12 Comments
User's avatar
Phil's avatar

OMG - we had one of these things here in Oz -that ticking churning mechanism - nightmare fuel.

Retroist's avatar

That sound is such a big part of the memory. The game looked goofy enough, but once that motor started ticking and grinding away, it did feel a little more menacing than a kids game probably needed to be.

Matthew Edwards's avatar

I had the yellow head version as well & it’s definitely a toy I remember fondly. I’m guessing it was a Christmas gift in either ‘79, ‘80 or ‘81. Thanks for the article!!

Retroist's avatar

I love hearing from other people who had the yellow head version. A Christmas gift around 1979 to 1981 sounds exactly right for when it would have been floating around a lot of houses.

Jeremiah Jones-Goldstein's avatar

My brother and I played the yellow head Mr Mouth at our cousins house. We never owned it ourselves, instead we had hungry hungry hippos. My cousins were older than my brother and I so we sit in the basement and play all their old games.

Retroist's avatar

That is very close to how I knew it too. Mr. Mouth wasn't mine, but it was one of those games that I looked forward to playing when I went over to my cousins. I wonder if I had games that they enjoyed when they visited? Unfortunately they never got into D&D.

Mike Laursen's avatar

Always breaking in some way. So annoying.

Larry Cornett's avatar

That original song is an earworm. I still remember it.

Retroist's avatar

It really is. I probably listen to it more often than I should, and it still gets stuck in my head. So many of these toy commercial songs did their job a little too well.

David Perlmutter's avatar

You may not have heard of the American comic actor Joe E. Brown, but his talking cavity could have allowed him to play Mr. Mouth on-screen...

Retroist's avatar

I can totally see it.

Ben L.'s avatar

I was a huge fan of Ms. Mouth and still am. Only downside is the drive across town.