Barbie hits the big 5-0
Barbie, that plastic icon of womanhood, turns 50 today.
And she’s still looks good.
Fifty years ago, Barbie made her big splash at New York’s toy show and toyland hasn’t been the same since. She’s been admired and criticized. Just last week, for example,
In her honor, Mattel will release the 2009 Bathing Suit Barbie, complete with a few facial nips and tucks (and what maturing woman doesn’t want that?) The doll will sell (for a short time) at the 1959 price of $3.
Did you collect Barbie as a kid? What are your memories of Barbie? With so many kids into Wii and video games, do you think Barbie is as popular today as she was 20 years ago?
Check out some of our Barbie galleries:
The Barbie doll turns 50 (collections of Barbie dolls)
Barbie designers big and small (fashion designers)
Celebrities who turn 50 this year
And, what to see a real doll house? Check this out
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© 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
5 comments Add your comment
Hunter
March 9th, 2009
1:28 pm
I had a 1960 Barbie with heavy blonde hair. I got a Ken doll when he first came out, complete with his fuzzy hair. The first bendable leg barbie came out and I had her also. After I moved out when I was 18, my mother threw them out along with the black round barbie case. I almost cried realizing what she would be worth now. Maybe I’ll buy the 50 year old Barbie as she and I are aging well.
fdawson
March 9th, 2009
2:47 pm
Loved Barbie, and by the time I outgrew dolls, I had 32 of them. I too wonder what they would be worth now. I also had a Barbie townhouse (with elevator) and VW peace van, but my fondest memory was my first Ken (ca. 1977 or so), which came with detachable facial hair. Mustache, sideburns … Witness Protection Ken? LOL.
Mike Licht
March 9th, 2009
5:00 pm
Barbie is 50. Will she join AARP?
See
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/barbies-big-birthday/
Marcia
March 10th, 2009
12:54 pm
In 1960, when I was nine years old, I won a junior floral arrangement competition sponsored by my mother’s NE Atlanta garden club. The prize was a gift certificate to the toy store at Toco Hill Shopping Center. I used it to get my first and only Barbie, and one outift. For several Christmases thereafter, I received Barbie outfits. In the 5th, 6th and 7th grades, my pals and I brought our Barbies to school and played Barbies at recess. These days, there are Barbie Hallmark ornaments on my Christmas tree every year. Barbie stands on a shelf in my kitchen, and she’s wearing her 1960’s American Airlines stewardess uniform. (I’ve been a flight attendant for Delta for thirty-three years, and I am still pals with those “girls” from elementary school.)
Chevy Lady
March 17th, 2009
3:29 pm
I hope I look as good as Barbie does when I hit the big 5-0!!!!!
Marcia: Great story!