Mattel, Inc. is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth and Elliot Handler in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. Mattel has a presence in 35 countries and territories; its products are sold in more than 150 countries. Mattel consists of three business segments: North America, International and American Girl.
Cabbage Patch Kids are a line of cloth dolls with plastic heads first produced by Coleco Industries in 1982. They were inspired by the Little People soft sculptured dolls sold by Xavier Roberts as collectibles. The brand was renamed 'Cabbage Patch Kids' by Roger L. Schlaifer when he acquired the exclusive worldwide licensing rights in 1982.
Cindy Smart is a brand of doll manufactured by Manley Toy Quest. Introduced in 2002, Cindy Smart was the first doll that could see, capable of reading words in five languages, do basic math, and could tell time. The doll was first sold in the United States, and then in Australia beginning in 2003.
Tickle Me Elmo is a children's plush toy from Tyco Preschool, a division of Tyco Toys, of the Muppet character Elmo from the children's television show Sesame Street. When squeezed, Elmo recites his trademark giggle. When squeezed three times, Elmo shakes and vibrates.
Herman Munster is a fictional character in the CBS sitcom The Munsters, originally played by Fred Gwynne. The patriarch of the Munster household, Herman is one of Frankenstein’s monsters, created in a lab in Germany in the nineteenth century.
"Living Doll" is the 126th episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. In this episode, a dysfunctional family's problems are made worse when the child's doll proves to be sentient.
Chatty Cathy was a pull-string "talking" doll originally created by Ruth and Elliot Handler and manufactured by the Mattel toy company from 1959 to 1965. The doll was first released in stores and appeared in television commercials beginning in 1960, with a suggested retail price of $18.00, though usually priced under $10.00 in catalog advertisements. Chatty Cathy was on the market for six years and was the second most popular doll of the 1960s after Barbie.
Romper Room is an American children's television series that was franchised and syndicated from 1953 to 1994. The program targeted preschoolers, and was created and produced by Bert Claster and his presenter wife, Nancy, of Claster Television. The national version was presented by Nancy Terrell and filmed in Baltimore from its inception in 1953. Romper Room was also franchised internationally at various times in Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Finland, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, Argentina, and Australia.
"Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy" is the fourteenth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 95th episode overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 17, 1994. Lisa challenges the Malibu Stacy dollmakers to make a less sexist doll. With Malibu Stacy's original creator, Stacy Lovell, Lisa creates the doll Lisa Lionheart to positively influence young girls.
Charmin' Chatty was a doll produced by the toy company Mattel in 1963 and 1964. The doll, introduced at the American Toy Fair in New York City in March 1963, belonged to a line of highly successful talking dolls introduced in 1960. Other chatty dolls in the line were Chatty Baby (1962), Tiny Chatty Baby (1963), Tiny Chatty Brother (1963) and Singin' Chatty (1965). Mattel trademarked the word chatty in the 1960s, and some of the packaging for its talking toys carried the tag line, "A Chatty doll by Mattel" or "A Chatty toy by Mattel". Mattel dolls such as Drowsy, Baby Cheryl, and Tatters had the tag line on their boxes that said, "A Chatty Doll by Mattel."
Bernard Loomis was an American toy developer and marketer who introduced some of the world's most notable brands including Chatty Cathy, Barbie, Hot Wheels, Baby Alive, and Strawberry Shortcake, but perhaps his biggest marketing success was bringing a then-unknown film property called Star Wars to the toy shelves.
Matty Mattel was the boy mascot for Mattel Inc. Toymakers. As the "King of Toys," Matty was the host and sponsor of TV's Matty's Funday Funnies in the 1960s. Matty was part of Mattel's advertising from 1955 to 1970 and then renewed in the 1980s, printed in Mattel warranty information.
Blaze was a rocking horse toy produced by Mattel toymakers and introduced in 1961. Blaze was featured prominently during children's television advertising. Unlike other rocking-horses of the time, Blaze was mounted on a stand that was said to be "untippable" and had no springs. The apparatus prevented pinched fingers, and was fitted out with a mechanism that moved the horses legs in "real life action." Another Mattel feature allowed Blaze to talk when you pulled his "Magic Ring." His talking voice unit was the very same one produced by Mattel and unveiled in 1960 in its talking Chatty Cathy doll, and later toys like the Talking Mister Ed puppet. Blaze could say 11 different things like, "How about some hay?"; he could also whinny and neigh. A toy like this, that could gallop and move realistically when the horse was rocked forward and backward, was something special.
Shindana Toys, a division of Operation Bootstrap, Inc., was a South Central Los Angeles, California cooperative toy company in business from 1968 to 1983. It was launched as a black empowerment and community rejuvenation effort following the Watts riots. Company proceeds supported businesses in the Watts area. Named after the Swahili word roughly meaning "to compete," Shindana Toys was community-owned and founded by Louis S. Smith, II and Robert Hall. The latter was the company's first CEO and President; though he was succeeded in both posts by Smith. The Chase Manhattan Bank, the Mattel Toy Company, Sears Roebuck & Co., and Equitable Life Assurance helped finance portions of the Shindana Toys operations.
Teen Talk Barbie is an edition of Mattel's Barbie doll, introduced in 1992, that incorporates a voice box programmed to speak one of four randomly selected phrases when a button is pushed. It became controversial because one of the spoken phrases was "Math class is tough", and was also later used for a protest wherein some dolls had the voice boxes exchanged with those for Talking Duke G.I. Joe action figures produced by Hasbro.
Liddle Kiddles were dolls originally produced by toymaker Mattel Inc. in 1965. They were introduced at the New York Toy Fair in 1966 and put on the market soon after. Initially about 3 inches tall, they were small by doll standards. The sensation surrounding the dolls may have influenced other toy companies to produce their own tiny dolls.
Elliot Handler was an American inventor, businessman, and the co-founder of Mattel. With his wife, Ruth Handler, he developed some of the biggest-selling toys in American history, including Barbie, Chatty Cathy, Creepy Crawlers, and Hot Wheels.
A pullstring, pullcord, or pullchain is a string, cord, or chain wound on a spring-loaded spindle that engages a mechanism when it is pulled. It is most commonly used in toys and motorized equipment. More generally and commonly, a pullstring can be any type of string, cord, rope, or chain, attached to an object in some way used to pull or mechanically manipulate part of it.
