Barbie Turns 21

What is no taller than a daisy, drives a Corvette and always, always gets invited to the prom? The Barbie doll, of course, the diminutive clotheshorse who will be 21 next year and still reigns as a princess in a court of girlhood heroines that includes Nancy Drew and Miss America. Barbie has been displayed at the Smithsonian, sealed in time capsules, and saluted by Betty Ford. Since Mattel, Inc. introduced her in 1959, more Barbies probably have been bought—112 million at last count—than any other doll. To celebrate her birthday Barbie threw a party at her new two-story Dream House. A flock of Barbies old and new turned out in a festive hodgepodge of dresses, jodhpurs and bikinis, bringing a mix of ever-courtly Kens in tow. The original doll, in her trademark striped swimsuit, stands behind the cake. At her side is the newest Barbie, who wears a dainty floor-length frock and blows kisses at the touch of a panel on her back. Despite the frowns of feminists, last year about $160 million worth of Barbies, similar dolls, their clothes, houses and other accoutrements were sold, making the fashion-doll business a stylish slice of the toy industry.

Tiny Chic

Before Barbie came along, dolls were cuddled, diapered and burped. But 11 ½ inch Barbie had a most unbabylike shape (5 ½-3-4 ¾), the fine-boned face of a model and 21 chic ensembles. She was meant to be dressed, coiffed and used, as her creator and ex-Mattel president Ruth Handler puts it, "to project every little girl's dream of the future." About a thousand outfits have been made for Barbie; the sheer number of them makes Mattel the top manufacturer of women’s clothing in the world. In the fashion parade on these pages, Barbies model a selection of the outfits that faithfully copied couture trends of the day such as bubble skirts (’59), snug sheaths (’61) and tailored suits (’66). They show an almost microscopic attention to detail, from hand-stitched hemlines to tiny gold buttons.

New Looks

To stay in vogue, Barbie’s wardrobe has included midis, minis and maxis, granny gowns (’73) and goucho pants (’77). In ’71 she made an appearance as a tie-dyed rock singer; by last year she was sporting a peppy jogging outfit. Her face and hairstyles have also undergone an impressive series of changes, with the crimson lips and nails, heavy eye makeup, ponytails and pageboys gradually giving way to some 40 alterations. When Mattel discovered in the early ‘70s that brunettes and redheads weren’t selling, it began offering blond Barbies almost exclusively. The consistent best-seller is bronzed Malibu Barbie, introduced in ’71 (this year’s model shows 'suntan lines' under her bathing suit). Another favorite is Superstar Barbie (’77), whose toothy smile and glossy tresses bear an uncanny likeness to a certain ex-Charlie’s Angel. Transformations aside, however, Barbie retains her wholesome image. The frothy wedding gown, re-created annually, remains the most popular dress in Barbie’s collection.

Phoenix, Arizona, July 4 – The largest Indian school in the Southwest and the second largest in the Union is that in the Salt River Valley, near this place. It is unique in several respects. It is patronized by the Apaches, the Pimas, and the Maricopahs, who have until the past two years been the most lawless, intractable, and savage tribes Uncle Sam has had to deal with.

The fifty-seven Pima and Apache girls in the school under the supervision of the matron, learn to cook, wash, sew, and perform all other household duties, in addition to their study of the English language. The superintendent of the school finds the Indian girls less tractable to book learning than the boys, but they have a zeal for neatness in sewing and knitting that is astonishing. Very few of the girls have any taste for arithmetic and the forms of language, but they love to execute brightly colored maps and to draw. They are always much more reserved and diffident than their red-skinned brothers. The boys are handsome fellows, from fourteen to twenty-one years of age, and during certain hours of the day they are compelled to attend to the duties of the farm. They do not do this reluctantly, as one might suppose, but with good will and an apparent anxiety to learn. They are dressed in uniform, their hair kept closely trimmed, and they show their appreciation of the change from almost absolute nudity by keeping their shoes polished and their clothes nicely brushed. In the classroom they excel in arithmetic and spelling, and any exercise that brings the blackboards into use wins their attention. Strange as it may appear, they have not the least liking for exercising in the gymnasium, but in out-of-door sports, such as running races, leaping, and vaulting, they are very proficient.

