Doll-A-Day 2019 #330: Chatty Cathy Reproduction

  Today's doll is this girl.

 

She's the Chatty Cathy reproduction doll. Her official box copyright says 1998,but apparently she wasn't sold until 1999.

  We saw this doll at Meijer when Ivy was probably a couple of years old. Ivy was born in 1999,but sometimes Meijer used to get older toys that were no longer available anywhere else. Ivy always wanted to hold the box and look at Chatty Cathy, and hear her talk. So we got her the doll for Christmas. I don't think she ever played with her very much once she got her though.
 

You can tell she's a reproduction of the original because she has the pointing index finger on her right hand. Later Chatty Cathy's didn't.

She's 21 inches tall,just like the original.
 

  This Chatty Cathy has a pull string talk mechanism, just like the original.
 

The reproduction Drowsy,which Ivy also has, changed the original pull sting to a battery operated, belly squeeze mechanism. It was thought that kids could be strangled by the pullstring. I don't know if the company thought Drowsy was for smaller kids, so slightly older kids would be safe with Chatty's pullstring, or if the Chatty repro was more intended for adult collectors.
 

  This Chatty Cathy's voice is by the original Chatty voice actress, June Foray. June Foray,(who passed away in 2017 at just short of 100 years old!), was a voice actress  best known for her portrayal of granny, Tweety Bird's owner,and Bugs Bunny's nemesis Witch Hazel,from the Warner Brothers cartoons,Cindy Lou Who from the original animated  "How the Grinch Stole Christmas",and Rocky the Squirrel from "Bullwinkle". She also voiced Mulan's grandmother in the original "Mulan" movie. I don't know if she rerecorded Cathy's famous phrases, or if the original recordings were used. I do know that the reproduction says the 11 original phrases. Chatty dolls originally only said 11 phrases,which was later added to,so they said 18 phrases. 
  Chatty Cathy was reproduced in a couple of her very first classic outfits. This one includes a red sunsuit, covered with a red jumper dress with built in white apron...
 

...white anklets and red velvet shoes.

Believe me, she was NOT wearing any of this when I found her, and it took some piecing together! I found the clothes one place, a shoe here and a shoe there,one sock,and finally the other. I did not find her red velvet headband. Maybe that would have helped control those bangs!

The other reproduction was a blue eyed doll in the blue dress with white eyelet overblouse.You can see one of my vintage Chatty Cathy dolls wearing that outfit HERE.
  These dolls have a hard plastic torso,and a soft vinyl head with some sort of hard interior structure. Ivy's Chatty Cathy has apparently been under some pressure. Her face has been sort of pressed vertically, leaving her with a strangely shaped face.

 And that's not her only problem! As you will have noticed,her eyes have changed colour! They started out as brown eyes,but have turned purple! The blue eyed reproduction has the same problem, with eyes that turn pink over time.

As you can see, she does have the Chatty Cathy teeth and freckles too. Like a lot of the originals,which have mostly likely turned to that colour,her eyebrows and freckles are painted gray.

 

You can see my comparison of all the different 60's Chatty dolls HERE. And you can see my beautiful mint yard sale Chatty doll that isn't in that post HERE.
There was also a smaller Chatty reproduction, as part of their 'Classic Collection', in 2001. She had a very strange face and looked nothing like the original.
 

She also didn't have a pullstring. She was battery operated and activated by pushing a button in her back.
  Danbury Mint made a 17 inch tall porcelain, battery operated Chatty Cathy reproduction in 2001 that was a pretty good resemblance to the original. Ashton Drake made a reproduction Chatty Cathy in 2003.She was 20 inches tall and looked even more like the original.I think she was a vinyl pullstring doll.
  That's today's doll. See you tomorrow for another one.

Doll-A-Day 2019 #169: Bye Bye Diapers

  I never heard from Bebe, the winner of our Blogaversary competition. So tomorrow I'll announce a new winner from the remaining entries.
  Today's doll is this kid.

She's Bye Bye Diapers.

She was made by Mattel in 1981.

She's 16 inches tall.
 

She originally came with a bottle and a potty.

Her clothes aren't removable. She has vinyl arms, but her legs are stuffed.

Her gimmick is that she can drink her bottle...

...and then go potty.

There's a Velcro trap door in her clothes to uncover the...hole.

 

 She has a pull string in her back.

When the string is pulled she claps her hands, (because she went potty).

Her arms have to be raised into clapping position though.

You can see a video or her clapping HERE.
  That's the doll for today. CHeck back tomorrow for another one.

Doll-A-Day 2019 #4: Newborn Thumbelina

  Today's doll is Newborn Thumbelina.

She's 9" tall. This is her original outfit. She also had a beaded baby bracelet like newborns used to get in the hospital. The outfits were pretty much the same on all the dolls, except the tights also came in chartreuse,yellow,and pink,and hot pink,and I have seen a few with white ribbons on their shirts, instead of yellow. 

She was made by Ideal in 1968.

