The Raggedy series, while never enjoying great critical acclaim, was very appealing to its young audience. The dolls, which included an entire cast of other characters-the Scotsman Uncle Clem, Beloved Belindy, Percy the Policeman-were kept at the forefront of consumer consciousness by the large number of books written by their prolific author (a sequel every year and sometimes two). Several factors account for Raggedy Ann's great popularity. Raggedy Andy never acquired the central status of his sister, but remained a secondary character.

In the time-honored tradition of little brothers, Raggedy Andy came along two years later. In any event, the dolls and stories were simultaneously produced and were instantly successful. Volland Company of Chicago, with whom he had the book contract. The family made a dozen prototype dolls, although accounts differ as to whether the impetus for Raggedy Ann's manufacture came from Gruelle or the P.F. In 1915, Gruelle applied for a patent on Raggedy Ann. Raggedy Ann's initial adventures were stories Johnny told to amuse and divert his bedridden daughter. Resurrected from the attic, and with a new painted face and a new name, this first Raggedy Ann was Marcella's companion through an illness that ended in her death in 1916. The Gruelles had a daughter, Marcella, who was devoted to an old rag doll that had belonged to Johnny's mother. Gruelle wrote and illustrated children's stories for popular magazines as well, and in 1914 he produced his first book commission, an illustrated Grimm's fairy tales.

His full-color cartoon was syndicated as a full-page feature. He won first prize in 1910 in a comic drawing contest sponsored by the New York Herald with the adventures of an elf named Mr. He first worked as a newspaper cartoonist for several papers, illustrating stories as well as drawing cartoons.

John Barton ('Johnny') Gruelle (1880-1938), the son of a painter, grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. Gruelle produced a series of 40 books, as well as using Raggedy Ann in cartoons, but the dolls themselves remain the most popular collectibles. Raggedy Ann's image, with her black shoe-button eyes, red yarn hair, her white pinafore, and scalloped pantaloons over red-and-white striped legs remained surprisingly intact over the years, and was featured on a vast array of children's toys, clothing, furnishings, and other objects. Raggedy Andy, the little rag-brother of Raggedy Ann, was introduced in 1920 with The Raggedy Andy Stories. She was first a real rag doll for a real little girl, then was mass-produced to accompany the nearly 1,000 stories written by Gruelle before his death in 1938. Raggedy Ann, the central character in a series of children's books about dolls that come alive when their people are away, made her official debut in 1918 with the Raggedy Ann Stories by author and illustrator Johnny Gruelle.

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