Uncle Wiggily Longears


Uncle Wiggily Longears, the distinguished elderly rabbit, first appeared on January 10, 1910 in the greatest of New Jersey’s newspapers, the Newark News, with a daily circulation of 300,000.  The creator of Uncle Wiggily was Howard Garis.  Uncle Wiggily was an instant success and an Uncle Wiggily story appeared every day in the newspaper except Sundays for 30 years until Garis retired.  That’s over 15,000 stories!  Along the way the Uncle Wiggily stories were collected into books that sold in the millions and still sell today.  Uncle Wiggily and His Friends was the first among many.

Many people in our computerized 21st century society do not even know who Uncle Wiggily is.  For instance, when I went to the public library to do research on Uncle Wiggily the attendant who helped me said she had taught in the public school at the first grade level for 32 years and had never even heard of Uncle Wiggily.  This is amazing since Uncle Wiggily books were the most popular children’s stories in the early 20th century.  Those who were teenagers in the 1990’s would probably think of the American rock n’ roll band Uncle Wiggily when they heard the name.  Or those who live in the Baltimore, Maryland area might think of the chain of ice shops named Uncle Wiggily.  This is sad because Uncle Wiggily stories are still a treasure house of enjoyment and a wellspring of character building material for children of every generation.

Uncle Wiggily loves to wear a silk top hat, bowtie, vest and dress pants whenever he goes out.  And he always takes along his red, white and blue striped cane to help him walk because of his rheumatism.  Uncle Wiggily has a model T type convertible in which to get around, as well as an “airship”.  His housekeeper, Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, a muskrat who is always cooking up savory dishes to eat, plays a significant role in the stories.  The numerous whimsical characters in the stories include all kinds of animals, and even real boys and girls.  There are also enemies who threaten harm but Uncle Wiggily always finds a way to “wiggle” his way out of danger. 

Uncle Wiggily is of a strong sanguine temperament who thrives on helping others and thinks nothing of self sacrifice.  He is very ingenius at building things in his effort to help or rescue those in need.  Even those who try to do him harm like Woozy Wolf and Skillery Skallery are seen in a positive light by Uncle Wiggily.  He exudes self-confidence and poise as he goes about his days with a spring in his step and a song in his heart.  Uncle Wiggily loves life.

These fanciful Uncle Wiggily stories are excellent for use as bedtime stories since they are short in nature.  They teach children the virtues of resourcefulness, honesty, and self-respect.  Since these stories are set in a more innocent era they can be useful in counteracting so much of what passes for children entertainment today.  They also introduce children to vocabulary words from the past that they never hear used anymore such as “hoity-toity”, “thing-a-ma-bob”, and “presto-chango”.  Each story is concluded with a sentence to entice the child to want to hear the next story the following night.  For instance in the story “Uncle Wiggily and the Peppermint” (in which you learn that peppermint is good to use for indigestion) it ends with:  “And if the snow doesn’t come in our house and sit by the gas stove until he melts into a puddle of molasses, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and The Red Spots”.  Then the story is followed by a short poem about the story just read.

The Uncle Wiggily books are wonderfully illustrated by August Lenox.  There were 79 in all.  You can find some of them at Amazon.com and maybe at your public library (I only found one on the shelves).  You can read some of them online at Project Gutenberg (just scroll down to Garis, Howard and look for his Uncle Wiggily stories).

Of course, Uncle Wiggily has been commercialized through the years and merchandised as figurines, coffee mugs, etc.  There is even an Uncle Wiggily  board game that helps teach children to read and do simple math which was  popular in the 1960’s. 

As a "60-something", I must be entering my second childhood because I find these stories to be hilarious.  Uncle Wiggily does all rabbits proud.