A recent visit to the Indian school was a revelation in some respects. The writer has known the Pima Indians on their reservation as a fierce, sullen, obstinate, and cruel lot of savages, with a record second to not even the Apaches for horrible butcheries of white settlers and unspeakable barbarities upon their enemies in warfare. It was therefore a surprise to see over 150 of the boys and girls of these desert savages come marching into the chapel with military precision, dressed in handsome, neat-fitting garments, wearing linen shirts, and with their hair brushed with as much nicety as that of a city dude.

The surprise did not end there. When the opening hymn was announced one of Apache girls that five months before was running wild on the desert south of the Gila readily turned to the number, and, handing the writer the book, asked in good English if he would not take part with them.

Some of them sing splendidly, and Prof. Rich, the Superintendent of the school, says that they are natural musicians. Several of the younger ones have learned to play the organ, and with the French harp they will make an average city gamin ashamed of himself. Hugh Patten, one of the monitors, plays the piano very well, having picked the accomplishment up without any instruction, only being aided by his natural aptitude for music. This Indian is a peculiarity in Indian life. Some years ago he learned the English language, and acted as an interpreter from that time till the opening of the school, which he entered, where he has since remained. He discarded his Indian name and assumed an English one, and in the three years he has acquired a good English education. He is of medium size, rather dark, but with the prepossessing appearance of a student. He has done much to induce his people to adopt civilization, and is , of course, a warm friend of the school.

. . . The assignment to create the road sign landed on the desk of Caltrans graphic artist John Hood in the late 1980s. He was asked to design an image that, in the blink of an eye, would alert drivers to the unexpected sight of pedestrians in their headlights. Before Hood began drawing the sign, he and his supervisors met with Highway Patrol officers and saw photos of accident scenes. What got to him most were the deaths that involved families. "Graphically, I wanted to show a family," said Hood, who lives in San Diego. He chose to include a pigtailed girl, rather than a boy, because "there is something about a little girl running across with her parents that we are more affected by."

At first he drew detailed figures, with faces that showed "a little bit of fright." But, in the end, Hood and his supervisors decided on a silhouette. "When you are looking through headlights, that is what you see," Hood said, "an outline of the image itself." As he sketched, Hood tried to imagine the despair that might drive such a family across the border and onto a forbidding foreign highway. He drew from his own experience fighting in Vietnam, where he had seen families run for their lives as villages were attacked. He remembered stories his Navajo parents had told him about ancestors who died trying to escape as U.S. soldiers marched them onto reservations.

The drawing was finished in a week. Even without faces, the characters conveyed a sense of urgency in their flight. "It doesn't just mean they are running across the freeway," Hood said. "It means they are running from something else as well. I think it's a struggle for a lot of things, for opportunities, for freedom."

Stefan Landsberger's Chinese Propaganda Poster Pages offers a rich collection of Chinese propaganda posters assembled by historian Stefan Landsberger (Leiden University) from his own collection of over 2,000 images. The website presents images in multiple categories related to the broader themes of politics, society, and culture. The images span a period of time ranging from 1937 to the present day, though the majority originate in the 1970s and later decades. While brief at times, Landsberger offers written introductions to the specific thematic groupings of images at the site, providing a bare-bones but useful background that illuminates their historical context. Bibliographic references and external links are also provided for sources and related readings.

The images presented offer a wonderful set of primary sources for the study of youth, children, and childhood. The category of childhood here intersects with an imagery associated with revolution, national identity, economic development, as well as themes of gender and inter-generational relationships. Both the visual imagery and the Chinese texts printed upon the posters are readily accessible with translations of the Chinese available by holding the computer cursor over the image.

The presentation of thematic categories at this site focuses upon dominant themes within state propaganda and children can be seen as both an intended audience and a primary figure within the imagery itself. Among the collections, the posters associated with "Socialist Spiritual Civilization" offer a rich sample for discussion. Here, we find the imagery of a movement that was introduced amidst the Chinese market reform of the 1980s and 1990s as an effort to instill discipline, "good character," and loyalty among school children.

While Landsberger's own discussion of childhood and the lives of Chinese youth is limited, the images and slogans themselves offer a useful case study. This selection serves explorations of childhood themes of discipline, notions of community, and the link between the child and the modern state. These posters also encourage creative insight when juxtaposed with imagery appearing in comparative settings (e.g. Boy Scout and Girl Scouts of America, Guiding organizations of the United Kingdom.)

