EVERYBODY LOVES BARBIE
BY DAN MILLER
(originally posted March 8, 2005)
Every second of every day, two Barbies are purchased somewhere. 
I find that to be astounding.
The first Barbie doll went on sale March 9, 1959.... which means Barbie turns 46 this week.
Most everyone knows, I suppose, that Barbie is -- by far -- the biggest selling doll of all time.
She's roughly a $2,000,000,000 a year business. (that's a 2 with a "B")
Lately I've been wondering... who's buying all these dolls?
Well, it turns out.... it's everybody!
When I asked around, I was amazed that every woman or girl I asked.... every one.... had at least one Barbie doll. And most had many.
My wife tells me that she started collecting them at a young age, and has dozens of them still in storage at her parent's home in Mississippi, some in the original boxes they came in.
She can't be saving them for our 6-year old McKensie, because McKensie already has dozens of her own..... more than I can count.
And, trust me, McKensie knows every one by name..... she knows what they wear..... what shoes go with what doll..... she has a story about each.... and knows where they reside in the house.
My two grown daughters, Jennifer & Darcy, have owned their share of Barbies as well.
My co-anchor, Demetria, says she had 7 or 8 Barbies, and her young nieces each have several.
I typed in the word "Barbie" on eBay, just to see how many would pop up "for sale".
There were more than 39,000 listed for sale that day on eBay. I believe Barbie is the single biggest selling item on that auction website.
For you guys who don't know much about Barbie, here are just a few facts I ran across doing this intense research.
Ruth Handler, who created Barbie, came up with the idea after she noticed her young daughter preferred playing with paper dolls that looked like adults rather than babies.
Her full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
She and Ken started dating in 1961, and were a couple for 43 years until she dumped him last year for some new Australian doll named Blaine.
Even after all these years, she's still listed as attending Willows High School in Willows, Wisconsin.
She came back from Asia a few years ago with severe amnesia... (oops, sorry, I mixed up my Barbie notes with my "Days Of Our Lives" notes)
In her 46 years, Barbie has done everything, and represented every niche of society that a woman can be involved in. She's been a medieval princess, a doctor, an astronaut, a police officer, a UNICEF volunteer, an athlete, a dentist, a firefighter, a paleontologist, a presidential candidate, and almost everything else.
Now, I feel the need to confess.
My interest in Barbie skyrocketed recently when my wife Karen was on eBay, and noticed a vintage Barbie selling for $1100. And she nonchalantly commented, "I have that same Barbie, still in its original box."
I simply love these Barbie dolls.
Has there been a Zillionaire Barbie yet?
_______________________________