Post #145648 by freddiefreelance on Wed, Mar 9, 2005 12:44 PM

OK, so there isn't a Barbie Day, but there should be! Barbie is the world's best selling doll and was first sold on March 9, 1959. Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts and her family & friends include her permanent beau Ken (although on February 12, 2004, just days before Valentine's, Mattel spokespeople announced the split of Barbie and Ken after 43 years of dating, saying in their press release that they "have decided to spend some time apart."), her little sister Skipper (debut 1964), twins Tutti and Todd, Stacie (1992), and Kelly (1995). Barbie has dated Ken since 1961, and after a long estrangement was reuinited with her best friend Midge in the mid-nineties. Other longstanding friends in Barbie's ethnically diverse social circle include Teresa, Christie, Steven (Christie's boyfriend), and Alan, Midge's boyfriend whom she married in 1990 and now has two children with). Barbie is still said to attend Willows High School in Willows, Wisconsin.

Barbie's occupations over the year include:

• Amateur athlete at the Olympics (including swimming, figure skating)
• Fairy tale characters/princesses (including Rapunzel, Nutcracker)
• Paleontologist
• Doctor, dentist, nurse, and veterinarian
• Astronaut - An astronaut suit was sold for Barbie around the same time the first real female astronaut, Valentina Tereshkova, entered space.
• Fashion designer
• Model - Barbie was originally marketed as a "teen-age fashion model"
• Politician - Barbie ran for President of the United States in 1992 and again in 2000 and 2004. Sadly, she has not yet won, nor fared well in polls. On the international stage she's been a Summit Diplomat, UNICEF Diplomat & Ambassador for World Peace
• Rock star - Barbie has fronted several bands, including Barbie and the Rockers, as well as working as a solo Rap act.
• Firefighter
• Chef
• International Traveller
• Tennis Star
• Ballerina, Circus Star, Movie Star, SuperStar & Rockette
• Army Officer, Air Force officer & Air Force Thunderbirds, Marine Corps Officer & Navy Officer

Other highlights of today are:

• 1454 - Amerigo Vespucci, explorer and cartographer is Born (d. 1512)
• 1934 - Yuri Gagarin, cosmonaut, first human in space is born (d. 1968)
• 1940 - John Cale, composer, musician, former member of the Velvet Underground
• 1954 - McCarthyism: CBS television broadcasts the See It Now episode, "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy," produced by Edward R. Murrow.
• 1994 - Charles Bukowski, poet, writer Died(b.1920)
• George Burns, actor, singer Died (b. 1896)

Rev. Dr. Frederick J. Freelance, Ph.D., D.F.S

[ Edited by: freddiefreelance on 2005-03-09 12:44 ]