Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Chatty Cathy A Talking doll

Chatty Cathy

Image result for chatty and cathy doll1st edition issued March 1960.
A Mattel company talking doll.



Chatty Cathy was introduced in March of 1960 at the New York Toy Fair. She had blonde, red or brunette hair styled in a pageboy with bangs. She said 11 phrases when the pull string on the back of her neck was pulled.  The speaker holes are in her chest.  The pattern of the speaker helps to identify year issued.  Most of the Chatty family of dolls had two large front teeth and freckles.  Today unless the doll has been restored, the freckles can hardly be seen.  They can easily be restored with a dark brown permanent marker.  Place the doll under a bright light and replace them using the faint originals as a guide.

The original dolls in the Chatty Family of dolls had a wide variety of looks. The dolls were put together with parts made in many different countries. Some Chatty's had soft heads and some hard heads. They had different eye colors and different skin tones. Some had eyes that looked straight ahead and some looked to the side.  Today the there is at least one arm or leg that has a slightly different skin tone.

Even the hairstyles differed in that some had short hair with bangs to long hair in ponytails depending on year of issue. 
Some years had several of the styles.

Collectors can have a large collection of these dolls with no two
just alike. Finding the different combinations is quite a challenge and thrill to find for the collector.

The Chatty Family includes: Chatty Cathy, Chatty Baby, Tiny Chatty Baby, and Tiny Chatty Brother, Charmin Chatty, and the last doll released was Singing Chatty. 1965 was the last year the original Chatty Family of dolls was made.

In 1970, The dolls were again introduced in new sizes and different looks. They were not well received and were not in production for very long.
Chatty Cathy was a popular favorite of children of that time.

 Today many collectors wanting to replace their childhood dolls Chatty Cathy is their first choice. Due to the dolls having been played with and well loved by their owners, most do not still talk. There are places they can be sent for repair and it is very expensive as the doll must be totally taken apart. Most all can be repaired but parts are difficult to come by as the dolls parts were made in many countries and a part has to be found to fit that particular mechanism. Also some dolls took baths with their young owners and as a result the mechanism is rusted. Others had holes poked in the speakers or the
pull string is broken.

Did you know?
* The first Chatty Cathy came out in 1960.
* Original voice for Chatty Cathy was Maurine McCormick of       the Brady Bunch fame, a popular TV show.
* Hair colors are: Blonde, Brunette and redhead.
* Eye colors are: blue and brown, with blue most common.      * The hardest to find are African American ones.



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Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Mattel 's Talking Doll's of 1960/70's.

Vintage talking dolls from the '60s Just pull the string and they say different things!


Mattel issued many talking dolls in the 1960/70/s era.  They

had a phonograph inside the hard plastic body with a cloth

covered speaker.  The design of the speaker holes varied

by design and year. These dolls  were operated by

"D' cell batteries.  Very few of these dolls still work.

Even fewer have the cover for the battery pack.

But there doll repair shops that can repair them.

The bodies and one or both arms

were hard plastic, depending on what the doll does.

The head, both legs, and one arm were vinyl.

(sometimes both arms are the same material depending

on what the doll does).

These dolls were a big hit with the little girls.  Some of

the dolls were:  Chatty Cathy and family, Gabigail, and

 Hi Dottie,   (I am going to do a study on the only doll

one of these dolls I still have, Hi Dottie.  I can also do

one on the Chatty family, if I can locate my pictures.

I no longer have any of the Chatty dolls.

Another unusual fact about some of these dolls is the

 arms and legs are of  different shades off vinyl.

The reason for this, the dolls were made in different

factories in many countries.  Mattel, in its effort to

be cost efficient.  If one factory had a high inventory of legs

then the excess would be shipped to another  factory.  Each

factory had their on formula for making the vinyl and

each one had a different shade of color.  It was barely

noticible when the dolls were new, but has become very

noticeable  as the dolls age.  I still have one of these

dolls with the different shades of vinyl.  I am going to

try and get a good picture showing the difference.

Sunday, July 2, 2023

My Collection of Black Handmade Cloth Dolls

 I am seriously beginning to downsize.  As I begin, I will with some of my

dolls share them.  Today it is a small group of handmade black cloth dolls that

was collected over many years. 

 

Pictures of my black cloth doll collection 





This is the only doll that was new when I bought her.  A lady was at a craft show in about 1995, selling her mother's handmade dolls.



I don't know how long  or how I acquired most of them.
Some I know have been in my collection over 30 years
and only one was bought new.



More Pictures 2

 The rest of the dolls have been around so long I have no idea how  or when I got them.

 



 

 

 

 









 











Thursday, June 8, 2023

My First Toni's Dress

 I posted awhile back that finally the original dress on my

first Toni I had received for Christmas in 1949 had been 

found in decent condition.   Well, the dress came and the

 condition was good, but the dress was yellowed with age which 

was not surprising since it is over 73 years old.  Finally after

a lot of soaking and removing a few light stains is a platinum,

green eyed  P-90 Toni, looking like my original.  Here are the

pictures. 


                                              Meet Yevonne