She has rooted hair,a stuffed cloth body,and vinyl head and limbs.

 

She's a pull string doll, but she doesn't talk. (You can see her pullstring loop on her back.)

Instead her pullstring operates a movement mechanism that makes her 'squirm',supposedly like a baby. Really all she does is move her head. Hopefully you can see this is the videos below.

  Newborn Thumbelina came as a Caucasian blonde and redhead, and also as an African American. The African American used the same head sculpt. You can see the African American version in my post on my childhood Newborn Thumbelina. If not, you can see that post HERE.
  See you tomorrow for another doll.

Doll-A-Day 2017 #284: Polka Dot Drowsy Two Ways

  Yesterday we saw the original Drowsy,and I mentioned how much I had wanted a Drowsy when I was a kid. Today we're seeing two other versions of Drowsy.

Drowsy was originally produced from 1964 to 1974. She was then brought back in 1984,and again in 1999. By 1999 she had gone from being a pull string operated talking doll, to a battery operated doll. I know that much. But this pair have me confused.

I'm hoping someone who knows more about the history of Drowsy can straighten me out. I've had trouble finding information. (First,I have to apologize for the state of the Drowsy on the right. She was obtained at a yard sale (as was the other one.),and I haven't cleaned her yet.) Ok,here's the thing. Both Drowsy dolls have 'Made in Mexico' on their tags.
 

Above and below are Dirty Drowsy's tag. No year listed, but it says 'Made in Mexico'.

And here we have the other doll's tag:
 

It says 1964, but that could just be the original copyright,not the manufacture date. It's like all those 90's Barbie's that say a 60's date on their butts. It's just the copyright on the body type, not the year they were made. (I wish people would learn that...)

From reading the cleaner doll's tag I would say she's obviously older, since Mattel was still using 'shredded clippings' to stuff the dolls, as opposed to the dirty doll's 'polyester fiber'. However, there is something weird about her tag. What is obviously a Drowsy tag is sewn to what's left of a tag sewn into the actual seam of the doll's body,on which can be read the remains of the words...

...Hong Kong. Huh?

So what's the deal with that? Hong Kong,or Mexico?
 

If I had gotten this doll off Ebay, or from a doll dealer I might have thought somebody was trying to swindle somebody. Maybe trying to pass a newer doll off as old or something? But I got her at a yard sale,or maybe a thrift store. Has anybody else ever come across this?
  So if they were both made in Mexico,what's the time difference? I know the Mattel factory in Mexico burned down in 1970,but when did Mattel start manufacturing in Mexico again?
  Ok,so moving on to other differences.
  Drowsy on the left seems to be older. For one thing,she has the dry,crispy hair the older dolls have.

Dirty Drowsy has silkier hair, which I would say makes her later than Crispy Drowsy.

I said it was silkier. I didn't say it was manageable!

  Crispy has the same hair my Chatty Brother has.That would put her way back. I'm not sure how long Mattel used the Go-Crispy hair,but I know they used it back then. I'm 55, and I got Chatty Brother when I was less than 3 years old.Probably less than 2. She also has vinyl hands. I'm sure the cloth hand version is later, but how late?

I have seen them referred to as  'felt hands' ,but these at least, are cotton.

 I prefer the vinyl hands. Fortunately,later reproductions featured the vinyl hands, not the cloth ones.
Below is a late 60's ad for Drowsy. I know this because Newborn Thumbelina, advertised in the middle,below Drowsy,came out in 1968.

I got my Newborn Thumbelina for Christmas that year. You can see her HERE.

The Drowsy in the ad would appear to be the cleaner,albeit crispy haired Drowsy. Crispy Drowsy also has something the other girl doesn't.

A 'trap door' in her footie pjs.

Dirty Drowsy has no trap door.

And there's another difference: their tags are on opposite sides of their bodies.

As I showed you yesterday, original Drowsy had the trap door.

I'm pretty sure the 1999 reproduction had the trap door, but by then they were battery operated, and that's where the battery door was.
  And here's another difference. Dirty Drowsy has a shaped pink pullstring ring.

I suppose that's something that could have been replaced at some point.

Crispy has the regular ring.

Both of them have collars that aren't sewn to their bodies. 

The collars seem to have had elastic that has died over time, leaving the dolls with baggy lace 'necklaces'.
 Crispy has a face more like the earlier dolls.

Same crispy hair too.

Her face paint is very different from Dirty's.

I thought at first that Dirty just had very worn face paint. But in looking at it again, I see that,it's there. It's just not as dark,and the features aren't painted as large as Crispy's. Dirty has tiny little eyebrows and eensy little eyelashes. Her eyes are painted a different shade of blue,her pupils are much larger, and her shine dot is painted much smaller. Her lips are paler, and painted more narrow.

Kitty Drowsy has the same big lashes and smaller pupils as Cripsy Drowsy.

Dirty even seems to have a smaller head than Crispy.

Anybody know the years on these girls?

Tomorrow we'll see a Drowsy 'cousin'. See you then.