Doll-A-Day 218: Talkin' 'Bout Boys Week: That Kid

  Today's doll is a very special one to me. He's That Kid by Hasbro.

 

 And before we go any further, let me say that this doll is NOT CHUCKY, (from the Child's Play and Chucky horror movies.). Nor is he the doll Chucky was based on. Chucky was inspired by the Cabbage Patch doll craze, and his look seems to be pure My Buddy.(My daughter Emma did have a friend that was totally creeped out by That Kid when they were younger. She thought he looked like Chucky.)

See?  He's not scary. He's cute!

That Kid was produced for only one year, 1967.

The same one year that Little Miss No Name,which I wanted and did get,was made.

I was five that year. I spotted him in the catalog and fell in love.

This is the picture I saw in the catalog. i cut it out and saved it, and I still have it somewhere.

  I wanted him so badly!

Hasbro 1967 on the back of his head.

I asked for him every Christmas and birthday for years. I didn't know that he wasn't available any more.

I'm not lucky---or rich---enough to own one in a box.

He was advertised as 'your very own little brother', and he was actually sort of the first interactive doll.He ran on 1 'D' sized battery....

The battery compartment on his chest.

... and he said several different phrases depending on what you touched or moved. When you raised his right arm he said, "Hey! That's my pitching arm!" When you pulled his ear and tilted his head left or right he said, "Let go of my ear!". When you sat him down he said, "Can't I come too?", When you took the slingshot out of his back pocket, (and thus, out of a slot in his bottom.) he said, "You'd better put that back or the monster will get you." If you picked him up and hugged him he said, "Put me down. You're funny looking."

A switch on his back, and the slot for his slingshot in his...uh...cheek. (There's a corresponding hole in his pants cheek,inside his pocket.) The actual bottom switch is down inside.

The inside of the flap of his box, illustrating his phrases.

I  saved the picture from the catalog but I didn't know what he was called though. I assumed he was by Mattel, and I thought he'd be about the size of Chatty Cathy. At 21" tall he's actually only an inch taller  than Chatty Cathy, but his head is huge in comparison and his body is much beefier.

For years I just called him 'my boy'. I finally managed to find out what he was called through the internet when that sort of thing was still new.

Had to use a flash here. When the light hits those green eyes in a certain way they do tend to look a bit stare-y.

See?

But without the flash he's just a cute little guy.

Ken bought me one off Ebay years ago, but he has no insides, so he'll never talk again.

Later I got another one. He has his insides, but he'll probably never talk again either. Repairing a That Kid is harder than a simple pull string repair. There are so many switches inside this guy. I talked to a man once who used to repair That Kid, but he had stopped doing it. It was just so hard to do.

Original hat on right on empty Kid, reproduction replacement hat on the left on Kid with insides.To keep them straight I refer to Kid number one as 'Boy', (as in "My boy".), and the second one as 'Kid'.

Kid and Boy taking in the wonders of my yard. It needs mowing.

Original jeans on right side Kid, replacements on left side Kid.

Obviously somebody thought about repairing this guy because his body has been opened up. It's still not sealed, and his legs fall off when he's moved around. They are also loose when he's not moved around, so he has trouble standing up straight.

The original denim pants have a zipper and a snap.

That Kid is 21" tall. He came wearing his red and white striped shirt, (Which is impossible to remove intact because his head is so big.), denim pants,blue baseball cap, red socks, and denim tennis shoes. He also had a slingshot.

Made in Hong Kong tag on his shirt.

The hat and slingshot are the hardest things to find. His shoes are usually in a delicate state because the rubber is rotten after so many years.

Because his shoes are so delicate I put them away to protect them. These shoes are similar looking real baby shoes, but these are his original orange shoe laces. The original shoes are denim, with a white rubber toe cap and brown rubber soles. They actually look and have the quality of real baby shoes. I was going to show them, but after digging around in my closet for a while, on this hot day, I gave up. I know they're in there somewhere. If I ever dig them out I'll update the pictures on here.
UPDATE: The shoes!

He has green sleep eyes with black lashes, lots of freckles, and an open mouth with two molded and painted teeth. 

I don't know why this will only load sideways.

I love the teeth. I think that was what drew me to him in the first place. What can I say? I have a tooth thing.

If I had had a That Kid when I was a kid, I would definitely have brushed those teeth. I used to brush the teeth on our giant Bugs Bunny when I was little. It's a wonder there's any paint left on them.

His mouth is actually molded as a hollow space, which makes his teeth stick out more.

He has a big head of fairly realistically coloured red hair. Years ago, when my son Fuzzy, who has red hair, was little, the doll was standing on the couch. Fuzzy's sister Emma came in and saw the top of That Kid's  head showing above the back of the couch, and she thought it was her brother. I guess it didn't help that I also used to dress Fuzz in a red and white striped shirt fairly often. He had blue shorts, or what he referred to as his 'hook up pants', (bibbed overalls) to wear it with. I called it his Dennis the Menace outfit.

The hair is choppy, but it came that way.

 His profile is a little strange. Very concave.

 Some That Kid dolls have very red spots on their cheeks. Those are caused by the doll's face rubbing the inside of the box lid.
  These guys have subtle blush.

He's not very poseable. His arms and legs move. When he sits his legs just kind of stick out. His head can be turned and tilted a little because it has a bulbous neck on a swivel joint. That probably has something to do with making him talk when you tilt his head. It can look really awkward though.

  Someday I would love to get my That Kid repaired, or find one that does talk. I've never heard him, so I'm curious. But even in their non-talking state I'm glad to have them. Ken has tried to get me all the dolls I wanted as a child and never got. This guy was top of the list. He's a hard one to get too, so I feel lucky to have my 'twins'.
  Tomorrow is Skipper Saturday. I'll have to work on that when I get back from The Big City. My sister and I are going to see the Sherlock Holmes exhibit at COSI, (The Center of Science and Industry.).