Today is Barbie's birthday! What young girl didn't have a Barbie? She made her debut back on this day in 1959 at the American International Toy Fair in New York. Barbie was was the brain child of Ruth Handler:

She watched her daughter Barbara play with paper dolls, and noticed that she often enjoyed giving them adult roles. At the time, most children's toy dolls were representations of infants. Realizing that there could be a gap in the market, Handler suggested the idea of an adult-bodied doll to her husband Elliot, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company. He was unenthusiastic about the idea, as were Mattel's directors.

I'm so glad Ruth didn't give up! Barbie is an icon. She's had all types of professions, but after all these years has remained true to her boyfriend Ken.  Oh, and the clothes, the cars and the houses! Plus, all of her relatives and friends.

One of my older sisters had Skipper (Barbie's little sister) and Scooter (Skipper's friend), but no Barbie. I use to play with my sister's dolls, but only under her direction and supervision of how to care for them...oh the stress of it all!

Enter Christmas of 1971, to my surprise I got my very own Barbie! She was the Live Action Barbie. She was hip, she was cool and she danced. My brothers and sisters laughed and thought she was the silliest Barbie ever. Of course, that meant that I had to try and not to like her...but I LOVED her!

As I sit here writing this, I wonder: What ever happen to her? When did I decide to give her up?  After looking on line I found a picture of my Barbie and a video!!

Here she is!

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And the commercial!!!

Oh, how I miss my Barbie!  Do you remember your first Barbie? What model was she?

 

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