1969 Talking dolls had great variation

There were seven Talking dolls sold in 1969:  Barbie, Ken, Christie, Brad, Stacey, PJ and Truly Scrumptious (Sally Anne Howe).  I will write about Ken in a future article.  I own three 1969 Talking Barbies, one additional Barbie head and one Talking Stacey, so the article will focus on them.

I don't know if this is true of all of this year's dolls, but my 1969 Talkers have much more hair than their 1968 counterparts.  Note that Barbie's ponytail is always on the right while Stacey's is always on the left.  The bodies were made in Mexico.  The dolls of earlier in the year had heads from Japan and wore the 1968 pink sleeveless sweater and pink plastic panties.  The dolls later in the year wore an orange bikini and a lacy coverup, and their heads were from Hong Kong.

The dolls' backs had 29 holes.  I am assuming it was a cost-cutting measure in eliminating the process to make more holes.

Yes, I had to wrap sealing tape around one doll's hips to make her legs stay on.

Three holes were eliminated in the back for the girl talkers.

Talking Stacey dolls seem to be sturdier than Talking Barbie,
as I have not yet seen a Stacey in pieces.

Banana yellow was the "in" color in Willows in 1969.
The outfits are, from left to right, (unnumbered) Smasheroo,
 1484 Yellow Mellow with the 1864 Close Ups half slip peaking underneath the skirt,
1477 Hurray for Leather, and 1862 Country Capers.

The sleeveless coverup/vest that was sold with the 1969 Talking Barbies
confused many collectors (including me).
The lack of a Barbie tag, only a Hong Kong label
lead people to believe that it is a Shillman or Mego article of clothing.

I have a 1969 brunette Talking Barbie head but no body.