!44: The Chatty Dolls And Their Success Over The Decades

!±8± The Chatty Dolls And Their Success Over The Decades

In 1959, Mattel manufactured a doll name Chatty Cathy. The doll was one of a kind in its time because it had a voice box that can randomly say eleven phrases when a string on its upper back is pulled. The feature used a low-fidelity phonograph record which is placed inside the doll's tummy. It was driven using a wound metal coil and was designed by Jack Ryan of Mattel's Research and Development division. The Chatty Cathy was then advertised in television commercials in the 1960s and some of its famous phrases included "Let's play school," "Please brush my hair," "Please take me with you," and "May I have a cookie?"

The original Chatty Cathy had a pair of blue eyes and blonde hair but from 1962 to 1963, Cathy came with brunette and auburn hair. In the later part, it also launched a brown skin tone African American model. In 1963, the dolls that came out that year already had 18 phrases to playback. The dolls also came with accessories like a storybook, wrist tag, and shoehorn. Around the same period, Mattel also introduced the other character in the Chatty series. These were the Chatty Baby, Tiny Chatty Baby, Tiny Chatty Brother, Charmin Chatty, and lastly the Singin' Chatty which was introduced in 1965.

The Brady Bunch star, Maureen Denise McCormick, was the voice of the new Chatty Cathy in the 1960s and it was distributed in stores for two years. The doll series took a rest in 1964 although the dolls were reissued twice in 1969. By 1984, Mattel resurrected the doll series by introducing the new character Chatty Patty. Special edition Chatty Cathy dolls were introduced in 1998 and 2001 but were only sold in specialty toy stores at and above.

In the 1970s, Chatty Cathy was marketed in England after Mattel bought the Rosebud Doll Company. The new dolls were equipped with different phrases in its voice box. However, the dolls that were manufactured and distributed in England did not bear any resemblance to the original Chatty dolls as their molds were different.

Today, there are many clubs and organizations which were established for the love of their Chatty Cathy dolls. Some have already created websites on how to maintain the dolls especially that most of these get muted after its voice box needle broke or after the governor belt snapped over time. Other care tips also include how to take care of the doll's hair and how to clean dirty doll clothes.