It started out as a simple hobby when, lo and behold, I realized I have just accumulated 20,000 distinct toy characters in my collection... and the number is still growing. This blog is a great space to share to others just how amazing some of these characters are especially the ones that may have been forgotten or perhaps even those deemed insignificant. Visit Percy's World of Toys as often as you can and witness how the list progresses right before your eyes. Enjoy.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
2578. See 'n Say Dino
See 'n Say is an educational toy created by the toy company Mattel in 1965 after the success of its talking Chatty Cathy doll.
In the 1960s, after introducing a line of talking dolls that said different phrases when a string protruding from their upper back was pulled, Mattel trademarked the word chatty. Several Mattel pull-string talking dolls and toys were packaged in boxes that read "A Chatty Toy" or "A Chatty Doll by Mattel". However, these dolls and toys spoke phrases at random when their "chatty ring" was pulled. See 'n Say, introduced in 1965, was the first Mattel talking toy that allowed children to choose the exact phrase they wanted to hear by adjusting a pointer on the toy's face to a particular item and pulling the "chatty ring."[1] The Farmer Says See 'n Say made animal sounds when a pointer shaped like a miniature farmer was aimed at pictures of animals on its dial. For example, when pointed at an image of a duck, the phrase "This is a duck...quack, quack, quack" was heard. Likewise, the Bee Says See 'n Say recited different letters of the alphabet ("G...Girl") when its bee-shaped pointer was aimed at them. Unlike other toys, the original See 'n Says required no batteries. Instead, sound was produced by a simple low-fidelity phonograph record driven by a metal coil wound by pulling the toy's string. This was the same mechanism used in Chatty Cathy dolls.
After the success of the Bee Says and the Farmer Says See 'n Says, Mattel introduced several other toys in the line. The Mister Sound Says made city sounds, the Mister Music Says reproduced sounds of musical instruments, and the Clock Says gave the time indicated by the position of the pointer on its face. A Doctor Dolittle Says edition was released after the 1967 film Doctor Dolittle, and See 'n Says featuring Disney characters were introduced in 1968. Also introduced in 1968 were See 'n Say Talking Storybooks. Children would open the book to a page, aim the pointer at the arrow printed on the page, and pull the chatty ring. A pull-lever version of See 'n Say Talking Storybooks was released in the '90s with different titles.
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