1 00:00:03,090 --> 00:00:06,170 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,940 --> 00:00:13,360 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb, and this is The Artifact, 3 00:00:13,420 --> 00:00:16,040 Speaker 2: a short-form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing 4 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:25,120 Speaker 2: on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time. Who doesn't 5 00:00:25,180 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 2: love a good creepy talking doll? Our horror films and 6 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:32,360 Speaker 2: TV shows are, of course, full with them. From talky 7 00:00:32,420 --> 00:00:37,460 Speaker 2: Tina in the Twilight Zone episode Living Doll back in 63, 8 00:00:37,460 --> 00:00:41,600 Speaker 2: Chucky in 1988's Child's Play, to more recent high-tech terror 9 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:45,220 Speaker 2: such as Megan and its sequel. Even the old Twilight 10 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:48,460 Speaker 2: Zone episode that was based on an actual Mattel talking doll, 11 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:52,500 Speaker 2: Chatty Cathy, which debuted in 1959. But all of this 12 00:00:52,620 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 2: has a creepy and much earlier predecessor in the form 13 00:00:55,690 --> 00:01:00,850 Speaker 2: of Thomas Edison's singing phonograph doll. Yes, long before Teddy 14 00:01:00,930 --> 00:01:03,770 Speaker 2: Ruxpin or any of the AI horrors that we have today. 15 00:01:04,709 --> 00:01:08,970 Speaker 2: Back in 1889, American inventor and businessman Thomas Edison produced 16 00:01:09,020 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 2: a toy that certainly looked like your standard-issue doll. Like, 17 00:01:14,060 --> 00:01:17,540 Speaker 2: not quite a baby doll, but like a young girl doll. However, 18 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 2: beneath its gown, the doll's torso was a metal chassis 19 00:01:21,420 --> 00:01:24,310 Speaker 2: with slits in it. And inside of this chassis, you 20 00:01:24,340 --> 00:01:28,750 Speaker 2: had a simple phonograph device that allowed it to, quote-unquote, sing... 21 00:01:28,970 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 2: Mary Had a Little Lamb, or another nursery rhyme, depending 22 00:01:32,420 --> 00:01:35,899 Speaker 2: on what had been pre-recorded and loaded into the doll. 23 00:01:36,580 --> 00:01:39,020 Speaker 2: As discussed on the website of the Henry Ford Museum, 24 00:01:39,060 --> 00:01:41,259 Speaker 2: only a hundred or so of the dolls were ever made. 25 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:45,060 Speaker 2: The mechanism proved too unreliable, and the singing voice a 26 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 2: bit garbled, a bit creepy even, kind of a droning 27 00:01:49,020 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 2: that a lot of sources indicate creeped children out. Now, 28 00:01:54,100 --> 00:01:58,900 Speaker 2: here's the thing. Looking back on childlike whimsy from prior ages, 29 00:01:59,300 --> 00:02:01,860 Speaker 2: it's easy for us to judge them as frightening. People 30 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 2: are always going on about creepy clowns, but come on, 31 00:02:05,380 --> 00:02:09,040 Speaker 2: clowns of old were a delight by and large. We 32 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:13,500 Speaker 2: often misinterpret them or we reinterpret them through the lens 33 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,829 Speaker 2: of our modern horror sensibilities. However, it really does seem 34 00:02:17,850 --> 00:02:21,850 Speaker 2: the case that Edison's dollies gave at least some people 35 00:02:21,910 --> 00:02:24,290 Speaker 2: the willies, as we'll get into. But on the other hand, 36 00:02:24,810 --> 00:02:27,329 Speaker 2: it might have been overblown to a certain extent as well. 37 00:02:27,860 --> 00:02:31,490 Speaker 2: So as Patrick Feaster points out, in a cultural history 38 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:35,670 Speaker 2: of the Edison talking doll record for Thomas Edison National 39 00:02:35,690 --> 00:02:38,770 Speaker 2: Historical Park, talking dolls, of course, had been around for 40 00:02:38,830 --> 00:02:42,010 Speaker 2: decades at this point. But they were dependent on things 41 00:02:42,050 --> 00:02:45,250 Speaker 2: like reeds and bellows. They were very limited in what 42 00:02:45,310 --> 00:02:48,380 Speaker 2: they could say. So mostly you had baby dolls that 43 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,540 Speaker 2: could say mama or papa, that sort of thing. They 44 00:02:51,580 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 2: certainly couldn't sing an entire song. Phonograph technology, Edison figured, 45 00:02:56,880 --> 00:02:59,460 Speaker 2: would enable dolls to say a whole lot more, and 46 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:02,380 Speaker 2: he