I was 6 years old and so excited to finally get my chatty-cathy
a doll with a string in the back
that you could pull and she would talk
(18 phrases at random)
‘please take me with you’
‘may I have a cookie?’
‘I love you.’
she was a wonderful doll
we were happy together
until
I came home one day
and noticed to my horror
that my oldest sister
had given her a haircut
(picture a choppy hacked pixie cut with stringy bits)
I did not have a good reaction to it
I exploded in tears
very dramatically
sobbing and instantly tattling on her
chatty’s hair never grew back
and one day she was gone.
(the doll, not my sister)
after all these years
I still bring it up
to my sister
every so often
she always tells me
she had no idea
I would have such a strong reaction
she was just trying to give her a fancy hair style
and while I have long-ago forgiven her
I still have no idea
what chatty may have said to her during the haircut.
‘
—
“a beloved doll’s voice speaks directly to your soul
in a way that cannot be explained in words.”
-gayle wray
p.s. I am not a fan of dolls as an adult, they kind of terrify me, especially talking ones.
—
image credit: Mattel Toys
I grew up with a teddy bear who just disappeared one day. Since then up until now, I am still wondering what happened to him. My mum recalled she might have thrown it or given it away. I miss him dearly.
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funny how these things stick with us –
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I know, that’s why we have to be very careful with kids.
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true, you never know what the things will be that matter so much to them at any given moment
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I agree!
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Hard to know what they’ll be
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Yeah, that’s why child safety is such a big thing as well. I’m glad here in Australia and in New Zealand they have this Work with Children’s Check before you can get to work for kids. I am a paediatric nurse and we can be as close as carers to them when parents are away. Children are just so innocent and they believe on everything you say! They look up on us to take care of them. I hope Philippines my home country will have the same system as the other countries to protect kids from abuse and violence.
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I’m all for this, as a pre-kindy teacher, mother, and grandmother
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Ah, The wounds of childhood inflicted by siblings can be forgiven but not forgotten. 😉
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yes, and I think I still bring it up to my sister to make her feel guilty ))
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That’s the way this works. 😂
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it’s part of my job in life )
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Yup!
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That is very, very true…
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👍😊
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You’re a real doll yourself, Beth:)
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and I do love to chatter )
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I agree with your adult assessment of talking dolls. Those are the episodes of shows like the Twilight Zone that I can’t watch. 😉 My grown daughters still have their stuffed animal friends though–and their Barbies and American Girls dolls are packed up here for them to take someday.
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yes, exactly. and that is sweet –
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Thats a sad tale. Many of us have one special toy that we remember into adulthood. I had a toy rabbit which, after a lot of thought, I called “Rabbit!!!”
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I was very overly dramatic looking back and the fact that it eventually went away and I didn’t notice it tells you something. but nonetheless, I still bring it up to her )
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My memory is how these pull-talk toys used to develop a skip like a scratched record, Beth!
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yes! so true –
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I wasn’t a huge doll lover even as a child. I did, however, have brothers who cut hair. Mine. 😂
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same approach, different subject, and much more real impact. about once a year, I have a child in my class who will cut a piece of someones’ hair, often their own, or be the ‘victim’ of a cutting. I think that kids don’t get that it does not instantly come back, or ever come back in the case of a doll.
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I think you are right. We grow up getting hair cuts so it only makes sense we think of it as something we can do. 🙂
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and it takes a while for children to understand the concept of permanence –
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My daughters bought me a replacement Chatty Cathy for my birthday a few years ago. The clothes were not original, but the phrases were (although there were more than one set of phrases they managed to get the right one). My doll’s hair was auburn. Auburn. The first time I ever heard that word and I fell in love with it and felt it was very exotic. I am not sure what happened to mine, but I would have had a similar reaction if anyone had cut her auburn hair. (I have a working, talking Chatty Cathy ornament on my Christmas tree, too.)
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Wow, that is amazing! And, auburn- yes so exotic!
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How awful. One more reason I’m glad I’m an only. No one ever touched my stuff. LOLOLOL
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Great point and I’m sure my sibs would agree. ))
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I had a ‘teddy bear’ with a very long, real bear looking, nose. He was stuffed with sawdust. He was very ‘lean and hard’ not the soft kind we know now. His name was Fritzli. I loved him literally to death; I remember that his ‘fur’ was off at many places – and one day he disappeared forever. I would love to blame a sibling but I think my parents decided in their wisdom that I didn’t need Fritzli any longer and gave him to another deserving kid…. I’ve never forgotten him!
