All-TIME 100 Greatest Toys

The early 1960s were the heyday of talking toys. After Mattel's success with the Chatty Cathy doll, the company in 1965 released the See 'n Say, an audio toy with an educational twist. The original version had a clocklike face that played the sound of a barnyard animal when you rotated the center arrow to a picture of that animal. The toy used the technology developed by Thomas Edison for his gramophone, the first device created to replay sound. After the original See 'n Say became a hit, Mattel produced several variations on the toy, with audio of everything from the voices of famous characters to the alphabet.