Doll-A-Day 52: Singing Chatty Cathy, Plus Special Guest Star, Tiny Chatty Baby

  Today's doll is singing Chatty Cathy.

  As far as I can find, she was produced in 1965.She's a pull string singer. Apparently she sang nursery rhymes. Mine is missing her string.
  I rescued this doll at a yard sale run by a very grouchy lady who didn't seem to want to come out of her house. All the stuff was on tables in the yard, and I think it had been out there for more than a couple of days. A lot of it was wet because it has rained. The doll was pretty grungy, but she seemed to need me. She cleaned up pretty well.

She still needs a little work on her eyes.

  She originally came in a red dress with musical notes printed on it in white, white anklets and red shoes. She also had a red ribbon in the right side of her hair. She came as a blonde, or a brunette. You can see my blonde HERE. She's about 17" tall.

It's hard to see them because they have gone gray (Don't we all?!), but she does have freckles.

  As for today's 'special guest star', I came across her while getting Singing Chatty out. I knew where she was, but I forgot I had put Tiny Chatty Baby in the armoir too. So, she should have been in the post with my Tiny Chatty Brother, but better late than never. (Seems to be becoming my slogan...) Anyway, here is Tiny Chatty Baby'

  She's 15" tall, like Tiny Chatty Brother. She has a matching outfit to his, and this one also has the same blonde hair.They were introduced (to the public, not to each other.) in 1962.

This girl seems to have fared better than my Chatty Brother. She must not have been loved as much, poor girl.She is missing her booties. Her hair is silky and she still has all her eye lashes.Unfortunately, she doesn't talk anymore either.

I found her in a junk shop, in this original outfit. She was a whole quarter.

 

She was fairly dirty, but she cleaned up nicely.Her outfit needed laundered too. It could do with a pressing, but I tend to be remiss in that area alot of the time. I don't even iron my own clothes any more.

You know, I like this doll, but looking at these pictures I'm starting to get a Marty Allen thing from her.

Old comedian Marty Allen in the 60's. Apparently he's 91, and still working.

Tiny C. Baby.: "Did you hear what she said about me?!"

Tiny C. Brother: "I may be grungy, but she never said I look like Marty Allen."

Tiny C. Baby: "I can't believe she said that!"

I also promised a size comparison between all the Chatty dolls.

Left to right: Charmin Chatty, Chatty Cathy, Chatty Baby, Singing Chatty Cathy, Tiny Chatty Baby

I kind of expected Singing Chatty to be more the size of regular Chatty Cathy.

And while we're here, another comparison: the difference between soft face and hard face Chatty Cathys.

Soft face Chatty in the middle.

The soft face girl seems to have a bigger head, with chubbier cheeks.

She has held her colour better too.

Let's face it. She's just prettier.

(Shhh. Don't tell the other girls. We're liable to end up with another Marty Allen situation.)
  That concludes Chatty Week. See you tomorrow for another Skipper Saturday.

Doll-A-Day 50: Charmin Chatty

Today's doll is Charmin Chatty.

She's the tallest member of the Chatty Family, and she stands about 25" tall. She was introduced into the line in 1963.
 

  Oddly enough, even though she was produced after Chatty Cathy, Chatty Baby, and the Tiny Chatty's, she had a more primitive talking system in a way. Instead of just pulling a string, she had a slot in her side and spoke when records were inserted into the slot and her string was pulled. It was more primitive in a way, but also more versatile: Charmin' could have more sayings added when you bought another outfit, which came with records that included sayings having to do with the theme of the outfit. For instance her nurse set, tea party set,foreign lands, shopping, birthday party,etc.

  She came with either blonde or red hair.Her original outfit was a white sailor jacket, with a blue skirt with an attached blue and white striped shirt front, red knee socks, and saddle shoes.She also had cute black framed glasses, which unfortunately I don't have...YET!

  This girl has one original sock and one original shoe, which her feet are sharing between them at the moment.I recently got another couple Charmin's, one blonde, and one red head. One of them was wearing a whole pair of saddle shoes! Whee!

I think her blouse and skirt are homemade, but they look cute on her.
  I read something recently that compared Charmin to Skipper's friend Skooter. And you know what? They do look almost exactly alike!

Skooter was introduced after Charmin Chatty, and she looks like somebody shrunk the Charmin mold.

Their profile is exactly the same, only the painting of the facial features is different. (Charmin', what's the deal with those eyebrows?)

  I forgot to look to see if their ears are the same. Maybe I'll reveal the answer to that spine tingling mystery tomorrow. I'm a little busy today, as Emma is coming for dinner and games.
  Tomorrow we'll see a couple of 'Piggy' Chatty Cathy dolls, (They have double ponytails.) , and Singing Chatty,and check out a size comparison of all the Chatty Types.

Doll-A-Day 48: Chatty Baby

  Yesterday we saw Chatty Cathy. Today we're having a look at her baby sister, Chatty Baby.

She's wearing her original outfit, minus her booties.

Yesterday's doll of the day was this Chatty Cathy. Today is her sister Chatty Baby. I got both from their original owner. It's a Yard Sale Tale.

This Chatty Baby is so minty.The lady who owned her as a child preferred her cars and trucks to dolls.