figured there would be a market for this. Obviously, 47 00:03:02,419 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 2: there ultimately would be a market for this, but the 48 00:03:06,100 --> 00:03:09,260 Speaker 2: first technology to tackle a problem like this is going 49 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:12,260 Speaker 2: to run into some problems. The sounds could be recorded 50 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:16,000 Speaker 2: and then replayed inside the doll, and Feaster goes into 51 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:18,980 Speaker 2: great detail about the steps Edison and his team made, 52 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:24,210 Speaker 2: overcoming technological details, miniaturization of the technology, making it durable 53 00:03:24,270 --> 00:03:26,450 Speaker 2: enough to hold up to the sort of play that 54 00:03:26,490 --> 00:03:28,829 Speaker 2: children were going to inflict on these dolls, as well 55 00:03:28,850 --> 00:03:32,930 Speaker 2: as some legal hurdles to actually produce the dolls as well, 56 00:03:32,990 --> 00:03:36,930 Speaker 2: getting into patents and so forth. However, he merely mentions 57 00:03:36,970 --> 00:03:41,390 Speaker 2: that the public generally found the dolls unintelligible rather than creepy. 58 00:03:41,750 --> 00:03:44,170 Speaker 2: And the ultimate failure of the dolls seems to have 59 00:03:44,250 --> 00:03:46,390 Speaker 2: mostly been due to the high price tag. It would 60 00:03:46,410 --> 00:03:49,990 Speaker 2: have been the equivalent of $ 200 today. And according to 61 00:03:50,090 --> 00:03:53,830 Speaker 2: NPR's Nita Ulabi reporting in 2015, You know, that was 62 00:03:53,870 --> 00:03:59,210 Speaker 2: very much the case. Sources indicate that Thomas Edison later 63 00:03:59,290 --> 00:04:02,910 Speaker 2: himself referred to the dolls after their failure as, quote unquote, 64 00:04:02,990 --> 00:04:06,200 Speaker 2: little monsters. So, you know, there's a little bit of 65 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,020 Speaker 2: room here to interpret this as a view that the 66 00:04:09,060 --> 00:04:11,520 Speaker 2: dolls were on some level creepy. But again, it seems 67 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:13,820 Speaker 2: like most of the emphasis is going to be on 68 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:19,089 Speaker 2: high price tag, the unintelligible quality of what they were singing. 69 00:04:19,110 --> 00:04:21,130 Speaker 2: They just sounded garbled. It was kind of a droning. 70 00:04:21,700 --> 00:04:24,220 Speaker 2: And at the same time, yeah, I can imagine this 71 00:04:24,260 --> 00:04:25,979 Speaker 2: kind of creeping out some kids. I don't think that's 72 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 2: too much of a stretch. Feaster writes that Edison eventually 73 00:04:30,170 --> 00:04:33,589 Speaker 2: had all of the phonographs removed from the little monsters 74 00:04:33,670 --> 00:04:37,890 Speaker 2: that had not been sold and, according to legend, possibly buried, 75 00:04:38,350 --> 00:04:41,930 Speaker 2: while the dolls themselves were then sold mute to children 76 00:04:42,230 --> 00:04:46,070 Speaker 2: who presumably were perfectly capable of supplying voices for the 77 00:04:46,110 --> 00:04:49,730 Speaker 2: dolls themselves. Isn't that always the case? We turn to 78 00:04:49,750 --> 00:04:53,450 Speaker 2: some sort of technological adaptation that's going to enable a 79 00:04:53,510 --> 00:04:56,990 Speaker 2: toy to talk. But children have never had a problem 80 00:04:57,190 --> 00:04:59,190 Speaker 2: getting a toy to talk. Children have never had a 81 00:04:59,250 --> 00:05:01,980 Speaker 2: problem getting a toy to move. I mean, that's how 82 00:05:02,060 --> 00:05:05,599 Speaker 2: play works. Not to say that some of these technological 83 00:05:05,700 --> 00:05:08,760 Speaker 2: advancements haven't made for some fun toys, but at the 84 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:11,539 Speaker 2: end of the day, I mean, imagination is the driving force. 85 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:14,599 Speaker 2: But here's one last little bit of horror flavoring for you. 86 00:05:14,940 --> 00:05:19,570 Speaker 2: Imagine those little voice boxes, those little phonographs. buried somewhere secretly, 87 00:05:19,910 --> 00:05:23,250 Speaker 2: perhaps still whispering, pleading for the day when they might 88 00:05:23,330 --> 00:05:28,050 Speaker 2: be reunited with their little antique bodies. Tune in for 89 00:05:28,070 --> 00:05:30,730 Speaker 2: additional episodes of The Artifact, The Monster Fact, or Animalia 90 00:05:30,750 --> 00:05:31,730 Speaker 2: Stupendium each week. 91 00:05:46,650 --> 00:05:49,099 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio. 92 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:52,820 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple 93 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:55,210 Speaker 1: Podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows.