Johnny Gruelle

Johnny Gruelle (December 24, 1880 - January 9, 1938) was an American artist, political cartoonist, children's book author and illustrator, and even songwriter. He is known as the creator of Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy. According to oft-repeated myth, Gruelle's daughter Marcella brought from her grandmother's attic a faceless doll on which the artist drew a face, and that Gruelle suggested that Marcella's grandmother sew a shoe button for a missing eye. He then combined the names of two James...See more

Johnny Gruelle (December 24, 1880 - January 9, 1938) was an American artist, political cartoonist, children's book author and illustrator, and even songwriter. He is known as the creator of Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy. According to oft-repeated myth, Gruelle's daughter Marcella brought from her grandmother's attic a faceless doll on which the artist drew a face, and that Gruelle suggested that Marcella's grandmother sew a shoe button for a missing eye. He then combined the names of two James Whitcomb Riley poems, The Raggedy Man and Little Orphant Annie and suggested calling the doll Raggedy Ann. In reality, as Gruelle's wife Myrtle recalls, it was Gruelle who retrieved a long-forgotten, homemade rag doll from the attic of his parents' Indianapolis home sometime around the turn of the 20th century. As Myrtle explained, 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. The couple's daughter, Marcella, had not yet been born when Gruelle found the doll, Myrtle Gruelle continued. Johnny Gruelle 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. Additionally, Marcella died at age 13, and Gruelle did not then create the limp Raggedy Ann doll as a tribute to his lifeless daughter, as another myth states. Regardless, some journalistic sources repeat the myth. See less