My First Barbie™ Doll

The path to getting my first Barbie™ doll was a long and winding road. My mother did not think the voluptuous and curvaceous doll was appropriate as a child’s toy. So, even though all my friends were getting a Barbie™, she tried to satisfy me with a number of alternatives.

The Ideal Toy Company’s answer to Barbie was the Tammy doll which it introduced in 1962. Tammy was 12 inches tall, and like Barbie, had a variety of ensembles and accessories which were sold separately. Ideal also offered companions and siblings for Tammy to play with, just as Barbie had Midge, Skipper, Ken, and others. Tammy’s body was much more realistically proportioned and more to my mother’s liking. To a six year old me, it was not the same though and I envied those who had a ‘real’ Barbie doll.

My mother tried again the following year to assuage my desire for Barbie by getting me her little sister, Skipper. She was 9.25 inches in height (compared to Barbie's 11.5 inches). Skipper was created, along with Midge, to counteract criticism that claimed Barbie was a sex symbol. Mine had red hair and blue eyes, and while I really loved the doll, she was not Barbie.

The year after that, she tried again with Tutti, the youngest sister of Barbie. She was 6 1/4 inches tall (mine had brunette hair) and was made of soft bendable rubber over a wire armature so that she could be easily posed. Because of this wire Tutti was quite a fragile doll, sometimes the wires would break and she would lose her poseability and sometimes it would pierce the rubber and stick out of her. That doll would never pass toy safety standards today.

Finally, in 1965, I got my Barbie doll! American Girl Barbie, named for her hair style, represented the peak of Barbie’s glamour and elegance. These dolls were issued from 1965 to 1966 only. Mine had brunette hair and she came with the new life-like bendable legs. I was delighted and the envy of all my friends who had straight leg Barbie dolls. Today these dolls are one of the more valuable ones even in used or played with condition. The vintage American Girl Barbie typically sells for around $1,000 these days. If you can find one still in the original box, the price is even higher.

I mention the value of the American Girl Barbie because I no longer have mine. As I grew older and stopped playing with dolls, she was packed in a box and stored in one of the closets. I got married and moved away, leaving her behind. When the doll collecting bug got me several years later and I went looking for her, she was nowhere to be found.

My youngest brother had to admit to doing unspeakable things to the doll, involving straight pins and markers, and throwing her out before my mother could see what he’d done. I was totally devastated but at that point, the deed was done and could not be undone. She was gone forever.

Story to be continued…