The system was installed at the Philadelphia Zoo circa 1959 and was prominently featured in a TV commercial of the era. This tune was also used by other zoos, as in a TV commercial for the Philadelphia Zoo. The storyboxes played the "All the animals at the zoo are jumping up and down for you" jingle. It was at this point that the "Talking Storybook" name was first used. The San Francisco Zoo was one of the first customers, installing 40 units in 1959. Sedley later went on to invent a magnetic door key, an early version of room keys commonly used in hotels. Ī version of the Talking Storybook system is still being produced as of 2020, manufactured by The Talking Storybook Company, in Santa Cruz, California. Īs of April 2018, the system is still in use there, with new "Magic Keys" available for purchase at $3. The first units produced used Sedley's voice later production switched to using celebrity voices. The concept was based on message repeater devices Sedley was using in his recording studio. Sedley devised a more reliable implementation using the more modern magnetic tape system, with the audio program recorded on a tape loop. Predating the Talking Storybooks, Children's Fairyland had a similar system based on coin-operated record players, which would frequently break down. Originally known as "Talking Storybooks", (and implemented with a different shaped key), the first version of the system was installed at Children's Fairyland in 1958. With help from cat-loving friends, Chris and Brian were able to send the kitties back to the United States, where they’ll be living with the young men’s respective parents, in Detroit, Michigan, and Houston, Texas, until their buddies return home.The system was invented and patented by Bruce Sedley (1925–2012), in response to a request from William Penn Mott of the Oakland, California, Park Department. He was also extremely malnourished so I constantly kept an eye on him and fed him until he got back to good health and he has been by my side ever since.” His buddy, KeyKey, was found, all tangled up in wire, by another marine, Chris Berry, early in his deployment. “I ran to find some wipes to clean him and I then realized how bad this wounds really were.” The next day, the veterinarian came to see Kiki and put him on a course of antibiotics.
He was badly injured, and too frightened even to approach Brian. Bones was never seen again, but Kiki came back. We looked after them both and they lived in a box in the office, after a week they were allowed to roam around during the day and sleep with us in the hooch at night.”Ībout a week later, the two kittens took off by themselves. “They were left alone to live rough and fend for themselves like the other cats in this area. “At only 3 weeks old, their mother had disappeared,” Brian explained. Kiki and his sister, Bones, were found by Brian Chambers. Marines to call their buddies, they’ve ended up living happily ever after. Kiki and Keykey had a rough start to life in Afghanistan. How the King of Beasts became a sacrificial victim in a world gone astray Should We Be Testing Weapons of War on Animals?Ī special appearance at a prestigious dog show Smoke settles in at his new home in Nebraska Rescued from the firing, now living happily ever after
For 5,000 years they’ve been fighting our wars with usĪ brief timeline of “the supreme animals of war”