Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure

1977 film by Richard Williams

Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure is a 1977 live action/animated musical fantasy film loosely adapted from the 1924 novel Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees. It was directed by Richard Williams, produced by the Bobbs Merrill Company, and released theatrically by 20th Century Fox. In the film, Raggedy Ann and Andy, along with other toys, live in Marcella's nursery. During Marcella's seventh birthday, Babette, a doll from France, is introduced as the new doll from a large package. Meanwhile, Captain Contagious kidnaps Babette in the pirate ship and escapes from the nursery. Raggedy Ann and Andy have to explore and find Babette in the Deep Deep Woods to save her. The film started development when producer Richard Horner chose the characters from a conversation surrounding promotions of children's products. The Bobbs Merrill Company became its financer, and the film was a stage musical and a live action television special before it was decided to become an animated film. Director Richard Williams controlled most of the film's production. Production for the film lasted for more than two years, budgeting to the cost of $4 million. Mark Baker as Raggedy Andy, Babbitt divided the design of the character into three personalities: a "pretty dumb" back end, a "little bit smarter" front end, and a head. Raggedy Ann & Andy was chosen, and after it got popularity from a Friars Club roast for Johnny Carson, he acquired permission to The Bobbs Merrill Company to begin the project. When the project was greenlit, it started out as a stage musical before it was transformed into a live action television special for Hallmark Hall of Fame named Rag Dolly: The Raggedy Ann Musical. Horner brought in writer Pat Thackray for permission to research Johnny Gruelle's material and write a live action script as a treatment. Afterwards, Pat Thackray and Max Wilk wrote the script for the special. Considerations for Raggedy Ann include Liza Minnelli and Goldie Hawn, while a consideration star for Raggedy Andy was Dick Van Dyke. Raposo and Williams traveled back to New York City afterwards. Shortly after Levitow's death, Williams was pressured to replace him as the director of the film. The location was found by set and costumer designer William Mickley. On October 14, 1975, the location was repaired. Mickley and a pair of scenic artists tore rooms apart, painted and wallpapered Marcella's bedroom, built a ceiling grid for the lights, dug a backyard pool, and enhanced the autumnal foliage by spraying the leaves red and gold and brought more leaves from nearby neighborhoods. Principal photography was held on the week of October 20, 1975. Filming involved a crew of 35 people and took four days from early in the morning to midnight for the scenes to be finished. Williams shot the film quickly, with no more than five or six takes for each scene of the film. Williams' love interest at the time, Margaret French, and his wife at the time, Lois Catherine Steuart, watched Claire Williams to keep her well supplied with her favorite orange sherbet without being exhausted. After shooting was finished, the house was restored to its original condition for two weeks.

Williams' idea was to employ a full range of animation without looking like it was animated by Disney. He spent a week researching the original illustrations by Gruelle. He eventually decided to base the animation on his work. As a result, the animation was challenged to compete with Disney films at the time. Over time, cameraman Al Rezek designed and built the Xerox processor and camera that outlined the original paper drawings directly onto cels. Animation drawings were inspected by Xerox planners before they are Xeroxed to figure out whether the mechanics used were correct. The approved animation would then be shipped from two independent companies in Hollywood to an art department in New York City. The animation was painted by more than 45 individuals that included men and women in the art department managed by Ida Greenberg. Some characters had a lot of color keys, including Suzy Pincushion and Topsy Turvy. The Greedy faced a problem with painting, as Greenberg stated that the "big masses of taffy took an awful long time to paint, and it was a 'wall to wall' painting." Approximately 85,000 cels were painted to complete the film. The soundtrack received generally positive reviews. Billboard chose the track "Rag Dolly" as the album's highlight, reviewing the album as an "attractive disk" led by the team. A. H. Weiler of The New York Times commented that "Candy Hearts" is "pleasantly tuneful." R. C. Staab criticized the singing performances of the characters, but recalled that "Rag Dolly" is a "catchy number in the style of Scott Joplin." Jay Alan Quintril stated that the songs are of the "Tin Pan Alley school of composition" and fit the "charm and warmth and sheer joy of the entire project." Barbara Corrado Pope commented that "["I'm No Girl's Toy"] seems ill placed in a movie that [would] probably have wide appeal for little girls."

The film was originally planned for a release on March 1, 1975, but was later scheduled for December 1976. By April 1976, the film was moved to early 1977 for extra three months of work. According to a two page advertisement for Variety from December 8, 1976, it was estimated that over 70 million viewers watched Didi Conn and Mark Baker as Raggedy Ann and Andy dancing to "Rag Dolly" for two minutes in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The promotional campaign for the film reportedly costed $2 million, with a hundred of manufacturers licensed to make more than 500 products. The film was a box office flop.

The film was first released on RCA CED Videodisc, VHS, and Betamax by MGM/CBS Home Video in 1982. Unreliable source: date=January 2023 It was followed by a VHS release in 1985 by Playhouse Video (in association of CBS/Fox Video) and 1992 by Fox Video. Unreliable source: date=January 2023

The film aired on Disney Channel for six days in June and July 1988.

In 1981, Thackray reworked the story for Raggedy Ann & Andy, a play which is available to license for performances at schools and community theatres in the United States and Canada.

In 1984, Raposo and playwright William Gibson crafted a much darker variation of the story, first called Raggedy Ann and then briefly retitled Rag Dolly. Raposo retained two songs ("Rag Dolly" and "Blue") and reworked the opening title theme into a song called "Gingham and Yarn". The plot was completely different and follows the dying young Marcella, who goes on a journey with Raggedy Ann and her friends to meet the Doll Doctor, who can mend her broken heart. This version ran in three theatres (including one in Moscow) before landing with a thud on Broadway on October 16, 1986 at the Nederlander Theatre. After five performances and 15 previews, it was closed on October 19. The Broadway show received negative reviews, and it was considered a failure. It developed a cult following from bootleg recordings.