See 'n Say
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See 'n Say is an educational toy created by Mattel in 1964 after the success of Chatty Cathy. It was the first Mattel talking toy allowing children to choose the exact phrase as heard. Although the first release focuses on farm animal sounds, it had spawned through many themes from the alphabet, counting, nursery rhymes, to licensed products.
As of October 2023, a version of the product was still available from Mattel.[1]
History
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
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 sheep, the phrase "The sheep goes...baa, baa" 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, the Farmer 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, the Zookeeper says which made Zoo Animal sounds, Mister Circus says which made Circus sounds and the Clock Says gave the time indicated by the position of the pointer on its face. A
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In the 1970s, See 'N Say pointers were streamlined into a uniform design, a large arrow with a
Playskool, a division of Hasbro manufactured the "Sounds Around" rival toy.
Chatty records were replaced with computer chips in 1989. The owl shaped See 'N Say, the "Whooo Says" used a push button to activate it, and was the first model to use a flip-page format as well as computer chips. The new version of the Farmer Says toy still emits the same farm animal sounds that were used in the original 1965 See 'N Say. In 2001, the "Kids Around the World" See 'N Say was introduced that developed a different format: identifying placements on the map, had a pointer that tells which game to play, touch button countries and continents, and gameplay.
In 2015, Little People released a new version of the 2003 "Farmer Says" version called "Farmer Eddie Says" and has a new voice given to the toy itself and has a different twist to two classic nursery rhymes such as "The Farmer in the Dell" and "Old MacDonald Had a Farm".
A replica of the 1989 model of The Farmer Says was featured in the 1995 Disney Pixar movie Toy Story, as a resident toy living in Andy’s Room, the 1970 pull string model of The Farmer Says appeared in Toy Story 3 (2010), being used as a roulette machine by Lotso’s minions.
References
- ^ "Little People® World Of Animals See 'N Say®". Mattel Shop. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
Further reading
- Kettelkamp, Sean. Chatty Cathy and Her Talking Friends. ISBN 0-88740-954-7