She's 6 decades old now and doesn't look a day over 20

Here are examples of the Roberts family (left to right): Tropical Splash Skipper in #12618 Tea Set for Two, both from 1995; 1995 New Baby Sister Kelly in her original outfit; 1967 Bendable Poseable Todd in his original outfit; 1992 Littlest Sister Stacie in #9365 My Sister Stacie Gift Set from 1993; 1992 Teen Talk Barbie in #7596 Dress N Play Cheerleader Set, both from 1992; and 1999 Krissy in her original outfit (at Barbie’s feet)

I had submitted the following article to The Cincinnati Enquirer, but it wasn't published, so I am placing it here.

Your childhood friend Barbara Millicent Roberts turns 60 years old today.

You remember Ms. Roberts.  She’s a resident of Willows, Wisconsin, the young woman with at least a hundred careers.  Rather top-heavy.  Long legs.  Always wears high heels.  Long hair pulled back into a ponytail.

I am, of course, talking about the Barbie® doll, who was introduced by Mattel at the Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959.

I’m not going to tell you the history of the Barbie doll.  And except for a few comments, I am not going to tell you about the various controversies surrounding the doll.  You’ve read that information before, and it is easily found on the Internet and even in doll history books.

Instead, what I am going to tell you is some trivia about the doll which the public often doesn’t know.

Barbie is the daughter of George and Margaret Roberts of Willows.  The Roberts have five other children: Skipper (who has never been given an actual given name); Stacie (known as Tutti in the 1960s and 1970s); Todd (the twin of Stacie/Tutti); Chelsea (whose previous names were Kelly in North America and Shelly in Europe); and baby Krissy.  Barbie’s ranged in age from 16 to 40, while over the years Skipper has been 10 to 17 and is now about 13.  Stacie’s in primary school, Chelsea is kindergarten age and Krissy is about 6 months old.

The siblings have cousins, too:  Francie Fairchild, about 16, daughter of Claude and Lily Fairchild; Jazzie, probably 17; and Max and Marie Roberts, Stacie’s age.  There have never been dolls made of George and Margaret, although they were prominently featured in stories in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and now in the Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures on Netflix.  Most of the dolls mentioned above had their own friends (meaning the same size) and their own lines of clothing.

Barbie’s boyfriend Ken has his own back story.  His full name is Kenneth Carson, with a brother named Tommy, father named Frederick, grandmother Edna and great-grandfather Kenneth.  (Only Ken and Tommy have been dolls, and his mother has never been given a name.) The names Roberts and Carson came from the Carson/Roberts Advertising Agency in Los Angeles, which Mattel used in the 1960s.

Over the decades, Barbie’s best friends have been Midge, Christie, PJ, Teresa, Kira and now Nikki.  As of 1999, more than 500 friends had been made for Barbie, although I don’t know what the total is today.  They include acquaintances such as the Heart Family and the Springfield High dolls; celebrities, beginning with Twiggy (Lesley Hornby) in 1967 and Julia Baker (Diahann Carroll) in 1969; Disney dolls such as Cinderella and Snow White; alien friends such as Spectra and SunSpell; fantasy friends such as the ones from Fairytopia and Mermaidia; and foreign friends made by other companies in different countries, including Viky by Estrela in Brazil and Flora by Takara in Japan.

Barbie and Ken have never married, although some of their friends are:  Tracy and Todd, Midge and Allan/Alan plus Midge’s parents, and Mr. and Mrs. Heart plus Mr. Heart’s parents.

Also as of 1999, more than 3,900 versions of the Barbie doll alone had been made.  How do you determine your doll’s age?  Never, NEVER, NEVER pay attention to the 1966 date on a doll’s backside.  That is NOT when it was sold.  1966 refers to when the Twist N Turn waist was patented, and it was stamped on Barbie and friend dolls up through 1999.  A better determinant of a doll’s age is to look at the country of manufacture, starting with Japan in 1959.  There are millions and millions of dolls out there with 1966 written on them.

As for the controversies, most of you have heard the complaints about her figure, facial features, skin color and hair.  Entire theses have been written about these subjects.  Here is a list of some other complaints, many of which are quite amusing:  “Math class is tough,” switching voices with Hasbro’s GI Joe®, Rollerblades® making sparks and catching fire, Ken’s earring, the video doll.  You’ll have to look these up yourself to find out more.

Since I am a collector, there is one question that everyone wonders about me, and alas, my answer is no.  I do not own a Number One Barbie doll, sold in mid-1959, the original with holes in her feet that were inserted onto a little pointed stand.  I’ve read that Mattel made 350,000 of this doll, although no one knows how many are still in existence.  In 35 years of collecting, I have seen a Number One TWICE.  Finding a Number One doll is akin to winning an Oscar or going into space; theoretically, anyone could do it, but few people actually are able to do so.

Mary Wernke of Sayler Park has been collecting Barbie and family dolls for 35 years.  She’s owned more than 1,000 of the dolls over the decades, and set up an exhibit for the doll’s 35th anniversary in 1994 at the Cincinnati Museum Center.  Her specialty, and favorite doll, is Barbie’s sister Skipper, and you can read more about Skipper at Wernke’s Twitter page at https://twitter.com/skippercollecto.