Dear Kid,
As we mentioned yesterday, once upon a taxi ride, you were born.
Mere hours later in another state, our Bunny was born (sans taxi ride). Happy Birthday Bunny! Hope it’s a wonderful day filled with cake and other good stuff.
Other (far less important) things also happened on March 9th. For example, the first Barbie doll was born (and by “born” I mean went on display at the American Toy Fair). That was in 1959, so neither you nor I went to the show.
Barbie has the distinction of being the first mass produced doll in the US to look like an adult. We’re not sure of which species, since any human built like Barbie would topple over, not be able to breathe, and never, ever be able to buy clothes off the rack.
Not only does Barbie set a questionable unfortunate unattainable off-balance standard for little girls (but gosh, we love her anyway) but several years earlier Mattel became the first company to broadcast commercials to children. Not only did little girls want to grow up to be Barbie, little companies wanted to grow up and have the advertising impact she had, and entire industry aimed at capturing the hearts and minds of little children (and their parents wallets) was born.
I loved Barbie when I was little. Also loved, loved Skipper (Barbie’s little sister). This was in the days before Barbie had to be a world class athlete and have 42 different jobs. Back then, she was just a glamour goddess with lots of shoes (which hurt when you step on them in bare feet). Our Barbies (there was never just one–simply not possible) were very well dressed because Grandma Lala, Grandma Pat, and Aunt Carola frequently made them clothes out of scraps of whatever they were knitting or sewing at the time.
Note: Barbie’s hair does not grow back if you cut it no matter how much you tug.
Happy Birthday to everyone celebrating today.
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