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

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.