Related themes can be found in a collection entitled "The PLA [People's Liberation Army] and Children." These images feature children in overlapping martial and domestic frames from the 1960s-1980s, inviting analysis of representations of gender, masculinity, and nation. See, in particular, the warm image of a soldier cutting his young friend's hair and the celebratory presentation of cheering children and artillery.

The collection of "New Year Prints (and Chubby Babies)" meanwhile presents images of roly-poly infants posted in households and on doorways to celebrate the hopes of prosperity, auspicious fortune, and happiness at the new year holiday. This collection nicely serves an exploration of the ways in which the image of the child (here, the infant or toddler) is framed within popular culture and then appropriated by a Chinese Communist state that sought to utilize imagery of the child to promote revolutionary themes.

Landsberger provides a background discussion of the appropriation of that genre by the state in the 1940s, as well as the 1980s and 1990s resurgence of the genre during the reform period. Comparisons of these images across time offer an opening to discussions of the ways in which the image of the child is used to present definitions of the good life, of the united concerns of a household economy and national strength, as well as a new culture of middle-class consumption. Other relevant images at the site can be found by utilizing the search terms "children" and "education."

Using these images in conjunction with other resources in Chinese history allows for sophisticated explorations of the visual culture of childhood. Further examples of Chinese propaganda imagery can be found online in a childhood collection at the University of Westminster, and in clips from animated features ("Heroic Little Sisters on the Grassland," "The Ferry Port") available amidst the multimedia samples at the Morning Sun website. See also Stephanie Donald's "Children as Political Messengers: Art, Childhood, and Continuity," in Harriet Evans and Stephanie Donald, eds., Picturing Power in the People's Republic of China: Posters of the Cultural Revolution (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 1999): 79-100.

Scouting – Helping to Prepare Leaders of Tomorrow.

By the Kenya scouting movement’s Chief Commissioner, Mr. J.J.M. Nyagah East African Standard, 27 July 1971.

Can any country expect more from its citizens than complete loyalty and helpfulness?

Scouting tries to inculcate into the minds and souls of the young - the future citizens of any country - just these attributes. The Swahili saying udongo upate uli maji is very relevant to the aims of scouting which is the training of youth to grow up as men and leaders of character to assist in the building of their nation.

. . .

Today this world-wide movement is going through stages of use adaptation to suit each and every nation, while still remaining within the international framework of the noble ideals enunciated by the founder – the late Lord Baden Powell of Gilwell.

Incidentally scouting is African in origin, it was FOUNDED in Mafeking (Africa), NURSED in the United Kingdom, SPREAD all over the world and the founder decided to be buried in Nyeri (Kenya). Incidentally the highest qualification any scouter can attain is that of a Woodbadge. This originates from a wooden bead necklace worn by a brave African chief which Lord Baden Powell decided to use [a] symbol of scouting. It is still in use today.

Why, therefore, shouldn’t we Africans feel part and parcel [of] scouting? We should modernise and perfect it for others to learn and follow.

. . .

We are fortunate in that the President of our Kenya Boy Scouts Association is our national republic's beloved President, H.E. Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, C.G.H, M.P., who in his own right is a brave warrior, hence the Chief of the Golden Heart.

Departure from East London

I left East London on Sunday, 30 January 1949 for Edwaleni Technical College. . . . The weather that day was cloudy and rain fell intermittently. I was taken by car to Down Station where I found the District [Scout] Commissioner and many scouts waiting for me. . . . The scouts and I hold [a] short farewell meeting where I was given a good sum of shillings for my provision. . . . As the train left Down Station I said goodbye to everybody who had come to see me leave for the Province and College unknown to me far, far away.

Arrival at Umtata

We arrived at Umatata at 4 a.m. on Monday. I waited at the station for a bus which was to leave for Port St. Johns. At the station there were students going to [schools] in Natal, others were going to Lovedale, St. Matthews, etc, and also workers who were going to Natal especially Durban.

Port St. Johns

We arrived at Port St. Johns at 10 a.m. on the same day. In the rail I took my luggage to a boarding house. . . . The town is full of trees. Some houses are half covered with trees and as you walk along the streets you can hear good melody from the frogs. . . . It is almost like a jungle. I found the climate here tropical. Bananas are cheap and galore. . . . The next morning I went to the Pontoon [Bridge], but the Pontoon was not working, only boats were used to take the people across. I crossed the river and waited for the bus. . . . In the bus I made friendship with T.K. Ntshiyantshiya a lawyer's interpreter who had been to Port St. Johns with his master.

