Down Memory Lane | 03/09/2009 8:16 am

Happy Birthday, Barbie! From Black Canary to Beach Bum, a Trip Down Memory Lane (Photos)

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

Can you believe she’s 50?! Today is the Mattel doll’s 50th birthday. Barbie’s always been a knockout, but in our favorite dress-up doll’s latest incarnation, she does it for a living!

Based on the classic DC Comics character, Black Canary Barbie comes complete with a super-chic-hero look: leather jacket, calf-high boots with gold detail and, of course, some splendid spandex fishnets. If we were a superheroine, this is how we’d dress. OK, maybe not in winter, but perhaps the summer months!

While the Black Canary’s kinda’ wonderful, we are a bit nostalgic for the Barbies of yore.

Take, for example, the 1959 "ponytail" Barbie:

And the classic Bubble Cut from the early 1960s — a rare "Ginger" model:

Or this mod "Twist and Turn" Barbie from the late ’60s, early ’70s:

And for those of us still playing with dolls in the 1970s, our most favorite Barbie of them all: Malibu Barbie. Imagine, this doll is more than 35 years old!

Thanks to the wonderful Barbie Fan Site, Barbiefanatic’s Vintage Gallery.

67 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Okay, I am….old, but anyone out there remember the Revlon doll? She also was anatomically correct but less "Twiggy" and with sensible feet, I guess? I loved her and because I was too old I missed the whole Barbie thing and admittedly have never got it with her divaness! But now my grandaughter is all into her and so I transgress into the Barbie generation. BTW, I love reading the stories of "make believe Barbie" which crosses all generations no matter what the doll. Rock on Barbie and Happy 50th. I remeber it well and my 4 year old grandaughter told me that Barbie needs a grandma.

By central coast cabin home on 03/12/2009 12:27 am

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I’m glad I found this article and all your comments here :)

It brought back so many memories. I had a Midge doll, Barbie’s best friend. (Though because my older sister had the first Barbie, I was not allowed to have one :P ) But, I also had a Tammy doll :) She had beautiful hair :)

But, the main reason I’m so glad I found you all is because you all appreciate her so much. I love Barbie.

Barbie and I share the same birthday (we both turned 50 on March 9) It’s my "claim to fame" ;) My link with Barbie makes me so happy.

Barbie is the best! She’s so nice, so pretty, so smart…she’s a veterinarian, and an astronaut, wears all the beautiful gowns I always wished I could wear and she is not afraid to do anything! I think the people who do not like her do not know her inside like we do (her imagination, so like ours as we were as children and hopefully, we are still that way as adults), but they only see the outside, the pretty, very confident girl and those types of girls scare them :( . Please don’t be jealous of Barbie, she deserves your friendship. She has been a great friend to so many little girls in the last 50 years… God Bless Barbie! :)

By Nancy Langston on 03/12/2009 1:30 am