MGA is rolling out a new line of dolls called Moxie Girlz as Mattel Inc. plans to take over MGA’s former marquee product, the saucy Bratz dolls, following a four-year legal struggle.

Barbie, the iconic fashion doll with the top-heavy figure and high-heel arches, turns 50 tomorrow, with no need for Botox and no threat of hot flashes. Mattel has kicked off global events to celebrate the middle-age status of the much-beloved and often controversial 11½-inch doll that has held the imagination of generations since 1959.

Barbie’s 50th birthday is being marked around the world with numerous pink-carpet events. But the most meaningful celebration of her milestone is in the stories shared by baby boomers who loved her as youngsters and collect her as adults.

. . . Stephanie Shareck Werner’s Barbie family had an enviable life - a dream house, airplane, convertible and eternal youth. But those once-cherished playthings - like so many of their brethren - have been vanquished to a dull and dusty retirement in her mother’s attic.

Everyone, it seems, has a Barbie memory. We asked readers to submit their favorite stories of the fashion doll as she celebrates her 50th year. In the 1970s, I had two nieces living in B.C., Canada. They lived out in the country on a ranch-type place—just the right age to love Barbie dolls. Their parents were not able to buy outfits for their dolls. I was asked to make them some outfits as they knew I love to sew.

Mattel sold 300,000 Barbie dolls in 1959, her inaugural year.
Barbie is from Willows, Wis., and attended Willows High School.
Barbie has four sisters: Skipper (1964), Stacie (1992), Kelly (1995) and Krissy (1995).
The first Barbie with the blond or brunette ponytail and black-and-white striped bathing suit sold for $3. A mint-condition 1959 Barbie is worth an estimated $27,450 today.