Some of My Favorite Vintage Black Barbies

Live-Action Christie, Talking Brad and Super Star Christie are among my favorite vintage Black Barbie family of dolls.

"Top Favorite Dolls" was the July photo-sharing theme in my Facebook doll group.  On a daily basis most of us shared photos of our top favorite dolls and shared information about the dolls.   One of my posts featured some of my top favorite vintage black Barbies.  There are others that I was not able to photograph at the time (a better photo of Super Star Christie being one). The dolls I shared, in addition to one other, are shown below.

Talking Brad has a box date of 1970.  Look at that handsome face!

Now mute, Brad wears his orange swimming trunks with his orange and yellow jacket.  He has black molded hair and brown painted eyes.

Live Action Christie wears her original purple/orange/white psychedelic-print midriff top and bell-bottom pants with purple square-toed pumps and orange scarf.  Her box date is 1971.  She was temporarily removed from her original box to take this photo.  Her booklet includes images of other dolls and fashions that were available on the market at the time of her release.  Scans from the booklet can be seen here.

Malibu Christie has a box date of 1975.

Malibu Christie was released to the market in 1976.  Her box date is 1975.  This lovely ebony-complexioned doll wears a yellow bathing suit and has straight, long black hair.  I love her so much that I have two.  At one time, I owned three.  Sunset Malibu Christie, dressed in red bathing suit, was on the market from 1973 through 1977.  She remains elusive to me, but if she were here, she would also be a favorite.  

Cutie Patootie, Carla, 1976

Carla, made for the European market, has a box date of 1976.  She has bendable, posable arms and legs and the cutest little face.  She is all vinyl and, at only 6 inches tall, she is the smallest of my favorite
vintage Black Barbie family of dolls.
  

The back of Carla's box illustrates Tutti (I have my sister's Tutti), Chris, and Todd (Tutti's twin brother). Mattel would later reuse the name Todd for a taller doll (approximately 8-1/2 inches) that was released as African American and Caucasian.  I believe the AA version was always part of a Barbie gift set, one of which is shown here.  I also have Todd in another wedding set with AA Barbie and Stacey.

Super Star Christie has a box date of 1977.  Dressed in a yellow satin gown with a yellow lacy shawl, the doll has brown hair with golden blonde highlights and uses the Super Star head sculpt.  

There is a lovely illustration of SuperStar Christie's on the back of the box.

18-inch Super Size Christie, 1977

A doll stand and aqua pants are attached to the box liner.  The two-piece, shimmery-front bodysuit and skirt that Super Size Christie wears was originally the color of the aqua pants. It is, unfortunately, common for this to fade to tan/light pink. Aqua high heel shoes are be in the package attached to the liner.

Super Size Christie uses the Super Size Barbie head sculpt, which is quite lovely.

At 18 inches tall, Super Size Christie (1977 box date) is the largest of my favorite vintage Black Barbies.  Like Super Star Christie, Super Size has dark brown hair with golden highlights.  At one time I owned two of these.  The first doll only had her body suit, doll stand, and original shoes (no box).  After upgrading to the mint in box one shown in this post, I sold the other. 

Side panel of Super Size Christie's box illustrates a girl holding the doll and two additional images of the doll. Note the doll is illustrated wearing an aqua fashion.

The back of the box illustrates the doll wearing the aqua bodysuit with pants, with the skirt, and the bodysuit alone.

The other side panel of Super Size Christie's box illustrates the three ways the doll can wear the aqua fashion.

For me, box graphics are as appealing as the vintage dolls.  Super Size Christie's box, as illustrated in the above three photographs, does not disappoint.  The same holds true for Magic Curl Barbie's box.

Magic Curl Barbie (1981) with hair that can be worn curly or straight is the doll that was not shared with my doll group as one of my top favorite vintage Black Barbies, but she is.

The back of the box describes and illustrates how Barbie's hair goes from curly to straight using the Magic Mist solution included with the doll.

One side panel of Magic Curl Barbie's box includes a head shot of the doll with curly Afro and a full-length photo wearing her yellow peasant-style, full-length dress.

The other side panel of Magic Curl Barbie's box illustrates the doll with straighter hair.  She is dressed in a yellow spa towel in the full-length photo.

