top of page

Pastor Glenn McDonald: Chatty Cathy

George Fritsma

For generations of toymakers, the Holy Grail was a doll that could talk.

 

Thomas Edison gave it his best shot. During the late 1800s he planted actual phonograph records inside dolls. But the technology proved to be unreliable, and communication was limited to the single word “Mama.” Besides, an Edison talking doll retailed for an astonishing $10 – something like $300 in today’s economy.

 

The breakthrough came in 1960 from Mattel’s creative husband-wife team of Ruth and Elliot Handler, whom the year before had introduced the world to a doll named Barbie.

 

The Handlers’ talking doll was named Chatty Cathy. She “spoke” whenever a child pulled her “chatty ring,” which was attached to a string leading to a metal coil in her back, which activated a hidden voice unit.  

 

The original version of Cathy would randomly speak one of 11 phrases. They included “Tell me a story,” “Please take me with you,” and, of course, “I love you.” Three years later, an upgraded version of the doll featured seven more, including “May I have a cookie?” and “Let’s play school,” for a grand total of 18 recorded phrases.

 

Cathy’s chatter was provided by cartoon voice actress June Foray, best known as the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel in Rocky & Bullwinkle, as well as Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Interestingly, when Mattel reintroduced the doll in 1970, the voice was that of Maureen McCormick, who achieved celebrity as Marcia Brady in The Brady Bunch.

 

Mattel quickly introduced a number of other talking dolls, including Chatty Baby and Tiny Chatty Brother.

 

Fortunately, they never released Chatty Pastor, a doll whose sermons droned on and on and made everyone late for Sunday brunch, and who said things like, “That reminds me of another story,” and “I think you’ll be blessed if we look more closely at this Greek verb.” 

 

Why was Chatty Cathy such a hit?

 

As Christopher Byrne points out in his book Toy Time, she was the first talking doll that actually worked and that the average family could afford.

 

Byrne notes, “She wasn’t a baby who had to be taken care of; she was a playmate who shared all the dreams and adventures that little girls imagined. It was the talking that created her special magic. When Mom, a sister, or a best friend wasn’t around to play house or say ‘I love you’…Cathy was.”

 

What about the power of speech in the realm of religion? Can we ever hope to receive a word from God?

 

Adherents of Hinduism, Buddhism, and other Eastern faiths have no expectation of hearing a divine Voice, since they imagine divinity to be impersonal.

 

New Age devotees turn inward. Since “the divine” dwells within us, the only words we need to hear are the ones that come from our own mouths.

 

Neo-pagans listen for the “voices” of the natural order, or the spirits associated with them. Scientific materialists simply laugh. Electrons, quarks, and neutrinos – components of the meaningless, purposeless mass of cosmic particles – have nothing to say.

 

Things are different for devotees of the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

 

The God who created and rules the universe is actually there. God thinks, cares, plans, and acts.  

 

Above all, God speaks. God doesn’t leave us in the dark concerning what’s on his heart. That’s clear from the Old Testament prophets:

 

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).

 

Consider the opening line of the New Testament book of Hebrews:

 

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:1-2).  According to the Gospel of John, Jesus doesn’t just bring God’s Word. He himself is the Word (John 1:1, 14).

 

Scripture affirms that God has spoken in the past. And God’s people have every reason to expect that he is speaking still.

 

But that doesn’t mean God is a divine version of Chatty Cathy.

 

It’s all too easy to assemble a private collection of phrases that we love to hear from God – perhaps 18 of our favorite promises and assurances. Isn’t it appropriate to want to hear from the King of the Cosmos, again and again, those three incredible words, “I love you”?  Of course.

 

But being God’s person does not come down to tugging on a divine chatty ring and receiving only the words and phrases we find easy to digest.

 

He has so much more to say – if only we have ears to hear.

 

God the Son calls us to bless people who insult us to our face. To visit prisoners whom others would just as soon forget. To stop worrying about anything at all. To choose God instead of money as the ultimate security. To pursue servanthood as the pathway to greatness.

 

The God Who Speaks is not only the greatest gift we can imagine, but the One who will challenge us to live a fundamentally different kind of life.

 

And the best thing of all?

 

He’s also the friend and companion we will never outgrow.

5 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


JOIN US

Everyone is welcome as we respond to God's love and mercy through worship, service and fellowship.

CONTACT US

205.655.0460

 

6110 Deerfoot Parkway
Trussville, AL  35173

 

office@cahabaspringschurch.org

SIGN UP FOR OUR
WEEKLY CHURCHCAST
  • Facebook - White Circle

© 2019 by CAHABA SPRINGS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA). Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page