Barbie, the doll that every little girl loves, has just turned 50. So what has half a century of Barbie meant to me?
As a boy, honestly not much. But my wife? She could write novel on the subject. And my four year old daughter who just received her first Barbie this past Christmas (a Little Mermaid Barbie, so long as we’re getting into specfics) would be more than happy to write the foreward.
Rather than writing a lengthy piece on the origins of the doll or the trials and tribulations she’s endured over these past 50 years, I thought it might be fun to take a look at what other people on the internet are saying about the middle-aged model’s sesquicentennial;
- BBC takes a look at the world’s largest Barbie collection
- Radio Free Europe talks about when Barbie came to the Soviet Union
- The Telegraph talks about Shanghai’s new Barbie megastore that opens today
- The Chicago Tribune has advice for a 50 year old Barbie
What are your fond memories of Barbie?
I never played with dolls because I can’t stand the smell of that type of plastic. Besides, I prefer science toys. (Why are science toys labeled boy’s toys? Absurd!) But I did get a 3′ tall cardboard Barbie house without Barbie for Christmas from my aunt. She expected that I have already have many Barbies. It ended up housing my stuffed animals.
There is (or will be?) some kind of Barbie 50th anniversary exhibition at the HBC building in Toronto (Bay & Queen). Saw it yesterday when I drove by, not sure about the dates. Could a nice place to take your wife and daughter for March break.
I never had a Barbie – my older sister did. I got “Midge” – she was cute, though, auburn hair. At one point I got mad that I didn’t have a Barbie, so I cut the hair all off my sister’s (it was odd, hair was just around outside rim of head, inside was bald!).
Aside from that, I recently won a radio contest for knowing Barbie’s real name!