Trina's Raggedy of the Month!
Since I've had my web page up, I've had several people send me e-mail letters asking about the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees character from the Raggedy Ann and Andy stories. The book titled "Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees", was first published in 1924. The illustrations in the book depicted the camel as a white stuffed toy, whose legs were saggy and wrinkled because the sticks that had once been in them to straighten his legs had been taken out for safety reasons.
In the mid 1970s, the animated movie "Raggedy Ann and Andy, A Musical Adventure" featured the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees again, only this time, he was depicted as a light blue color. (According to an animation book about the movie, the blue color was much easier to animate than the white.

I was only six years old when that movie came out. What a perfect age to be awe struck at seeing my favorite Rag doll and her friends on the big screen! My mother and I found my own "Camel with the Wrinkled Knees" in a Macy's store, and he soon became one of my best friends. (He is the one seated in the center of the bench) This camel, made by the Knickerbocker toy company, was made to represent the camel from the movie. He was a light colored blue, with patch quits on his body, and elastic to make his knees baggy and wrinkled. By now, the elastic in his legs have lost their spring, and he has faded in color, but he is still one of my favorite childhood toys. To this day, he has one of the "prime" places in my room, laying in between the arms of my favorite Raggedy Ann doll on the pillow of my bed.

In the late 1980's the Applause Company came out with a newer version of the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees. He is also a blue color, with patch quilts sewn on his body, but his wrinkled knees are represented this time by the bent shape of his legs. I found my first Applause Camel in the Wildwood Country Store at the Dayton, Ohio airport in 1989. I had lived in Dayton for only 8 months, but could always count on this store for new Raggedy Merchandise! I later found another Applause Camel a couple of years later in an antique store in California.

In 1994, Applause presented the Limited Edition set of Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees in honor of the book's 60th anniversary. All three dolls were made to represent the beautiful illustrations of the book. So, the newest Camel with the Wrinkled Knees doll was finally represented as a white doll as he was originally meant to be.

Previous Raggedys of the Months from Trina's collection!

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