More Barbie Doll Fun Facts - Do You Remember?

The Mattel Barbie doll has been popular for nearly 50 years now. While there are many reasons for this, Mattel has marketed Barbie in a way that has made her the most successful doll in toy history. Here is a trip through Barbie doll history and a look at what has made her what she is today, an icon.

1. Barbie made her initial debut in 1959 wearing a black and white striped swimsuit.

2. Barbie is named after the daughter of the original inventor, Barbara.

3. The first year Mattel sold the Barbie doll, over 350,000 of them were sold.

4. Mattel has produced nearly 1 billion different fashions over the years for Barbie and her other friends and relatives.

5. More than 1 billion pairs of shoes have been made for Barbie.

6. Barbie's favorite color - pink.

7. The year 2000 was a milestone for the Barbie doll. She got a belly button.

8. World renowned fashion designers such as Gucci, Versace, Givenchy and others, have all designed fashion clothes for the Barbie doll.

9. Barbie doll became an Olympian in 1975.

10. The Pentagon had the final approval on the series of military Barbies.

11. There has been enough Barbie dolls and her friends sold that it would circle the world nearly 8 times.

12. Barbie has appeared in over 40 various nationalities.

13. Barbie has had all kinds of pets over the years, including 6 cats, a dozen horses, and even a zebra.

14. The very popular Ken doll was the name of the inventor's son.

15. Barbie's real name is Barbie Millicent Roberts and she is from the state of Wisconsin.

16. Who was Barbie's best friend? Midge, of course. She first appeared in 1963.

What does the future have in store for Barbie? No one knows for sure, but with her 50th birthday only a few years away, you can bet it will be something big!

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Find many more Barbie Doll Fun Facts as well as more information on everything to do with Barbie on our website at http://www.Barbie.InfoFromA-z.com

» left by Anonymous

2 years 350 days ago.

Yes was very good article...thanks!

 

I was reading about Barbie entering 'the freedom zone', where you don't care if people notice you or not, where you don't have to be a slave of fashion, where they believe 'yes you are sick', it is not ''something in your mind'', that it is okay to read that funny e-mail and forward it to your friends and since you are starting to have a poor memory, hey it does not matter if you remember if you send the email or not, so what, now you are free and -can smell the flowers-...enjoy!

 

Want to share this, before I forget

 

(*_*)

 

<><><><><><><><><><><><>> February 2--9, 2009

 

courtesy of:

 

thethreetomatoes dotcom

 

Have fun...it is just one life!

 

AARP Barbie, Recession Barbie, Reinvention Barbie, Tomato Barbie and more...

 

 

The Three Tomatoes were amused to read that New York's Fashion Week celebrated the 50th birthday of Barbie. Yes, that still incredibly youthful looking doll turns 50 next month, and 50 top designers came up with Barbie inspired outfits for the occasion in a Barbie Fashion Show.

 

 

Barbie is an ageless wonder. She still gets to wear princess clothes, has the body of an 18 year old, no cellulite, wrinkles, or grey hair. And she's still with Ken, who is also ageless, and doesn't have to worry about "ED" because, well to put it politely, he was never anatomically correct. Poor Ken. Sad Barbie. But since Barbie is now right smack in the middle of the "boomer generation", we'd like to suggest to Mattel that they consider creating a new series of Barbies. Like, AARP Barbie, Invisible Barbie, Nip/Tuck Barbie, Recession Barbie, Downsized Barbie, followed by of course, Reinvention Barbie, and Tomato Barbie. And that got our silly brains thinking, "What would Barbie do as she turns 50?"

 

 

But before you read our little fable, we'd like to catch you up on what's new this week at The Three Tomatoes. Speaking of birthdays, Dr. Ruth , who is now featured at our web site, recently turned 80. We got a chance to ask what keeps her going at 80, her favorite things about NYC and we've posted her birthday tribute video too. And our shopping guru, Kathy Fahy, has great advice on shopping for your home office (a place where more of us are working from these days). And you must see the latest, very funny episode of our new favorite web show, 50 to Death, at 3T.TV. And check out what Liz Smith, Gael Greene, Valerie Smaldone, Arthur Schwartz , and Dr. Nancy Snyderman are buzzing about this week too. But first, here's how Barbie became Tomato Barbie.

