Caroline H arvey The P las tic Doll Student Conducted Personal interview with Judy Glynn, first Barbie

e doll owner Interview conducted in interviewees home. Melissa Harvey was in attendance. **Interview questions were given in advance** How old were you when you received your first Barbie? Why did you want Barbie? Was there something that stood out to you in the advertisements? Do you remember your thoughts when you witnessed the first advertisements? Did Barbie influence your career? Was Barbie's image encouraging to you as a child? Do you think Barbie was/is a positive role model for young girls?

Judy Glynn: You know, you asked um your first question was the doll, and I think I was at least seven years old, maybe eight before I got my first one. And my image of the doll, mostly, was at the store, besides my cousin Kay who had them. The way she did dolls was, you know, you get them in this little box, and they come in this beautiful outfit. And she just left that outfit on the doll and pretty much kept the doll like it was new, you didnt touch it, play with it, or she would get really nervous or upset. So, and Im a touchy-feely, take the clothes of, find out whats going on, kind of person. So I know I made her crazy. But, what I got was this doll. And I think the reason why I still have this doll, is because nobody wanted her. Im not even sure if she is the real Barbie because I kept looking, you know Barbie has like a little thing; well she doesnt have the little emblem on the back of her. This is what I was given, she was in a red jersey, its still on there, um and I was told this was Barbie. And, I was justsick because well Im not going to take the clothes off, well I can pull her shorts down, but she was wearing a little outfit that was on a little bare or something that came on Valentines for the boys, but she had a suit like this. This was it, she was in the box like this, and this was it. And her hair had a red bow in it, I put a red bow in her hair today because she just looked awful. And her head is split because I think at one time, I tried to take her head off and put heads on from other dolls. So anyway, I was devastated. I said, you know, and I tried to look happy, I knew enough to try to be happy because I knew my parents tried. And, the other part of it was that my sisters got one tooand that wasnt fare. You know, Im the oldest and I should have gotten one first. But, we all got one, and my mother, well I think my youngest sister maybe not, maybe so. As I remember, she got like the younger sisters or something, they had little ones. I think she got a little one and we got the bigger ones. Andmy mother made doll clothes for them, and they were putrid, to say the least. There was a brown coat, brown pants, green shirt, purple day dress, and black strapless, straight ball-gown, made out of cotton that she had made by hand. And I mean there would be treasures but I dont know where they are today; somebody in the family has them. Butthey were ugly, and they werent at all what I imagined having Barbie would be. But, I didnt give up, I did not give up. I kept wishing and hoping, and heres a picture. I remember this picture; I think this one is for real. It was in 65 so I would have been nine years old. Melissa Harvey: You look pretty pleased with that one. P age 1

Caroline H arvey The P las tic Doll Judy Glynn: Oh yeah, this one I was pleased. She came with wigs that I could change her hair. She had three different colors of hair. Um she could bend, she could bend at the elbows and legs, and she had luggage. And I said were getting there. And, so things were looking up by the time I was...This was and I am pretty sure this was at the old house, so I would have been in the third grade, so it had to be at least two years that I had wanted one. I think the other thing, why I wanted one was because the other kids at school. You know I didnt go to kindergarten or anything, but when I was sixI think the other kids I saw besides Kay. So your question why I wanted Barbie was because the other girls had Barbie, and my cousin Kay had them. And the other thing, I said what was Barbies story? I dont know Barbies story, does she have a story? Interviewer: Um, I mean I know where she is from. Her real name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. And I forget where, but she is from Wisconsin. And, she has a high school too. Judy Glynn: Did you check out all the books about Barbie at the Bowman Library? Interviewer: Yeah I looked for more, I mean Judy Glynn: I looked yesterday and Im thinking I am a hard to copy person. Interviewer: Yeah I did look, but I was trying to find books more on the negative side. So maybe you were looking for those, but I dont know. Judy Glynn: No I wasnt but you know thats what I saw and found. I asked myself the question whats the deal with Barbie because I dont know Barbies story. And I was looking at the back stories, you know, and Barbie, for me, was Cinderella. I knew the story of Cinderella before I knew anything about Barbie. And for me, this is what happened because I am a visual learner, so I started getting these images. (Talks about counseling a few years back) Judy Glynn: The princess part has been a part of me since I can remember, and Barbie, when Barbie came along I found this coloring book about princesses. And I read My Little Princess or The little Princess, are you familiar with that book? Interviewer: No Judy Glynn: Um in fact my therapist had given me this condensed version of The Little Princess, and I read it, and it really helped me. And, princess was the thing and when I found this coloring book, and my Barbie, I said you knowthey look an awful lot alike. And then I started looking in the coloring book about the things, the romance, and the prince charming. And the name of the book is Princess Charming, so to be a prince, you must be charming. Prince charming. And all the pictures are, you know, dresses up, long hair. I would call this more queenly, with gowns and everything, and thats how I imagined my Barbie, with these big organza type gowns that umLets see I found a picture of my aunt Grace who isseventy-six or seventy-seven years old. She gave me one of her crochet books, and in the crochet book, it had a picture of, you know, you could crochet the outfit. They call it a fashion doll, but thats P age 2

