Talking Tamu

Tamu is shown as illustrated, described, and valued in The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls (Hobby House Press, 2003).

Talking Tamu by Shindana Toys, a Division of Operation Bootstrap, has the copyright year of 1970.  The doll was reintroduced in the company's 1973 catalog.  I acquired my doll (shown in the above photo from my first book) in the 1990s/early 2000s.  My doll, as I have lovingly described her, is mute but cute!  The option to have her talking mechanism repaired has never entered my mind because to do so would tamper with her never-removed-from-box state.  I prefer to keep her almost exactly as she was when the hands of the Shindana dollmakers created her during the 1970s.  If she still talked, she would be exactly as she was when she left the Shindana Toys doll factory in Watts, California.

I recently had the pleasure of communicating online with @dollstoyscomics, who has a Talking Tamu that does talk!  The 17 sweet phrases (and/or sounds) that Tamu recites were kindly shared with me by @dollstoyscomics, who also shared the above photo of the little doll behind the sweet voice.

Listen to what Tamu says in the following YouTube audio:




Talking Tamu's voice is quite clear after all these years.  Below is a transcript of what she says in the YouTube audio:

 1.  Tell me a story.
 2.  Tamu means sweet.
 3.  Pick me up.
 4.  My name is Tamu.
 5.  Let's play house.
 6.  Lay me down.
 7.  I'm proud like you.
 8.  Can you dig it?
 9.  Cool it baby.
10. (Crying sound)
11.  Do you like my dress?
12.  (Laughs)
13.  Give me a kiss.
14.  Hold me tight.
15.  I love you.
16.  I'm hungry.
17.  I'm sleepy.

One of Tamu's biggest fans

Felicia Ann Beaty at around age 5 is shown with Talking Tamu, her favorite doll as a child.

It's no doubt that countless 1970s little girls enjoyed their Talking Tamu dolls.  Felicia Ann Betty of Morristown, NJ said,  "That was my favorite doll as a child!"  She has the picture to prove it as indicated above in a photo taken in 1970 or 1971 when she was around 5 years old.

Thank you again @dollstoyscomics for sharing Talking Tamu's sweet voice with me and for giving me permission to share here.

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If you have not watched KCET.net's 26-minute Shindana Toys documentary you can do so below.


Additionally, to promote KCET.net's documentary on the Shindana Toy Company, there are two very interesting articles about Shindana Toys and Operation Bootstrap published on their website that Shindana doll enthusiasts and doll historians will enjoy.  Links to these articles, written by Nadra Nittle and Yolanda Hester, respectively, are included below:

Operation Bootstrap:  Empowering the African American Community Through Entrepreneurship

Shindana Toys:  Dolls That Made a Difference

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