Name: Talking Tamu
Year: 1970
Manufacturer: Shindann Toys
Accessories: dress
Talking Doll Phrases:
1. Can you dig it?
2. Cool it Baby!
3. Do you like my dress?
4. crying (sound effect)
5. Tamu means Sweet!
6. giggling (sound effect)
7. Give me a kiss.
8. Hold me Tight.
9. I love you.
10. I'm Proud like you!
11. I'm hungry!
12. I'm Sleepy.
13. Lay me down.
14. Let's play house!
15. My name is Tamu.
16. Tell me a story.
17. Pick me up.
Not much is known or written about this doll on the internet. I can only tell you that the name Tamu means "Sweet" in Swahili and that this doll is absolutely adorable.
Mattel was one of the companies that helped Shindana toys in its early years and so it comes as no surprise that Tamu is a "Drowsy" doll body form with a different head mold and outfit. Actually, a vintage Casper from 1961 is also on this style body. The doll is a standard Mattel talker in every way that counts. To make her talk, you pull the string on her side and let it go, which in turn places a needle on a recording at random points on the disc and you will hear one of 17 sounds and phrases. Its a low tech but fun idea that stops working once the "O" ring belt drive dries out. For this reason, talking dolls must be repaired after a while and few are still talking from their original factory days, even if they've never been played with. In fact, to help keep a talker talking, pull the string from time to time to keep the belt and parts lubed up.
She has a HUGE number of phrases as you can see above, plus crying and giggling. You can search google or whatever other engine you prefer for more infomation on the Shindana toy company history. You will only find a few pages. Below is a photo of an exceptionally nice NRFB Tamu with very full hair. I don't have photos of my Tamu, yet. I hope to add some soon.
My Talking Tamu sitting with Talking Drowsy, Talking Casper (1961) and a Mattel Bean Baby doll (she's the non-talking variety).
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