How Do Talking Dolls Work

The doll’s talking mechanism was activated by a pull-string that hung out of its back. Pulling the string turned a grooved disc inside the doll’s body, and a metal needle produced sound from the disc by traveling through the grooves. Essentially, it was a tiny record player.

How did Chatty Cathy work?

This groundbreaking Mattel doll, created in 1959, could speak 11 phrases when its “chatty ring” was activated with a pull of the string on its back. Inside the doll’s stomach was a lo-fi phonograph record activated by a metal coil wound around a pulley.

What is a talking doll?

Description. This example of an Edison talking doll has a ceramic head, a metal body, and articulated limbs made from painted wood. Inside the torso is mounted a tiny phonograph bearing a brown wax record that recites the children’s rhyme “Jack and Jill,” as recorded by a young woman.