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that didn't make it into the book
A&E Interview
Barbie Biography on TV
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BARBIE® TALKS!
BARBIE® TALKS! is the inside story
of how Barbie got her voice. It is a free-wheeling account of the fascinating
“Golden Age” of Mattel. This is the first book written by toy designers who
actually worked in the wonderful, top secret circus of Mattel. There are both
humorous and poignant stories about the antics of the toy designers and
executives of this wonderful era.
BARBIE® TALKS! relates the genius, the hilarity, and the craziness that Gwen Florea and Glenda Phinney encountered in the workplace, and their roles in making Talking Barbie a reality. In their well-written intersecting personal memoirs, the authors reveal the inside story of how Barbie got her voice, and why Barbie’s figure took the unrealistic shape that it did. There are both humorous and poignant stories about the antics of the toy designers and executives of Mattel. These historical events are interwoven with an honest and very readable account of the loves, marriages, and the blindly sexist business world, which triggered development of a feminine consciousness in each woman.
What do Barbie Dolls do when they grow up? They have amazing lives and achieve their goals! BARBIE TALKS! is a revealing account of two women who came of age in the shadow of Barbie, and reveals a lie to the notion that Barbie was a poor influence for young women.
The photograph used for the cover of the book is of an award given to Gwen Florea. The small silver circular disk is an actual platinum record of the voice of the first talking Barbie doll.
The plaque reads:
PLATINUM RECORD AWARD
"OVER FIVE MILLION RECORDS SOLD"
presented to
GWEN FLOREA
DUHAIME
as the voice of "Barbie"
MATTEL, INC. 1971