Matty Mattel was the boy mascot for

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

Inc. Toymakers. As the "King of Toys," Matty was the host and sponsor of TV's''

Matty's Funday Funnies ''Matty's Funday Funnies'' is a 1959—1961 American animated anthology television series. Broadcast history The original ''Matty's Funday Funnies'' was broadcast from 1959 to 1961 by American Broadcasting Company, scheduled during Sunday after ...

'' in the 1960s. Matty was part of Mattel's advertising from 1955 to 1970 and then renewed in the 1980s, printed in Mattel warranty information.

History

The serrated seal logo for Mattel was designed in 1955 and based on a concept by Mattel co-founder

Elliot Handler Elliot Handler (April 9, 1916 – July 21, 2011) was an American inventor, businessman, and co-founder of Mattel. With his wife, Ruth Handler, he developed some of the biggest-selling toys in American history, including Barbie, Chatty Cathy ...

. The character of "Matty" derived his name from Mattel, which was named after founders, Harold Mattson and Elliot Handler - thus, the hybrid name of Matt + El (short for Elliot) yielded Mattel. This serrated seal, sometimes referred to as 'The Mattel', had a giant letter M in the center with a small boy shown waving, and wearing a crown on his head; this was Matty. Matty was featured on all Mattel products and TV commercials from 1959 through 1970 as the company's

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

. He was the familiar mascot that jumped atop the giant "M" in Mattel TV commercials and shouted, ''"You can tell it's Mattel. IT'S SWELL!"'' The serrated seal with Matty seated and waving from the giant "M" was replaced with a new serrated seal design with Mattel's name printed across it in 1970, which was the company's 25th anniversary. The new serrated seal is still used today.

TV

Matty Mattel and his Sister Belle hosted a Sunday morning cartoon show called ''

'' from 1961 to 1963. Cartoon shorts of Casper the Friendly Ghost,

Beany and Cecil ''Beany and Cecil'' is a 1962 animated television series created by Bob Clampett for the American Broadcasting Company. The cartoon was based on the television puppet show '' Time for Beany'', which Clampett produced for Paramount Pictures compan ...

and Harvey Cartoons were a big part of the show, in-between Mattel toy commercials that were duly shown. Matty, Sister Belle, and Casper the ghost were the first talking dolls produced by Mattel after introducing

Chatty Cathy Chatty Cathy is a pull string "talking" doll originally created by Ruth and Elliot Handler and manufactured by the Mattel toy company from 1959 to 1965. The doll was first released in stores and appeared in television commercials beginning in 196 ...

, who came on the market in 1960. Matty and Sister Belle were on the market from 1961 to 1963. Casper was produced from 1961 to 1963 in crisp white terry cloth, while in 1964-65, he was made of white plush but was essentially the same doll. In 1962 and 1963, the show's name was changed to ''Matty's Funnies With Beany and Cecil'' and aired exclusively the new Beany and Cecil cartoons produced by

Bob Clampett Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, director, producer and puppeteer. He was best known for his work on the '' Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the television shows '' ...

. The Matty and Sister Belle characters would appear between cartoon segments, announce the upcoming Mattel Toy commercial, and again at the end of the program to preview next week's show. The Matty and Sister Belle characters were later omitted as Mattel Inc. later re-edited the shows for Saturday mornings beginning 1964. However, Mattel remained the sponsor. Starting in 1979, Matty appeared again as the character associated with Mattel's consumer "hotline," where he was featured on packages along with the company's 800 number. In 2008, a grown-up version of Matty was introduced as Mattel's "Master Toy Collector" and the mascot of MattyCollector.com, a website that sells action figures from the various lines which Mattel licenses or owns.

References

''Chatty Cathy and her Talking Friends'' by Schiffer Publishing {{ISBN, 0-88740-954-7 schifferbooks.com
"Who's Matty?" page at MattyCollector.com
Mattel American mascots Toy mascots Fictional characters introduced in 1955 Male characters in advertising Child characters in advertising