Magic Curl Barbie (box date 1981), a doll my daughter also owned, is probably not considered vintage by die-hard Barbie fans.  At 36 in doll years, she's vintage in my eyes and included in this post because she is one of my favorites.  I remember watching my daughter style her doll's hair using the Magic Mist and enjoying the fun she had in doing so.  I had once thought one of the dolls from my daughter's childhood that is now incorporated into my collection was a Magic Curl Barbie, but based on lip color, I am not sure (unless my daughter painted the lips of the doll on the far right in the next photo).  

From left to right the head sculpts used for my daughter's dolls are Teresa, Steffie, Christie (with the square face x2), and Steffie (the one that is possibly Magic Curl Barbie).  

See the before photos of my daughter's dolls here and their makeover post here.  

As indicated, I have more "vintage" Black Barbies, but those shown here rank among my top favorites and are the ones that were readily accessible to photograph.  

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Her First Doll was Malibu Barbie

During her touching tribute to Dr. Maya Angelou on Saturday, June 7, 2014, as she reflected on the impact Dr. Angelou's poem, "Phenomenal Woman" had on her, First Lady Michelle Obama shared that her first doll was the blonde, blue-eyed Malibu Barbie.  As a little Black girl from the South Side of Chicago, Dr. Angelou's poem, allowed her to see herself "in a whole new light," said First Lady Obama.

My first doll, and the many that followed, was also white with blonde hair and blue eyes.  By the time Mattel released the original Malibu Barbie (Sun Set Malibu Barbie) in 1971, my doll interest had long faded.  By then, however, I too was well aware of Maya Angelou having read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and years later viewed the film version.  She has been one of my "sheroes" for over four decades.  For me, her recent transition was comparable to losing a close family member.

According to Mattel's description of the Malibu Barbie reproduced in 2008, "This doll solidified Barbie doll's image as the quintessential California girl."  Like many other Barbie themed dolls, the 1971 doll, Sun Set Malibu Barbie, and the 1976 remake, Malibu Barbie, had several friends.  The friends included in the 1976 doll set were:  Malibu Ken, Skipper, Francie, Christie, and PJ.  These dolls are illustrated below in a scan of page 117 from Barbie Doll Photo Album 1959 to 2009 Identification and Values by the late J. Michael Augustyniak (Collector Books, 2010).

Malibu Barbie (first doll, first row above) is one of the many Barbies made to portray the global ideal of feminine beauty.  A minute percentage of females, however, actually possess the doll's California-girl appearance, reflecting the fallacy of this one standard of beauty concept.

Malibu Christie, Mattel, 1976 (box date 1975)

Just look at my favorite Malibu doll -- Malibu Christie (second doll, row two in the scanned image and immediately above).  Her beauty shines through her smooth ebony complexion, her jet black hair, her oval brown eyes, her broad nose underneath an almost absent nasal bridge, and her fuller-than Barbie's lips.  I purchased two Malibu Christies shortly after my enthusiasm erupted in the early '90s for dolls that accurately portray people who look like me. 

My two Malibu Christie dolls.

Thank God for the Maya Angelous of the world who instilled and continue to instill a sense of self-worth in girls of all colors, teaching them to realize just how phenomenal they are now and how much more they can become when they learn to love every inch of themselves first without attempting to look like another or ever feel they are insignificant.  When they love themselves first without seeking approval from others, exploring and cultivating their interests, becoming life-long knowledge seekers, and motivated achievers will then become second nature. 

Just as Dr. Angelou's poem became an affirmation for Michelle Obama long before she became the first African American First Lady of the United States, it should become doctrine for little girls and women around the world:

Phenomenal Woman

by Maya Angelou

(first published in Cosmopolitan in 1978)

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size   

But when I start to tell them,

They think I’m telling lies.

I say,

It’s in the reach of my arms,

The span of my hips,   

The stride of my step,   

The curl of my lips.   

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,   

That’s me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,   

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.   

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.   

I say,

It’s the fire in my eyes,   

And the flash of my teeth,   

The swing in my waist,   

And the joy in my feet.   

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered   

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can’t touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them,   

They say they still can’t see.   

I say,

It’s in the arch of my back,   

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

Now you understand

Just why my head’s not bowed.   

I don’t shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.   

When you see me passing,

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It’s in the click of my heels,   

The bend of my hair,   

the palm of my hand,   

The need for my care.   

’Cause I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

 And you.

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