At Lusikisiki

There are no boarding houses here, I had to sleep outside in a verandah of a shop but Ntshiyantshiya came to the rescue, took me to his relatives – 2.5 miles out of Lusikisiki. We got a bus for Port Shepstone. . . and from there to Umtamvuna, which is the boundary between Cape Province and Natal. . . . [From my destination at Rice's Halt] we went on foot to the school. . . . This is the first time [I visited] the institution. I arrived on the 3rd February 1949. The journey was one which gives one experience and many shocks, and jars I found on the way are nothing to one who has a bit of scout training. I was not disappointed on my way but I kept on saying to myself 'Be Prepared for anything you come across.'

During the past year the Chief Guide and I have visited Egypt and the Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, the Union, Northern and Southern Rhodesia, St. Helena, Ascension, and the Canaries on a tour of inspection of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides.

You who know South Africa can realise in a way impossible for anyone who has not lived there the intense feeling which prevails on the colour question. For various reasons it has been far more acute here than in other countries.

Therefore our policy of Scouting being open to all "regardless of class, creed, or colour" was found to be impossible in practice. White parents would never allow their boys to consort with black. Any attempt on the part of the Scout movement to bring this about would have meant its boycott by the whites. Locally the question was asked: "Are the blacks to be catered for in preference to the whites?"

An amendment had been suggested to the Constitution of the Scout organisation in South Africa to emphasise the fact that the movement was open only to European boys.

One could not feel that this was in accordance with our professed open door to all sorts of boys, or that it visualised future developments of relationships between the races.

With the introduction of European rule the tribal system was largely broken down, and a transition from savagery to civilisation was brought about.

In many cases, however, the change has been almost too sudden; if you take former hunters and warriors away from their kraals and traditional discipline and place them as workers in mines and cities, with freedom from moral restraints, you thrust upon them the temptations and vices of the underworld of civilisation without having given them any education in character for facing these.

While education is as yet only in its early stages, the natives generally are quickly responsive to it. Those who were formerly segregated from one another by language and distance have now the facilities of a common tongue and improved communications and are thus coming into closer mutual touch.

Through gaining a wider outlook on life they are becoming race conscious and sensitive to justice or injustice. Indeed, influences are already at work among them persuading them that they have not been treated with fairness by their white rulers.

The colour prejudice is further complicated also by the fact that in addition to the natives there is a considerable half-caste element in the population, locally known as the "coloured" people. In addition to these there is a large section of Indians, descendants of earlier immigrants from India but now naturalised South Africans. Also a goodly proportion of Malays similarly circumstanced.

Already these different sections were beginning to feel themselves neglected if not repelled by not being accepted in the Boy Scout movement. The native youth had begun to organise themselves on Scout and Guide lines under able and sympathetic white leaders, calling themselves "Pathfinders" and "Wayfarers " since the name Scouts and Guides was denied them. The Indians had also started a Scout movement of their own.

At the Conference of the Union Scout Council which I attended in February the whole question came up for consideration. The various pros and cons-and there were many of them were discussed in excellent temper and in the true Scout spirit of fairness and wide outlook.

After two and a half days of earnest deliberation the conclusion was unanimously arrived at that, instead of making the Scout movement a closed Association for Europeans only, a Federation should be formed of the respective sections of Pathfinder Scouts, Coloured Boy Scouts, and Indian Boy Scouts; each section to be a separate self-governing unit, but all to be registered under the controlling authority of the Union Boy Scout Council.

This arrangement has met with the enthusiastic approval of all the bodies concerned.

This Federation, as now constituted, supplies at any rate a sound framework on which future developments can be made to meet the needs of future times.

The step is a big one and full of promise and possibilities. Its successful initiation has been largely due to the broad-minded outlook of missionary and education officers working in co-operation with white Scout leaders and in the face of much prejudice on the part of some of the public.

It is too soon yet to speak of any results, but one cannot help looking forward and hoping that this comradeship of the Scout and Guide movement will contribute to an improved mutual relationship between the different elements in the population and so tend to bring about the unity necessary for making an united South African people in the future.