 

 

Baby Boomer Barbie gets that AARP letter in the mail. Barbie was enjoying a lovely day in the last days of her 49th year, when that horrible piece of mail showed up in her mail box, making a total mockery of that "baby" boomer term. And she did what every other self-respecting not quite 50 year old woman does when the dreaded "AARP" card arrives -- she shredded it to bits and pieces, yelled and screamed about her invasion of privacy, and made Ken's life miserable for a week, since he obviously must have leaked this news somewhere. But she soon recovered her dignity, because after all, she still looks hot.

 

 

Invisible Barbie

 

Or so she thought. To celebrate her milestone birthday, Barbie's two best friends, Midge and Christie, (who also worked for Mattel) suggested they meet for drinks at trendy, model packed A-lister wanna be hot spot, Balthazar's for champagne and oysters. And just to catch you tomatoes up, Midge is now divorced and is thinking about appearing in the next season of The Real Housewives of New York City, and Christie lives with Tiffany, the love of her life. Barbie arrived first, wearing her Manolos, and her DKNY mini, and stood at the bar knowing it would only be minutes before one of the good looking guys standing around would offer to buy her a drink, which would be her favorite, an extra dry vodka martini, dirty of course, extra olives. And there she stood. And stood. The good looking guys at the bar gazed right past her to ogle the 20 something, empty-headed gigglers, and the bartender was too busy ogling them too to look up and take her drink order! OMG, thought Barbie in horror, "I've become invisible."

 

 

Nip/Tuck Barbie. So the next morning, slightly hung-over Barbie was walking by one of her hundreds of mirrors,and instead of seeing her usual pleasing appearance reflected back, she saw (gasp!) her Mother's face! She immediately ordered Ken to cover every mirror in the house and booked the very first appointment she could get with Dr. Nip/Tuck in his fancy Park Avenue office. During her consultation, Dr. Nip/Tuck presented her with a wealth of options, from Botox, to liposuction, a butt lift, tummy tuck, a thigh and arm slimming surgery, an eye lift, a lower face lift, and injections that would make her hands look as young as her chemically or surgically enhanced face. Well, she thought, money can buy most anything.

 

 

Recession Barbie

 

But alas, androgynous Ken had made an appointment for them to visit their financial planner who had the indecency to point out that their investments were now roughly half of what they were the year before, and that perhaps they should think about "cutting back." So Barbie agreed to fewer massages, and facials, less time with her personal trainer, to only buy "on sale" at Saks and L&T and get a few less highlights at Berdorfs. "Well at least I still have my job," she thought.

 

 

Downsized Barbie

 

"So, Barbie," the head of merchandising at Mattel started off, rather uncomfortably she thought, "we totally appreciate everything you've done for us over the past 5 decades, but we're forced to downsize. HR will explain your severance package." Shocked, she barely noticed when the Hannah Montana doll she passed in the hallway said, "We'll totally miss you Barbie, but I'll friend you on Facebook so we can stay in touch."

 

 

Reinvention Barbie

 

So after taking to her bed for a full week, reading the National Enquirer, and watching The Today Show and Oprah, she realized the "secret" was to visualize her new self, get empowered, and reinvent herself. So she bought every advice book on New York Times best seller list, hired a visualization coach, a career coach, a life coach, a yoga coach, a meditation coach, a marriage coach, a shaman, meditated and mantra'd, took art classes, Italian lessons, and every course the 92nd Street Y had to offer, then one day she woke and discovered...

 

 

Tomato Barbie

 

She actually liked who she was -- savvy, sexy, smart, and powerful -and she didn't want to reinvent herself after all. And that's when she fixed herself her own damn martini, and knew she'd be just fine. And that my friends, is how Barbie became Tomato Barbie.

 

 

So Happy Birthday Barbie!

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