This toy talks. It talks. It’s an inanimate object and it talks. Imagine the delight and awe of the average toddler in the 1960s who received a See ‘n Say. It was like having a little minion that imitated all sorts of sounds at your command. Pretty heady stuff for a 4-year old.

See ‘n Say was circular, made of brightly colored plastic and at first featured pictures of different animals on the clock-like face. An arrow in the middle spun when the rope was pulled and the magic voice said, “The (insert animal name here) says, (insert animal sound here)”. So maybe the voice wasn’t exactly magic; in fact it was barely recognizable as human (or animal) speech but it would last as long as it took the string to retract inside the toy. Perhaps the most fun to be had came from speeding up or slowing down the recording by manually forcing the arrow to go faster or slower. You could put the See ‘n Say down on the floor and really go to town on that arrow, turning a rooster’s joyful crow into a protracted death rattle.

The technology behind this Mattel marvel was surprisingly simple. It was the same as that developed for Thomas Edison’s phonograph and that might explain the quality of sound. Still, for children who had never heard a cow moo or a sheep baah, it was just peachy. And, batteries were not required.

A plastic lever eventually replaced the string, being a sturdier and safer choice for repeat pullings. The barnyard See ‘n Say remained a favorite but was joined by other educational versions and by some that were purely for entertainment. In the 70s, See ‘n Say went electronic, leaving behind its mechanical roots and entering the digital age. It’s still a popular toy for modern preschoolers who are probably unaware of its long and illustrious history.