Uncle Wiggily a fond memory from a long time ago

1949 edition.

Sometimes memories come from the strangest places.

It has been many years -- maybe even half a century -- since I have given any thought to Uncle Wiggily.

There aren't a whole lot of cultural things still around that I would honestly say were before my time.

In 1910, a writer named Howard R. Garis published the first Uncle Wiggily story in the Newark News. Between then and his retirement in 1947, he published more than 15,000 stories about the long-eared rabbit in that newspaper.


He published 22 Uncle Wiggily books between 1910 and 1922. He was also one of the most prolific writers of his time, writing books under his name and pseudonyms in the some of the most popular children's series of the century.

Howard R. Garis

He was Laura Lee Hope, who wrote most of the Bobbsey Twins books. As Victor Appleton, he wrote many of the Tom Swift books, as well as many other popular series that have passed into history.

I read many of those books as a kid in the mid 1950s, and I know that Uncle Wiggily was one of the first board games I played. In fact, the board from the 1949 edition pictured above was probably the edition of the game I played.

It wasn't a game that involved any strategy. You drew a card and it told you how many spaces to move. First one to the end won.

The closest comparison  to games maybe more familiar now would be Candy Land or Chutes & Ladders (Snakes & Ladders in the U.K.).

Uncle Wiggily is full of colorfully named animal characters, like Skillery Skallery Alligator, Bushytail Squirrel, Wibble Wobble Duck and Cluck Cluck Chicken. And of course there's the Bad Pipsewah, who looks something like a rhino.

I kind of doubt the game interested me much past maybe age 5, but all our memories from those ages are sort of in blurry pastel colors.

The only non-game toy I remember from back then was a set of Lincoln Logs, which which I could build all sorts of log cabins.

Sometimes I wish I had saved and protected those toys, but who know?

I did buy the 1949 edition of Uncle Wiggily on eBay. The problem is, all my grandchildren are too sophisticated to enjoy it.

Life goes on.