Toy Manufacturing Company to manufacture. Gruelle brought suit against Goldman for trademark infringement in October 1936, but the case was dismissed. He won the lawsuit on appeal in 1937. In the appellate court's option handed down on December 23, 1937, Goldman's company, Molly-'Es Doll Outfitters, could not legally manufacture dolls named Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy. Goldman was ordered to provide restitution to Gruelle.[22]
Following Gruelle's death in 1938, Myrtle (Swann) Gruelle, his widow, took further legal action to secure the rights to his works, trademarks, and patents, including those relating to Raggedy Ann and Andy. She also continued to promote Raggedy Ann and Andy, among Gruelle's other literary characters, through the Johnny Gruelle Company, which also published the author's books for several years. (P. F. Volland, his primary publisher, had discontinued its book publishing business during the Great Depression.)[23]
Legacy[edit]
By the end of the 1940s, sales of Raggedy Ann-related books exceeded 7 million copies.[23] The Indianapolis-based Bobbs-Merrill Company became the authorized publisher and licensor for Raggedy Ann-related literary works in 1962, and the Knickerbocker Toy Company began manufacturing the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls in the early 1960s.[24] Bobbs-Merrill eventually became part of Macmillan Inc. and later Simon & Schuster, while Hasbro acquired Knickerbocker Toys.[25] As such, Hasbro holds the trademark for the Raggedy Ann stuffed doll, while all other trademarks are claimed by Simon & Schuster, at present a division of Paramount Global but in the process of being sold to Penguin Random House, which would eventually collapse.[26] The original U.S. patent D47789 for the 1915 doll design, as well as the Raggedy Ann Stories (1918) and Raggedy Andy Stories (1920) books, are in the public domain, their copyrights having expired.
The Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls and their related memorabilia have become sought-after collectors' items.[27] In addition to the dolls and books, other related items continue to be produced including adaptations of the stories into comic books, audio recordings, animated films, and television and theatrical productions.[28]
Honors and tributes[edit]
The Raggedy Ann doll was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York, on March 27, 2002. Raggedy Andy was inducted 5 years later on November 8, 2007.[27][29]
Public collections[edit]
Gruelle's hometown of Arcola, Illinois, is the former home of the annual Raggedy Ann and Andy Festival and the Raggedy Ann and Andy Museum. The museum was closed and the festival discontinued in 2009. Some of the museum's contents were donated to Strong National Museum of Play.[105] Other aspects of the collection were moved to the Rockome Gardens theme park in Arcola.[106]
