Chatty Cathy

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Chatty Cathy was a doll produced by the Mattel corporation and manufactured in 1959. She was first in stores and advertised on television in 1960. Revolutionary for her time, the doll spoke 11 phrases; Chatty Cathy would "speak" when one pulled a string in the center of her upper back. Seven more phrases were added in 1963, when her string was pulled the doll could say things like, "Will you play with me?", " I love you" or "Please take me with you"... all at random. Chatty Cathy was on the market for 6 years, making her the 2nd most popular doll of the 1960's after the Barbie doll(also made by Mattel). She was an instant hit and very quickly Mattel offered up Chatty Baby in 1962 and Tiny Chatty Baby, Tiny Chatty Brother and Charmin' Chatty in 1963. The last doll to have the word "chatty" incorporated into her name in the '60's was Singin' Chatty in 1965. Brady Bunch stars Maureen McCormick and Eve Plumb were in some of the original TV commercials.

Chatty Cathy, Chatty Baby and Tiny Chatty Baby were reissued by Mattel in 1970.These dolls were completely different in appearance from the earlier Chatty dolls. Actress Maureen McCormick (Marcia Brady of The Brady Bunch) was the voice of the new Chatty Cathy. These new Chatty dolls were on the market for 2 years.

In 1984 Mattel put out a doll called Chatty Patty and she too had a different look from the other Chatty dolls. A Chatty Cathy reissue did not occur again until Mattel put out a special edition of the doll in 1998 and again in 2001. These dolls were made to resemble the 1960 version of Chatty Cathy and were not in ordinary stores, they were available from specialty doll and toy stores and prices started at $99.00. [1]

Mattel Inc. Toymakers had purchased the DEE & CEE toy company of Canada in 1962. The DEE & CEE factory produced a Canadian version of the Chatty dolls, by 1964 the company was known as Mattel Canada. While they used the official Mattel molds there was a difference in materials. The Canadian dolls have a more glossy look in the vinyl, the face stencil used to paint on eyebrows etc. places the eyebrows higher on the forehead and so forth. Canada also used a different type of eye in their doll than the American version. These differences are the delight of the collector and have driven up the prices of some Canadian Chattys. Some of her phrases were different and they reflect the cultural differences between Canada and the United States and made her suitable for export to other English speaking countries. Chatty Cathy was last available in the USA and Canada in 1965.

It is interesting to note too that Mattel also bought the Rosebud doll company in England in 1966 and made a British Chatty Cathy that was on the market into the 1970's. These dolls are made from completely different molds and do not resemble any of the dolls made by Mattel in America.

The same pull string talking mechanism that was invented for Chatty Cathy and used in the other Chatty dolls, was also used for all the other Mattel talking dolls and toys of the 1960s and 1970s. These included all-time favorites like talking Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Dr. Suess Characters and Mrs. Beasley, Drowsy, Herman Munster and all the See 'N Say toys to name just a few. It was not uncommon for Mattel to produce an top selling doll like Baby First Step (1965) (the world's first walking doll) and then a few years later make her in a talking version. This happened also with the Baby Tender Love (1970) doll line which eventually included Talking Baby Tender Love, and again the Baby Beans (1971) line got a Talking Baby Beans. The Hot Wheels toy car line had a pull string talking toy garage and the Liddle Kiddle doll line had a pull string "Talking Town House" (both from the late 1960s). Even the Barbie doll (and friends) was produced in a pull string talking version in the late 1960s and the early 1970's.

Chatty Cathy was also the inspiration for the The Twilight Zone "Living Doll" episode originally broadcast November 1, 1963. The actress June Foray provided the voice for, "Talky Tina" the episode's evil doll. June Foray had also been the voice of the original Chatty Cathy!