Caroline H arvey The P las tic Doll Barbie. And so, this is similar to what I wanted my Barbie to look like, but she came in a brown coat, brown pants, green shirt, you know. UmSo, lets see, where are we now? Why I wanted them, well the back story for me is, you know I believe in that thistle down, my dream would come true. Well somehow if I had Barbie. My dream of being a princess would come true, and thats what I wanted to be, was a princess. I had my heart, and like I said my cousin Kay, she was beautiful, and had real dresses. I, you know, Im a wild monkey, I was wired that way, but umwhen I am comfortable in my own skin, I had overalls and my son thinks I look silly in overalls but I had my overalls and worked out in the woods and stuff like that. You know, but I figured if I had my Barbie, then my Cinderella dream would come true. And so, I saw a movie about Cinderella and I dont know who did it, but she was more like Katharine Hepburn or Lesley Ann Warren playing the part, but at the library yesterday, I found Julie Andrews did this in 1957, Cinderella, a year after I was born and I didnt even know Rodger Hammerstein wrote Cinderella. I havent watched it, but I will because somewhere, you know you were asking about TV ads, somewhere back there, you know, I saw something and most likely, since The Sound of Music was just like my life shaping movie, um this probably played a part of it that I didnt know of. I remember this song, bare with me, (singing) Someday my prince will come. And that was like my theme; someday my prince will come and rescue me. And the other one from the movie that I remember, (singing) in my own little corner, in my own little room, I can be whoever I want to be. And that was my theme, I had my own little corner, my own little room, I can be whoever I wanted to be. So I spent a lot of time alone, and a lot of time with my Barbie. And my mom was taking care of other stuff and Barbie personified the Cinderella thing for me. My belief is whoever came up with this, is a marketing genius because if you look in the books about Cinderella, or I mean Barbie, the books about Barbie, you only have a third as you do about Cinderella, and they have Cinderella everything. So she, the glamour and the gowns, and the gorgeous look that she had um she could be whatever role she was casted in. She could change her hair, you know, and move her body parts. She was a gymnast, and so how that influenced me was the doll was a vehicle to act out what was already wired in me. And it was like occupational therapy for me, I was busy with this a lot and I had a desire, like I said, to be a princess and to be rescued. And what I did was I started to sew my own clothes for my doll, I kept scraps. My mother was into square dancing, and she would sew these big gowns you know with all this pretty fabric and stuff, so I didnt let anything go to waste; any ribbons, thread, pieces of fabric. (Distraction with a stink bug) Judy Glynn: So anyway, where was I? I was talking about how I learned to make clothes; I pursued gymnastics until a back injury. I have severednot severedfused, theyre fused. Yeah that opposite word, fused, the vertebrate in the base of my spine, from doing aerials and landing on my head. And so, but I did become into fitness, aerobics instructor, so I contribute that to, not like the body image, well Ill tell you about that. Just because she was what I strived to be, I didnt have a person in my lifethat I aspired to become. There were no books, I homeschooled for seventeen years. And um, I dont ever recall a teacher I wanted to be like either, there just wasnt a person, a human being that had that standard for me. And umI did all kinds of things, P age 3