I am petrified by talking dolls – was and am. As I am of Barbies etc. They have no place in my life. Or maybe I was just so jealous of other children who HAD them that I’ve built a wall 😉
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Hahahahaha- I truly did enjoy dolls as a child, but now they scare me ). Sad about your Fritzli
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My parents were ‘cruel’ with me, being the oldest. Already we were quite on the poor side, although we never lacked truly anything. My dad as a carpenter and cabinet maker, but most certainly a fully fledged DIY king, made us stuff which all disappeared. Dolls’ house with full interior and furniture, shops with shelves, etc., a wooden rocking horse with leather ears and saddle, puppet beds which ‘grew’ with the dolls, he was a wizard – and – apart from the rocking horse which went to my son, it ALL WENT AWAY w/o us ever being asked about our feelings…. Usually the standard reply was: We gave it to someone who hasn’t got it/needs it/is younger. Heck, it still makes me twitchy with envy.
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you are so lucky to have had those really special things, though I’m sure the giving away was always hard –
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“One day she was gone. The doll not my sister.” 😂 great story
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thanks so much, sandra )
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Ha! I remember Chatty Cathy. I didn’t have one. My parents had the idea that I could make my dolls talk myself. I also didn’t have a sister…but I had a little brother. One year he got an intercom (wired of course, as it was 1966). He wanted to put one in my room and one in his room. I didn’t want it. I wanted him to leave me alone (I was about to become a teenager). I accidentally broke his intercom and it was never used. I will never forget the crushed look on his freckled face. It was a little thing but…
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isn’t it funny the things that stick with us?
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It is. Stuff like that that you can never fix. 😦
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She was a fixture in our house too. She lasted a good long while and survived a couple decades.
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Sturdy
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Hair today, gone tomorrow! ♡´・ᴗ・`♡
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Yes -)
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♡ʕ*ノᴥノʔ♡
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My sister had a Chatty Cathy doll that she loved for years, but her true love was her stuffed monkey. She carried it everywhere until Mom couldn’t stuff it or patch it anymore.
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Aw, the monkey –
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Haha I never had a talking doll, but I must say I played nicely with my sister. We loved combing but never cutting. I do have a great sister… still now! 🙂
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Lucky!
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Isn’t it interesting the stories we remember from our childhood? I could just picture in my mind the bad haircut and the tantrum to follow.
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it really is – and I’m sure my response was way over the top, but it seemed right at the time –
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There was a little record player inside the doll that tightened a spring that made the turntable run. All the phrases were on this little record and would play at random based on where the record had stopped the last time. We all had puppets that had those taking boxes in them. One brother got Beany, one got Cecil, and I got Dishonest John. Nyah-ah-ah!
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I remember beany and cecil! thanks for the inside story about how it worked, I just assumed she was magic
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I suppose I got the best alternative to Chatty Cathy – the one doll I remember had a hairdo that could be long or short (she had a knob in her head that allowed you to “screw in” her long hair). I also had a brother, not a sister so he never took an interest in the doll. We played with our teddies together. I still have my teddies, one with an eye broken and hardly any fur. Don’t know what ever happened to the doll. I guess we ran out of things to talk about. Somehow bears listen better.
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I love hearing these stories, this topic stirs up so many memories for all of us –
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In hindsight, it sounds kind of nice having this in your back pocket to pull out whenever you feel the need to with your sister… 🙂
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That’s true )
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I cut my own doll’s hair (straightened it first). I don’t think I would have been too pleased had my sister done it. 🙂
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I think you are probably right )
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🙂
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Pingback: Chatty Cathy – The Talking Doll | thekitschwitch
My youngest daughter gave her sister’s favorite Barbie Doll a new do… Not a pretty picture!
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Oh, I can imagine…)
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Oh, no! I would have felt the same way if my sister cut My Barbie doll’s hair. I never had a Chatty Cathy doll, but always wanted one. The things children remember and harbor. That’s why I like teaching little ones.
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me too!
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🙁
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You have to love siblings. They give us things to write about. My only doll was hard plastic with no real hair. My 18 month old sister somehow managed to throw it in a storm drain on the front of our rental house. She was like greased lightning and mom couldn’t keep up with her. I found the doll and mom hid it from my sister. It turned up 40 years later after having been given to a cousin. The brothers were easier on my things than my sister. 😉
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oh my, that is so funny/sad. brothers are certainly different
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Wow! That’s a tough memory, Beth. Chatty Cathy was huge in the day. I had a Pitiful Pearl who I adored. Loved your story!
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thanks, and here’s to pearl -)
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Haha. Poor Cathy.
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I felt for her )
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🙂
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