9/12/2023 0 Comments Raggedy andy hatThe dialect is 19th century rural Hoosier). But no, there was a real model for Annie, Mary Alice "Allie" Smith, an actual white orphan who lived with the Riley's when the poet was growing up. (Reading the original 1885 poem made me also wonder whether Annie was originally black, which would nudge Raggedy Ann into the realm of cultural expropriation, like Elvis stealing the blues. Reading over tales of the Raggedy story origin, I start to suspect whether Gruelle's daughter ever played with the old doll at all, or whether it was all a commercial sham. Maybe that's my problem with Raggedy Ann and Andy-they have the aura of something borrowed, something artificial. It's like seeing the sun flash off water and suddenly remembering rafting down the River with Jim 'n Huck. It's a shocking memory to discover, this James Whitcomb Riley moment in early 1960s suburban Ohio. I had an odd, deja vu moment when I re-read "Little Orphan Annie." It begins:Īt which point I almost tensed up, because here my mother would tickle us and we would writhe with glee. That began in 1924, speaking of borrowing. Gruelle was a James Whitcomb Riley fan-everybody was, at the time-and the concept was something of a mash-up of his poems "The Raggedy Man" and "Little Orphan Annie." (The anti-vax movement sometimes uses Raggedy Ann as a symbol, another reason not to like the character). to honor Marcella after she died of an infected vaccination at 13. He told his daughter stories about the doll, supposedly, and set them down in a book to honor the girl. So where did this red, white and blue abomination come from? Raggedy Ann came first-star of a series of books, the outgrowth of an old doll decorated for his daughter by cartoonist Johnny Gruelle, a political cartoonist in downstate Arcola, Illinois. It was like a tattoo before tattoos were popular. It's all very jarring, as was the "I love you" written on a heart on his chest-adults consider it sentimental, but I seem to recall, as a child, viewing it as somehow risque, if not shameful, maybe because the doll had to be naked to see it. Plus he seems to be a sailor-he's got a sailor's hat, perched atop his head. Who doesn't hate clowns? With the triangular nose adding a jack-o-lantern effect, and while people might be okay with jack-o-lanterns, at Halloween, no child is so frightened as to want to cuddle up with one. So what's wrong with Raggedy Andy? Very clownlike, and clowns are out-of-fashion. You'd have to really hate a child to give him that. I immediately found the woebegone creature at right for $14.99 on the Target web site. While the Raggedy siblings, well, honestly, their continuing existence would have never crossed my mind if I hadn't come across this pair of Andys-Andi?-at the cute little resale shop that the Northbrook Historical Society runs in its basement. Okay, not "never." Let's say they've diminished, greatly. It was second only to the Teddy Bear in popularity. Very big in the day-I had one, most kids did. Raggedy Ann, for instance, and her brother, Raggedy Andy. I counted a dozen different types of butter churns for sale on Amazon. Prell Shampoo? Bed, Bath & Beyond has got it for $3.49. Everything that has ever been still is, all that could be bought is available now. A certain sense of permanence has crept into popular culture.
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