She has such a clean face, with pink cheeks and lips.

Her hair is shiny and soft,and her clothes are so minty too. (Except maybe for those saggy underwear...) She even has all her eye lashes.

Like Chatty Cathy, she has those cute little teeth.Sometimes they are missing, but you can buy replacement teeth. Hey,they're over 50, ok? Lot's of people over 50 buy replacement teeth.

She has her original booklet too.

Chatty Baby was introduced in 1962, the same year that I was.Unlike Cathy, who came in several hair colours throughout her 'life', Chatty Baby was only ever available as a blonde or a brunette.Like Cathy, there was also an African American version available.They had the same head mold and were just made with brown vinyl.

She has 'decal eyes'.

She measures about 18" tall. My doll no longer talks, but, like Cathy, she is a pull string talker.
  Tomorrow we'll have a look at Tiny Chatty Brother, one of my childhood dolls.

Doll-A-Day 47: Chatty Cathy

  Today begins Chatty Week, and today's doll is Chatty Cathy.

She's about 20" tall.

This is a beautifully clean Cathy wearing her Pink Peppermint Stick dress. Unfortunately I don't have her shoes or socks.

Supposedly the open right hand is more rare than the right hand with a pointing index finger. It was changed so Chatty could wear her ring on either hand.

She does have her original papers though.

Chatty Cathy began to be sold in the Pink Peppermint Stick dress in 1961.Before that she came in a blue dress with white eyelet over blouse or a red sunsuit and pinafore.Only blondes were made until 1962, when brunettes were added.Originally she said 11 phrases. More were added later. My Cathy is a soft face,(They were made with soft rubber heads or hard plastic ones.). 

My favourite thing about her? She has teeth! They are a little crooked, but I don't mind that in real people either. She has what are called 'decal eyes'. In other words, she has the eyes that are a printed picture under clear plastic,rather than the plastic eyes with molded irises called pinwheel eyes. There are also glassine eyes, and I'm still not sure how you identify those!

Chatty Cathy was produced with this face from 1959 to 1965. When the dolls were reintroduced in 1970 they had a different look.Mine has a beautiful face with a nice pinkish complexion. Having the soft face means her head hasn't faded to white like her legs and one arm have.Apparently faded limbs is a common problem with the number 4 body, which mine has. I can tell this because she has the sound grill made on that particular body.

The speaker holes form a hexagon shape and have no surrounding holes. Plus the speaker inside is red.That's a number 4 body.

  My girl can almost talk. She gets a couple of words out if the string is only partially pulled.
Chatty Cathy was the second most popular doll of the 60's, after Barbie.Her voice was by June Foray, who also voiced Rocky the Squirrel from the Bullwinkle cartoon...
 

I'm gonna have to get me another hat.

...and countless characters in Warner Brothers and other cartoons, including Tweety Bird's owner, Granny,and Witch Hazel.
  

Witch Hazel with a trick or treating Bugs Bunny, before she runs off, leaving the air full of hairpins.

Granny with Tweety, who seems to be choking or something.

 Chatty Cathy went through several different hair colours and a couple of hair styles. We'll have a look at a few of these this week.She was so popular that she was given a baby sister, then a baby brother. There was a larger doll called Charmin' Chatty. (Cathy's older sister maybe?)There was also a singing version. She was even reproduced in 2001 in her regular size, which was quite a good reproduction of the original doll, and  a smaller size,which really didn't even look like her. There was also a porcelain doll  produced in 2002. I bought Ivy the 2001 repro  when she was tiny. She had loved to look at her and hear her talk in the store, but she never really played with her much once she owned her. Cathy is somewhat stiff compared to modern children's dolls.She's not cuddly at all. That may have had something to do with it.

There is a story behind this Chatty Cathy, and the doll you'll see tomorrow,her baby sister.It's another ...

  Technically it's a Garage Sale Tale, but that doesn't have the ring of 'Yard Sale Tale', so I'm gonna call them all that.

  Ken and I had been out for a day of yard saling.Late in the afternoon, about the time Ken usually starts saying 'all the good stuff will be gone by now',We went to a garage sale.The lady who was running the sale, here after to be known as TLWRTS, and her mother were sitting in their garage. On a table was a super clean near mint Chatty Cathy in her original pink peppermint striped dress. Next to her was her equally mint baby sister in her original outfit. Their brunette hair was shiny and silky and they were both in very old men's shirt bags. They had obviously been in those for years. They even had their original booklets tucked in the bags.Their price tags told a story. They had started out with fairly normal prices and had been getting marked down all day. They were now at $5 each. Oh yeah! TLWRTS and her mother explained that they had belonged to TLWRTS as a child, but that she had never really played with them, preferring her cars and trucks. The only thing they were missing was shoes and Cathy's socks. Now, as a child I received  a Chatty brother. I remember the day he came in the mail. (We lived in the middle of nowhere. We did a lot of catalogue shopping.) My mom hid his box behind the stove. When I came in and found him I took him out of his box and rolled all over the floor hugging him. I didn't roll around these ladies' garage, but I was well pleased...
  Tomorrow we'll see Cathy's baby sister.