Caroline H arvey The P las tic Doll I learned to play tennis, I snow skied, racquetball, water skiing, I became a PADI certified scuba diver. Um I did musical theatre (Describes musical theatre experiences) Judy Glynn: I did a lot of things I would not have ordinarily tried to do because I aspired to be the Cinderella through Barbie. And you know Cinderella was a princess, I think she became a queen in later stories, but by day, I did business management; I was an administrative assistant to the president of the company. So I was like the princess. They called me the princess or mother superior, and I did roles. Everything from like the nun in The Sound of Music to like I said, the queen; a wide range of roles. And I said, I love it when I write spiffy things but when I put the dolls down, I took up playing out, all I had dreamed. The other thing I said is I didnt have a lot of Barbies; I only had one or two, but they had lots of stuff. I took their clothes off and on, wore the dolls out, like I said theres a cracked head on that one. About the image thing, her image kept encouraging me to realize my dream. (Describes boundaries life that God has set) Judy Glynn: Where I am right nowbecause things changed with each season of my life, but Barbie was there all along. When you ask that, I immediately saw my Barbie in a box, in my basement. Why? You know, Im an old lady, and everything else, all the clothes, all the other dolls are gone except for Barbie and Pee Wee. And this is Pee Wee, and I love Pee Wee because Pee Wee has no top and a pudgy belly. So those two dolls kind of made it. (Goes into detail about bad picture experiences) Judy Glynn: Im the same little girl, with the same dreams, and Barbie, you know theyre trying to blame Barbie, its not Barbie. Barbie, to me, was awhat did I say? Marketing genius, Barbie was a marketing genius because somebody figured out how to put Cinderella into a doll. That doll has been with me for all of my life. (Talks about an old friend who taught her many things) Judy Glynn: Are you recording this? Interviewer: Yes. Judy Glynn: Good. And to end in conclusion because I think all of thisin what God has intended for me from the beginning, but I had no clue, was I was like the Bride of Christ. I am not the Bride of Christ, the church is the Bride of Christ in the bible. There is a portion of the scripture, in psalm 45:13-15. I am reading from The Message because I just kind of like Petersons modern way of saying things. It says Her wedding dress is dazzling, lined with gold by the weavers; all her dresses and robes are woven with gold. She is led to the king, followed by her virgin companions, a procession of joy and laughter, a grand entrance to the kings palace! So, even the psalms talk about Barbie, in my opinion. And then, as the Bride of Christ in Revelations 19:6-9. Then I heard the sound of massed choirs, the sound of a mighty cataract, the sound of strong thunder: Hallelujah! The Master reigns, our God, the Sovereign-Strong! Let us celebrate, let us rejoice, let us give him the glory! The Marriage of the Lamb has come; his wife has made herself ready. She was given a bridal gown of bright and shining linen. The linen is the righteousness of the saints. The Angel said to me, write this: 'Blessed are those invited to P age 4

Caroline H arvey The P las tic Doll the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. He added, These are the true words of God! So I ask in the season, what does God have for me? As an old lady, all my life I wanted to be a princess, and I think that hes given me some clues. (Gives details about a Beth Moore study) Judy Glynn: I knew if I wanted to be built like this, I could be because they have stuff they can make and strap on you, to get the job done. And so, when I look at her, I dont think I have this feeling that I never measured up, I didnt become anorexic, or bulimic. I became self-conscious, and that was through trying to be someone I wasnt. I found a collection of stories that I found from the 1800s out of an orphanage. And the very first story says I wish I were a princess. You know so I think there is a long standing desire to be a princess, and theres another story; Hinds' Feet on High Places. This is a book that I have on princess stories that I had gotten recently. It shows pictures of Cinderella sweeping the hearth, the little birds and stuff, her dire circumstances, and her transformation into the princess and what process that was. Interviewer: (shows old Barbie commercials) Judy Glynn: I did a lot of things that I dont know that I would have done if I hadnt acted them out and playedwhat do they call itrole playing or whatever, and imagined myself in those situations, any questions? Interviewer: I dont think so

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