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• (“Little Orphant Annie,” Wikipedia) {Added information about prequel “Where Is Mary Alice Smith,” about derivative work The Orphant Annie Story Book, and numerous other changes.}
Riley had previously presented a fictionalized version of Mary Alice Smith in his short story “Where Is Mary Alice Smith?,” published in The Indianapolis Journal of 30 September 1882. In it, Mary Alice arrives at her benefactor family’s home and wastes no time in telling the children a grisly story of murder by decapitation and then later introduces them to her soldier friend Dave who is soon killed upon going off to war. The plot of this short story was heavily incorporated into the 1918 movie adaptation as well as Johnny Gruelle’s 1921 storybook.4
4Ref.: Note in The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley in Which the Poems, Including a Number Heretofore Unpublished, Are Arranged in the Order in Which They Were Written, Together with Photographs, Bibliographic Notes, and a Life Sketch of the Author, ed. Edmund Henry Eitel, “biographical edition,” vol. 6, Indianapolis: Bobbs‐Merrill Co., 1913, 403.
Both “The Elf Child” and “Where Is Mary Alice Smith?” were printed in book form for the first time in 1885 in The Boss Girl.5
5Ref.: James Whitcomb Riley, The Boss Girl: A Christmas Story, and Other Sketches, Indianapolis: Bowen‐Merrill Co., 1885, 177–196.
“The Elf Child” kept its original title in its first two printings, but Riley decided to change its title to "Little Orphant Allie" in an 1889 printing. … 6
6Ref.: James Whitcomb Riley, “Little Orphant Annie,” Old‐Fashioned Roses, Indianapolis: Bowen‐Merrill Co., 1889, 111–113.
When reprinted in The Orphant Annie Book in 1908, the poem was given an additional, introductory verse (“Little Orphant Annie she knows riddles, rhymes and things! …”).7
7Ref.: James Whitcomb Riley, “Little Orphant Annie,” The Orphant Annie Book, Indianapolis: Bobbs‐Merrill Co., 1908, unpaginated.
During the 1910s and 1920s, ….
Derivative work
In The Orphant Annie Story Book (1921), author Johnny Gruelle augments the character’s background story and goes to great lengths to soften her image, portraying her as telling pleasant tales of fairies, gnomes and anthropomorphic animals rather than her characteristic horror stories.16
16Ref.: Johnny Gruelle, The Orphant Annie Story Book, Indianapolis: Bobbs‐Merrill Co., 1921.