Where is She Now?

This is from the cover of a sweet card I received from a girlfriend in the 1970s, postmarked Sausalito. Where is she now, I wonder . . .

Johnny Gruelle — circa 1915

All Shapes and Sizes

Faeries come in all shapes and sizes . . .

from Johnny Gruelle's My Very Own Fairy Stories, 1917

Always a Pleasure

It's always a pleasure to see work by Johnny Gruelle, he of Raggedy Ann and Andy fame — wonderful fairy tale author and illustrator of the early 20th century, he had a nice range of style.

Johnny Gruelle — illustration from Grimm's Fairy Tales — 1918

Cats, Dogs, Goldfish & Other Dingbats

This is one of those amazing cartoon birds-eye views I was talking about in the last post. What a great display of cartooning, with a penman's salute to Krazy Kat's George Herriman.

Johnny Gruelle — Yahoo Center — Life Magazine — 1927

Stand-Alone Beauty

Time to isolate another panel from the comics to celebrate its stand-alone beauty. This panel from the newspaper comics of 1912 looks more like an elegant kid's book illustration.

Johnny Gruelle — Mr. TweeDeedle — panel — 1912

Use ter Be

Oh yes kids, you hear it all the time, but it's true—the newspaper comics were amazing in days of old. Imagine magic like this Johnny Gruelle strip at the huge full-size that comics use ter be.

Johnny Gruelle — Mr. TweeDeedle — ca 1915

FYI, Gruelle is the guy who created the Raggedy Ann and Andy story books.

The Time Before Christmas

This is the time before Christmas that is so fun to be out among people. Under the right conditions, the air is filled with love and harmony, and, if you're lucky, a little bit of snow.

Above, one of Johnny Gruelle's famous 'bird's eye views'

Above, a similar view from Henry Soulen for Saturday Evening Post

We Still Believe

Johnny Gruelle, best known as the creator and delineator of Raggedy Ann and Andy, had several variations of styles, customized to the project at hand. Below is one of his personal Christmas cards showing Santa in one style (drawn shortly before his death), and below that another version of the old guy from the book Marcella: A Raggedy Ann Story. The creation of the first Raggedy Ann doll was inspired by Gruelle's daughter Marcella, who sadly died at the age of 13.

Messengers of Santa Claus

'Fairy men, airy men, tiny men and fleet . . .'

In honor of the huge original size of this Johnny Gruelle piece, I've scanned and uploaded it at as a pretty large file. Download it and look at it full size to peruse the full detail of this beautiful art. It ran in the New York Herald in December of 1914, a time when newspapers honored beautiful graphics by printing them huge and cleanly printed.