Mel Birnkrant's
Mel Birnkrant's
All Original Toy Concepts, Written and Photographic content is Copyright MEL BIRNKRANT

If my memory does not fail me, this item was called “Baby Talk.” Talk about being caught between technologies! Over the past quarter century telephones have changed so rapidly that an item like Baby Talk could no sooner be conceived, than it would immediately be obsolete. Ironically, and wholly unintentionally, I pictured the symbolic image of the old fashioned telephone that I grew up with on the baby’s dress. While the remote phone, in her hands, was, at that time, on the cutting edge!
The product write-up for this item is apparently long gone, now. But the arrows on the acetate overlay for the drawing, more or less, explain how it was intended to operate. If there ever was a doll that needed to be prototyped to sell, this was it. I have a feeling that I might have felt a little guilty for not taking the trouble to createt one. I’m speculating that this might explain why I seemingly tried a little harder to lavish more attention on rendering the baby. It was unusual for me to make such a belabored effort.

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Baby Talk was, essentially, a short-range walkie-talkie, hidden in a doll. Signals for voice and motion commands originated in the remote phone. As far as I can figure out from studying the comments on the overlay, this concept was a rather complex attempt at Remote Control. Clearly, it was was intended to do a lot of things. Unfortunately, one thing it could not do was control destiny. And, therefore, not surprisingly, it didn’t move the needle on any buyer’s applause meter.