ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 11, 1995 TAG: 9512110045
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
IT WAS apparent something unusual was going on when the cash register at a local store that doesn't carry much, if anything, in the way of toys bore the hand-scrawled message: "We do not carry Happy Holiday Barbie."
And this was before Thanksgiving, the pre-holiday holiday that normally ushers in the gift-shopping season. Ah, scarcity is what that "C" thing (capitalism, not Christmas) is all about.
H.H. Barbie, apparently, had become the coveted, hard-to-find, you'd-come-up-with-it-somehow-if-you-really-loved-your-kid toy of the current season. You've seen the phenomenon before. The jostling herds of frantic moms grabbing for a limited supply of Cabbage Patch dolls remain a particularly vivid Yuletide memory.
If that memory serves accurately, that shortage was caused by unexpected demand from parents who just wanted their little girls, undoubtedly in the clutches of manipulative kiddie commercials, to have their hearts' dearest wish fulfilled on Christmas morning. Nurturing such materialistic fad-ism is questionable at best, but at least the demand was driven by parents who expected their kids to play with the hard-won trophy. For a little while, anyway.
The 1995 H.H. Barbie isn't collecting any dust on shelves, either. But rather than nestling in Santa's bag, to be placed lovingly under Christmas trees on the magic eve, Barbie has been lovingly stockpiled by doll collectors with visions of rapid appreciation in value dancing in their heads. (The 1988 Christmas Barbie goes for $800 these days.)
Oh, no doubt these Barbie collectors have a passion for the model of plastic femininity that goes beyond their investment hopes. But H.H. Barbie 1995 has proved so popular with that financially savvy set that, in many cities, there are none around for the kids. Santa is in the embarrassing position of having to provide redemption certificates - the promise of a doll by the end of April, complete with a picture of the real thing - to put under the Christmas tree.
Or his elves might hit the doll bazaars and markets where some collectors have been known to part with their stocks of $35 Barbies - for as much as $150 apiece. "I reckon you have to be a pretty darn good little girl to get one for that price," the owner of a Barbie museum told a Wall Street Journal reporter.
With pushovers as parents.
LENGTH: Short : 49 linesby CNB