The man who made the world’s first talking machine also wanted to make it fun for kids. That is how Edison came up with the world’s first talking dolls, in 1877. His idea was to make those dolls available for the Christmas sales in the same year, but their release happened only in 1890 due to some production problems.
The talking dolls were sold under the label of the Edison Toy Phonograph Company. The dolls had tiny cylinder phonographs inside them, worked by a spring motor. Voices of the dolls were recorded by girls reciting nursery rhymes. The talking dolls were fun, but they did not have a happy ending. The inside mechanism often came loose during shipping and the ring-shaped wax records wore out fast, causing crackles in the sound. Also, some children were frightened of their dolls talking!
Ultimately, Edison’s talking dolls were a failure in the market. All of the unsold phonographs made for those dolls were destroyed by 1896.
Picture Credit : Google
