Johnny Gruelle was an American artist, political cartoonist, children's book author and illustrator (and even songwriter). He is known as the creator of Raggedy Ann

Raggedy Ann

Raggedy Ann is a fictional character created by American writer Johnny Gruelle in a series of books he wrote and illustrated for young children. Raggedy Ann is a rag doll with red yarn for hair and has a triangle nose...

 and Raggedy Andy. He had such confidence in his design that often he would create the final ink work without first sketching in pencil.

History

He was born John Barton Gruelle in Arcola

Arcola, Illinois

Arcola is a city in Douglas County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,916 at the 2010 census. The city was founded in 1855, when the Illinois Central Railroad was built through the county...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. His father Richard Gruelle

Richard Gruelle

Richard Buckner Gruelle was an American Impressionist painter who was a member of the Hoosier Group of Indiana landscape painters....

 was an artist affiliated with Hoosier Group

Hoosier Group

The Hoosier Group was a group of Indiana Impressionist painters working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They are primarily known for their renditions of the Indiana landscape. Artists considered members of this group include T. C. Steele, Richard Gruelle, William Forsyth, J. Ottis...

 of Indiana artists. His first well known cartooning work was Mr. Twee Deedle which Gruelle created after he beat out 1,500 entrants to win a cartooning contest sponsored in 1911 by The New York Herald

New York Herald

The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835, and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., on May 6, 1835. By 1845 it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the UnitedStates...

. Mr. Twee Deedle was in print from 1911 to 1914.

Gruelle gave his daughter Marcella a dusty, faceless rag doll which she found in the attic. He drew a face on the doll and named her Raggedy Ann. Marcella played with the doll so much, Gruelle figured other children would like the doll too. Gruelle's Raggedy Ann doll was dated September 7, 1915. In 1918, the PF Volland Company published Raggedy Ann Stories. Gruelle then created a series of popular Raggedy Ann books and dolls. These became Volland's major source of revenue.

Marcella Gruelle, after being vaccinated at her school for smallpox

Smallpox

Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...

, was given an unidentified second shot without parental consent. She soon contracted diphtheria

Diphtheria

Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...

 and died at the age of 13. After this blow, family friends described Gruelle as "possessed, with a heavy countenance, and ... with the only thing he would bear to have near him as a reminder of Marcella a rag doll."

Gruelle lived in the Silvermine

Silvermine, Connecticut

Silvermine is a neighborhood in Fairfield County, Connecticut extending into three southwestern Connecticut municipalities -- Norwalk, New Canaan and Wilton....

 section of New Canaan, Connecticut

New Canaan, Connecticut

New Canaan is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, northeast of Stamford, on the Fivemile River. The population was 19,738 according to the 2010 census.The town is one of the most affluent communities in the United States...

, where the dolls were first mass produced, and later moved his home and company to neighboring Wilton, Connecticut

Wilton, Connecticut

Wilton is a town nestled in the Norwalk River Valley in southwestern Connecticut in the United States. It is located in Fairfield County. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 18,062. In 2007, it was voted as one of CNN Money's "Best Places to Live" in the United States.Located along...

. Gruelle spent a year in Ashland, Oregon

Ashland, Oregon

Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, near Interstate 5 and the California border, and located in the south end of the Rogue Valley. It was named after Ashland County, Ohio, point of origin of Abel Helman and other founders, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other...

 from 1923-1924. He had a long-standing heart condition, and died in Miami Beach, Florida

Miami Beach, Florida

Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...

 on January 8, 1938, of a heart attack.

As author and illustrator

• My Very Own Fairy Stories (1917)
• Raggedy Ann Stories (1918)
• Friendly Fairies (1919)
• Raggedy Andy Stories (1920)
• Orphant Annie (1921)
• The Magical Land of Noom (1922)
• Wishing Pebble (1925)
• Raggedy Ann's Magical Wishes (Book is undated)

As illustrator

• Grimm's Fairy Tales
  Grimm's Fairy Tales
  Children's and Household Tales is a collection of German origin fairy tales first published in 1812 by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the Brothers Grimm. The collection is commonly known today as Grimms' Fairy Tales .-Composition:...
  
   (1914)
• Nobody's Boy (1916)
• All About the Little Small Red Hen (1917)

External links

• The Johnny Gruelle Raggedy Ann & Andy Museum in Arcola, IL
• Raggedy History from publishers Simon & Schuster
  Simon & Schuster
  Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
  
  
• Johnny Gruelle, Inspired Illustrator by Patricia Hall
• Toonopedia entry on Mr Twee Deedle