Johnny Gruelle
Johnny Gruelle was an American illustrator and author, best known for creating the beloved children's character Raggedy Ann. Born on December 24, 1880, in Arcola, Illinois, and later moving to Indianapolis, Gruelle developed an early interest in art influenced by his father, an Impressionist artist. His career began in illustration, where he worked for various publications, eventually moving to New York City to join The Herald, where he achieved success with his comic strip "Mr. Twee Deedle."
Gruelle's creativity flourished as he entertained his ill daughter, Marcella, by telling stories about a faceless rag doll. This inspiration led him to design Raggedy Ann, a character that would become central to his literary contributions. Following the tragic loss of his daughter in 1915, Gruelle published the first Raggedy Ann Stories in 1918, which quickly became a children's classic. His work continued with the introduction of Raggedy Andy in 1920, and he authored and illustrated eighteen Raggedy Ann books throughout his career. Gruelle passed away in January 1938, leaving behind a legacy that would continue through his family and the enduring appeal of his characters.
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Subject Terms
Johnny Gruelle
Author
- Born: December 24, 1880
- Birthplace: Arcola, Illinois
- Died: January 9, 1938
- Place of death: Miami, Florida
Biography
John Barton Gruelle was born in Arcola, Illinois, on Christmas eve of 1880; the family moved to Indianapolis two years later. His father, Richard Buckner Gruelle, was one of a group of Illinois artists who were bringing the Impressionist movement to America. When young Gruelle showed an early aptitude for painting, his father naturally hoped his son would become a landscape and portrait painter. However, Gruelle was more interested in caricature and cartooning.
Gruelle seemed destined for the burgeoning commercial art market in the newspapers and magazines of the 1890’s. The rotogravure process made it possible to reproduce high-quality full-color images, and every metropolitan daily newspaper was looking for good artists, despite the advent of newspaper photography. Gruelle’s first job as an illustrator was with an Indianapolis tabloid called The People in 1901, drawing portraits. In March of the same year he married Myrtle Swann.
The following year he moved to the city’s prestige daily, the Sun, and also did some freelance engraving work. His first child, Marcella Delight Gruelle, was born on August 18, 1902. Entertaining his daughter, especially when an averse reaction to the smallpox vaccine confined her to bed, diverted Gruelle’s talents as an illustrator and a storyteller, and he was soon devoting more and more of his cartooning to an audience of children.
In 1905, Gruelle joined World Color Press of St. Louis, which produced most of the Sunday comic pages for newspapers throughout the Northeast and Midwest. Here Gruelle learned how to produce the best results with the four-color separation process used on Sunday comics and later on comic books. His success with color cartooning brought him to the largest media market in the world, New York, in 1911, where Gruelle joined the staff at The Herald. It was in New York that Gruelle produced his first big hit for the comic pages, “Mr. Twee Deedle,” which led to lucrative illustration assignments in the prestige magazines of the day. In 1912 a son, Worth Gruelle, was born.
As Gruelle cared for his invalid daughter, he made up stories about her favorite faceless rag doll, for whom he drew a now-famous face, creating Raggedy Ann. Devastated by his daughter’s death in November, 1915, Gruelle sought solace in writing down and illustrating the stories about Raggedy Ann which had amused his daughter. In 1918 a Chicago company published them as Raggedy Ann Stories with Gruelle’s color illustrations. The immediate success of the book, which became an instant children’s classic, led to a sequel, Raggedy Andy Stories, in 1920, for which Gruelle produced a second character, Raggedy Ann’s brother, Andy. Production of both dolls, a continuing series of Gruelle stories and illustrations, and a Sunday comic strip boosted one another’s sales, and Gruelle’s fortune was secure throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s. Gruelle died in January, 1938, having produced eighteen books of Raggedy Ann’s adventures. His son Worth finished several other Johnny Gruelle volumes after his father’s death.