Let's Play Barbie! Barbie's Dream House (1962)

Its summer!  And, each summer, no matter what's going on in the world, in my life, I get, not just a touch of nostalgia, but sometimes a heap load of it.  I'm in grade school again, and summer is precious because the days are warm, its a  holiday from school rooms, and all there is do all day is play.  I can roller skate around the block, I can play with my troll doll and troll doll house in the grass under a shade tree (more authentic that way).  I can read, I can draw, go swimming at the community park.  And, I can play Barbie.

The good memories of these days, these summers, all led up to September when I could begin the new school year and my birthday was right around the corner.  I think one of my favorite birthdays was the year I got the first Skipper doll.  I was over the moon.  But, my first Barbie is the faded and fuzzy memory of a five year old.  I begged my mother to buy me one.  I was relentless and she was not too happy about it.  The doll had breasts.  She was indecent in the eyes of the church.  But, I wore her down and she bought me the blonde ponytail Barbie with poodle bangs and the red swimsuit. (Didn't I want the brunette since I had brown hair?  No.)  She sat down with a pattern and made me two outfits from the remnants of clothing she'd made for herself.  I believe the shoes and swimsuit were lost within a couple of days.  I can't imagine how they got lost.  Maybe I ate them.  But, now that I think about it, five years old might have been too young for a doll with tiny things that could go missing so easily.

So with the summer here and nostalgia nipping at my heels again, my heart would skip a beat when my friend, Becca, kept telling me about her reproduction Barbie Dream House that she had no room to set up and display, but loved it anyway.  She had one as a child.  After a few weeks of her mentioning this several times, I went on Ebay to see what the big deal was, and see if I could find one - MIB, of course.  I saw one listed by a seller in Southern California, so I knew it wouldn't have to travel across the country.  I thought about it.  I deliberated about it.  Do I really need a Barbie Dream House?  I think it took all of an hour of serious consideration before I hit the Buy It Now.  Then I had to tell Becca what I did.  Did you know that Mattel only made one hundred of these reproductions?  That made it all the more special to me.  When it arrived, I couldn't wait to unbox it.

It was heavy!  Very sturdy, and came with huge cardboard printed sheets of furniture that you could assemble by punching them out of the sheets, then follow a booklet of instructions on how to build each piece.  Well, I must tell you that I have been following instructions lately, and this will be in my next blog, and this was one more chance to see how patient I could be.  I was determined to take it step by step, even if I had to read the instruction several times before it made sense to me. 

I started at the beginning and only punched out the pieces of the item they referred to.  It was the blue ottoman.  My mind started wandering to the ageless tradition of paper toys and paper doll houses.  This is nothing new.  Paper toys were printed in magazines for French Fashion dolls.  McLoughlin Bros. printed cardboard doll houses and furniture sheets for children to play with in the early and prior part of the 20th century.  There was Daisy's Doll House in the Women's Home Journal.  And, Alice Leverette made paper toy sheets for two very special dolls she designed (and for), during her years at Vogue Doll Company.  Just Me and Marie Terese.  But, this reproduction house was brilliant.  It was Mad Men, Tonner's Monica Merrill, Barefoot in the Park.  It was the 1960's in all its trendy modernization.  You don't have to remember it.  You don't have to like it or want your own home to look like it.  Its history, its nostalgia, and its Barbie from 1962.

The next pieces went along rather nicely, and I could see how they were setting up the progression of difficulty.  Frankly, I do not believe a child could assemble these pieces, but the child could do this with the assistance of an adult.  I was thinking that if I'd been old enough and if we'd had the means to buy me one of these, my brother would have assembled this for me and I would have been in awe.

The designer at Mattel that created Barbie's Dream House had pure genius.

Now it was time to assemble the big kahuna of the operation.  The wardrobe.  All the other items were pieces of furniture and a console with a phonograph inside, in the middle, with a folding flap on top for a door. One of the neatest pieces in this collection is this cylindrical lamp.  I don't recall whether these were bamboo or burlap-type shades, but they were the height of fashion.  I knew the main piece, the wardrobe with bookshelves and a vanity in the center would be tricky.  So I assembled it over a couple of days.  So far there were no "extra" pieces.  I was on a roll.  A slow role, but steadily making progress.  I guess I haven't mentioned that Barbie's Dream House was my "not going to convention this year" toy.  I intend to have it set up and play with it all summer.  I can't keep it displayed long term, but its my treat for summer.

The only tricky part was fixing in place the "key locks with retainers".  It felt like the key locks were not long enough to go through the cardboard walls, but I was determined and a gentle pressing of the walls enabled me to get them latched.  When folded up and stored, the wardrobe is attached and the furniture and accessories can be stored in front of it.  The Dream House even has a handle for carrying around.  Oh, how I would have loved this as a child.  But, I love it now as an adult and that's what counts.

When Mattel began making early 1960's reproduction Barbie items, I collected everything I could.  These were the things I missed out on as a child.  I also collected some of the vintage clothing sets in as mint condition as I could.  I bought two tall black Barbie cases, and one of the short trunk style ones.  I bought the mini (keychain?) vinyl trunk with a zipper, and other miniatures that were available.  When it came time to set up the furniture and start making it a home for Barbie, I decided to only include reproduction clothing in the closet because the house was a reproduction.  But, I have added the pink dog from her negligee to the bed.

I also collected the vintage Barbie Easy Readers.  Simple, sweet stories of Barbie adventures.  I don't know how many there were, but I was able to purchase three in excellent condition.  All of this seemed to have been waiting for the eventuality of my buying the Barbie Dream House, for back then, I simply collected for the enjoyment and "chase" of it, then stored it all. 

As a little girl I can remember going grocery shopping with my mother at the local grocer's, Griso's Market, in Sunnyvale.  I'd spend the time in the toy department while my mother pushed her cart around filling it up for the week's meals.  There was one dress that fascinated me and I used to look at it on the shelf in its square striped packaging and dream.  It was the green and blue tulle gown with the green shoes and gold purse.  So when I set this up today, I made sure to include it displayed in the Dream House on a lovely Barbie mannequin that I didn't even remember collecting.  I steamed out the tulle and its lovely and fluffy once again.

I guess I forgot to mention that a Barbie doll came with this reproduction Dream House.  Below are photos of the house before and after I accessorized it.  Thank you, Becca, for introducing me to this fabulous big toy!

I hope you'll find your very own enchantment this summer.

Love,
Melissa