Raggedy Ann and Other Frightening Things

     When I was a kid, I hated clowns.  In fact, I found them scary.  Their big hair was usually bright red.  Their faces were the face of pure evil.  Even a black and white Happy the Clown and his marching sticks were not high on my list.  The same went for Raggedy Ann.  That doll, with her red yarn hair and a face that looked like Bozo did her make up, was creepy.
      Raggedy Ann was created by Johnny Gruelle.  He wrote a series of books featuring the character from 1880 to 1938.  The Raggedy Ann doll was introduced in 1915 and Raggedy Andy came along in 1920.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raggedy_Ann  Raggedy Ann dolls and Teddy bears were residents of almost every child's toy box for years.
     When Hollywood decided to demonize a toy, they picked Chatty Cathy.  Does anybody remember the Twilight Zone episode "Living Doll?"  It's about Talky Tina, a doll that will make you sorry if you're not nice to her.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSy8Ko1vSKQ  I loved Chatty Cathy, and I wanted her.  Even seeing Talky Tina wouldn't have disuaded me from begging for a Chatty Cathy.
     Maybe Raggedy Ann's reputation changed in the 1970's when the story of Annabelle came out.  A woman bought a large Raggedy Ann for her student nurse daughter.  The doll liked to move itself off the bed during the day when the daughter went to classes.  Later the doll, who came to stay in the parent's house, moved around and left meaningless, written notes.  She got nasty after the family took her to a priest to exorcise her demons.  It's a long story, but you can read it here:
http://www.dark-stories.com/eng/annabelle_possessed_doll.htm
     I suppose you can't hold a grudge forever.  Before my junior year in college, I found some six inch Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls.  They were so small that I actually found them cute.  I propped them up against my pillow every day after making the bed.  Sometimes I came home from class and found them in different sexual positions.  I doubt the dolls were demon possessed, but my roommate's crazy boyfriend might have been.
     Sometime during the early 80's Raggedy Ann became popular again.  McCall's offered an Ann and Andy pattern that could be made in four different sizes.  They also sold a Hallowe'en costume pattern.  I bought the doll pattern and started making dolls to sell or give away as gifts.   I used to tell people that I made the dolls as a way of confronting my childhood fear.  I think the thing that won me over was hugging one of my dolls.  It was soft and cuddly, not like that hard, plastic blabbermouth.
     The original dolls were Caucasian.  I decided to diversify.  I made Afro-American Ann and I braided her hair.  I even made a couple of Asian Anns.  One thing that I never, ever did was add the traditional Raggedy Ann tattoo, the "I love you" inside a heart.  The recipient could talk to the doll, but I was determined the doll was never going to communicate to a human by any means. There's no such thing as too careful when it comes to certain things.

Enough for a baseball team