See 'n Say

See 'n Say

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 several toys that uttered phrases when a cord protruding from their back was pulled, Mattel trademarked the word "chatty". All Mattel pull-string talking dolls and toys were packaged in boxes that read "A Chatty Toy" or "A Chatty Doll by Mattel". However, these toys spoke phrases at random when their cord 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." [http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/see-say.htm] 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 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. The stories were usually 18 pages long and titles included "Faraway Places" and "Ride Along With Us". (A pull-lever version of See 'n Say Talking Storybooks was released in the '90s with different titles.)

A Mother Goose See 'n Say that recited phrases from nursery rhymes was unveiled in 1969. Also that year, Mattel introduced Mister Circus Says and Sing-A-Song See 'n Say, both part of its Super See 'n Say line. These two, which were battery operated, worked slightly differently than earlier See 'n Says: instead of pulling a string, the pointer was pushed and released to make the toy talk. The battery-operated toys were able to recite longer phrases than earlier pull-string versions.

In the 1980s, See 'n Say pointers were streamlined into a uniform design, a large arrow with a sticker affixed to it depicting a bee, farmer, and so forth. By 1989, the chatty ring was replaced by a lever that could be pulled to make the toy talk. Chatty records were replaced with computer chips in the 1990s. The new toys still emit the same animal sounds that were used in the original 1965 See 'n Say.

The enduring popularity of — and nostalgic fondness for — the See 'n Say is indicated by its appearance in popular culture. The 1989 version of The Farmer Says See 'n Say is featured in the animated film "Toy Story" (1995). A more recent version of The Farmer Says See 'n Say appears in the film "Over the Hedge" (2006). On the "Family Guy" episode "Petarded", Peter Griffin uses a See 'n Say instead of a calculator on a mental test.

References

Kettelkamp, Sean. "Chatty Cathy and Her Talking Friends". Schiffer Publishing: 1998. ISBN 0-88740-954-7

External links

* [http://www.fisher-price.com/us/seensay/ See 'n Say US website]
* [http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/see-say.htm The inner workings of a mechanical See 'n Say] ----


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