eventually moved his young family to Indianapolis. Johnny Gruelle was born in Arcola, Illinois in 1880, the son of landscape and portrait artist Richard (R.B.) Gruelle. And, in the case of the Raggedys, legends have the singular ability to showcase the true personalities of these fanciful dolls, as well as lending insight into the persona of their creator, Johnny Gruelle. Legends have the power of revealing ethics and values preferences and motives emotions and reactions. While legends can frustrate the conscientious historian in search of hard, provable facts and figures, they can tell us different things than facts, and they possess powers that historical data do not. Because the Raggedys sprang directly from the rich and embellished world of storytelling - a world of frolicking fairies come-alive dolls and talking forest critters - it makes great sense to not discount legends simply because they are folklore, and therefore, "unprovable." In the case of Raggedy Ann and Andy, the legends are as important as factual history in telling their story. This especially applies to the Raggedy legends. One of the distinguishing features of a legend is that, unlike an out-and-out fairy tale, it is factual-sounding enough to be believable. 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. Because Gruelle was a natural born storyteller, it followed that his dolls would star in whimsical, fanciful tales, based on fantasy and make believe.īecause of this, Johnny Gruelle's little rag dolls have also 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. They were literary characters as well, possessing attributes and outlooks reflecting trustworthiness, kindness, and spunk. At the hand of their creator, cartoonist-illustrator-author Johnny Gruelle, the Raggedys weren't ever simply dolls.
Raggedy Ann, and her equally spirited rag brother, Andy are the world's best-known and most adored rag dolls.
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