What a doll: Barbie still going strong after 50 years

Trena Yarmat of Naperville has carried the Barbie dolls of her childhood through 17 or 18 moves in 30 years, and vows she wouldn't sell them even if meant delaying a house payment.

Michelle Hewlett of Elgin has more than 250 Barbies, and this summer attended a Barbie convention in Washington, D.C., that drew nearly 1,200 participants.

Diane Rockett of West Chicago started buying holiday Barbies for her daughter and now collects the dolls for herself. She is the proud owner of a 50th anniversary Barbie.

What is it about this fashion doll who turned 50 this year that still enchants many little girls and transports grown women back to their childhoods?

What has made Barbie the best-selling doll in history with a record no other doll has yet touched?

"Playing with Barbies was absolutely my favorite thing to do," Rockett said of her own lifelong devotion to Barbie. "It appeals to the little girl who is still inside."

Those little girls who are now middle-aged women are sometimes willing to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to recapture that part of their youth.

"She's a good seller. Vintage Barbie is loved by my customers all over the world," said Ellen Manyon of Doll Consultant LLC in Winfield and former curator of the doll collection in the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, N.Y., where Barbie has a place in the museum's National Toy Hall of Fame.

"Most of my costumers are Baby Boomer women who are buying these things for a nostalgic value," added Manyon, who has put together a slide show lecture on vintage Barbie that she offers to civic groups.

Even many women who don't collect Barbie still cherish her in their hearts.

"Omigosh, I love Barbie," said Donna DeFalco of Naperville, marketing communications coordinator at Naper Settlement, which will invite visitors to interact with its "Timeless Toys" play stations on weekends in September and October.

"My friends and I would take our plastic vinyl cases filled with Barbie dolls and clothes and sit on the stoop of my family's house," DeFalco remembered. "We couldn't wait to see the next addition to the Barbie family, whether it was Midge or Skipper or Francie."

Barbie's debut

Barbie, her longtime beau, Ken, and her many friends and accessories have been a hit since she debuted in 1959 at a toy fair in New York. But her creator, Ruth Handler, had to do some convincing to get Barbie to the fair at all.

Handler, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company, got the idea of producing an adult-bodied doll after seeing how much her daughter, Barbara, and her friends enjoyed playing with paper dolls. Her husband, Elliot, and other directors of Mattel initially were unenthusiastic.

"When Barbie came out, all dolls on the market were baby dolls," explained Tim Walsh, author of "Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them."

"She broke all the rules when she came out and that's one thing I've found that makes a toy timeless."

Handler convinced Mattel to proceed with the creation of Barbie after coming across a German doll called Bild Lilli that provided a model for the kind of doll she had in mind.

Barbie set a record for Mattel in the first year with 351,000 dolls selling at $3 each. Over the past 50 years, more than one billion Barbies have sold.

"There are no dolls that come close to her," Walsh said.

Not that Barbie didn't have her critics. A chief complaint was that she promoted an unrealistic body image for young girls. The criticism prompted Mattel to redesign her body in the late 1990s to reduce her bust size and give her a wider waist.

Changing times

Barbie changed with the times in other ways as well, and that is part of her success, Walsh said. The doll that started as a teenage fashion model has had numerous careers since then - including rock star, Olympic swimmer, astronaut and paleontologist.

"Over the years, she has become an empowerment symbol rather than a sex symbol because she has had every profession under the sun," Walsh said.

"It all gives girls, women hope they can achieve things beyond their backyard," Manyon agreed. "She provides hope, inspiration and endless variety."

Barbie's social circle expanded to include friends who are Hispanic, black and disabled.

By the 1980s Barbie had started to become a collector's item, a trend continued by the popularity of the American Girl dolls in the 1990s, Manyon said.

"In the 1990s, the whole doll collecting field exploded," she said.

Vintage Barbies made between 1959 and 1972 are the most sought after, Manyon said. The vintage dolls had rooted or molded eyelashes that give a more dimensional look than the painted or decal facial features that came later, she said.

"Frankly, the quality (of the later) Barbies is not as nice," Manyon said.

But some of the top-of-the line collector dolls made now, such as the Gold Label and Silkstone Barbies, reproduce classic features.

Vintage Barbies may sell for between $100 and more than $1,000 depending on their condition, Manyon said.

It's not just Barbie herself that's in demand. A big part of her popularity has always been her extensive and ever-changing wardrobe. A complete outfit still in the package may sell for $500.

"The vintage Barbie clothes and tiniest accessories that normally get lost are more valuable on the resale market than the doll itself," she said.

Barbie's houses, pets and vehicles tend to go for less than other accessories, Manyon said.

Barbie, of course, has gone far beyond dolls, clothes and accessories. She has appeared in movies and computer games. Barbie brand products include clothes, home furnishings and books.

Barbie has more competition from other dolls now, but she is in no way past her prime, Walsh said. She continues to sell in part because little girls grow up to share her with their daughters and granddaughters.

Will Barbie still be around 50 years from now to celebrate her 100th birthday?

"I would say absolutely yes. Maybe not to this level," Walsh said. "She is loved by so many people."

<p class="factboxheadblack">More on toys</p> <p class="News">• Tim Walsh, author of "Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them," gives a History Speaks lecture at 1 p.m. Sept. 5 in Century Memorial Chapel at Naper Settlement, 523 S. Webster St., Naperville. Cost: $7 adults, $6 youth. Info: (630) 420-6010.</p> <p class="News">• Naper Settlement has "Timeless Toys" interactive game stations set up 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays in September and October. Admission: $8 adults, $7 seniors, $5.50 youth ages 4-17. Info: (630) 420-6010.</p> <p class="News">• Doll consultant Ellen Manyon has prepared a slide show lecture on vintage Barbie for the doll's 50th anniversary. Available for libraries and civic groups, the cost is $60. Info: (630) 562-3522.</p> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=315889">To Barbie with love: admirers share their memories <span class="date">[8/27/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=315888">Test your knowledge with Barbie quiz <span class="date">[8/27/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>