Lot 27: Johnny Gruelle (American, 1880-1938) "My Raggedy Ann,"

"My Raggedy Ann," tailpiece for Raggedy Ann's Sunny Songs, music by Will Woodin (New York: Miller Music Inc., 1930).
Signed lower left.
Watercolor.
9.7 x 32.8cm (3 13/16 x 12 15/16in).

Johnny Gruelle is best known as the creator of the famous rag dolls Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy, but he was also a gifted illustrator. Born in Indianapolis, he was a prolific contributor to newspapers, magazines, comic strips and children's books. William Hartman Woodin, the composer of Sunny Songs, was a prominent American businessman who served as Secretary of the Treasury under Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Gruelle transposed his name for another of his dolls, Wooden Willie, who appeared in his own picture book in 1927.