Much ado about Barbie turning the big Five-O. I have to admit, the old gal still looks pretty good although it helps when you’re skin is plastic.
To celebrate five decades of America’s doll, Barbie is getting fabulous digs in Malibu as well as tattooed, whether that is as in “screwed, blued and tattooed” one can only guess. Ken is probably off somewhere searching for his Viagra.
Just what kind of scandal may result after Barbie finishes partying with the Hollyweird crowd remains to be seen. Of course, controversy and a hard-partying lifestyle has never been far from Barbie.
Barbie, born Barbie Jo MacAlister, grew up the daughter of a single mother who waited tables in a diner outside Cut and Shoot, Texas. The mother-daughter duo lived in a series of mobile home parks until being discovered by Mattel company officials.
With America in what some perceived as a more innocent age during the time of Barbie’s discovery, Mattel executives originally sought to mass market the Barbie as a very inexpensive doll whom young, impoverished girls could emulate. However, a focus group quickly steered the toy company away from the idea thus scrapping the idea for “Trailer Park Barbie Jo.”
The life of Barbie is the life of America over the past 50 years. If ever a trend surfaced, Barbie rode the crest of that trend. There was Beatlemania Barbie, Acid-Head Barbie, Patty Hearst Barbie, Punk Barbie, Saturday Night Fever Barbie, Urban Cowgirl Barbie, Flashdance Barbie, Wall Street Barbie, Coke smuggler Barbie, Federal Inmate No. 687743 Barbie, White House Intern Barbie, Pregnant Barbie, Conservative Blonde Talk Show Barbie and most recently AARP Barbie.
While some have expressed worries about the exposure from the 50th celebration of Barbie, they can rest assured that the Plastic One has kicked up her heels enough that she is in all likelihood too pooped to have a mid-life crisis.
Here is to another 50 years, Ensure Barbie and whatever the future holds.