Sorry to say problems like that are common with those types of props, they typically don't have a long life span. Maybe someone can help you out.
did you ever make a new board? picked up a gemmy but doesn't work.I'm working on a new board that will allow an easy conversion of any talking Gemmy. It will also let you use any of your own recordings to control the jaw. Right now it's just in the design stage so the final product (if all goes well) won't be available until late this year.