1970 Dramatic Living Barbie and Living Skipper

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Barbie Fan Club Booklet came with the dolls

Hello fellow Barbie aficionados! As a young girl, I had both Dramatic Living Barbie and her little sister Living Skipper. Unfortunately,  like all of my other Barbies, they drowned in a basement flood in Milwaukee. With eBay, I was able to recreate the majority of my collection. 

Titian red, blonde and brunette New Dramatic Living Barbies

In 1970, Mattel introduced the first fully posable Barbie doll, Dramatic New Living Barbie. She could tilt her head, bend her knees and elbows, pose her ankles, rotate her wrists, swing her arms and swivel at her waist. She could even do the splits! She was available in blonde, titian red or brunette hair (see below) and wore a beautiful gold and silver metallic one-piece suit with an orange fishnet cover-up. In 1971 "New" was dropped from her name and was shortened to "Dramatic Living Barbie." She was packaged in a new box and came in a polka-dotted swimsuit with a matching wrap. Another difference between the two is that the 1970 doll had side glance eyes whereas the 1971 doll had centered eyes. 
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Dramatic New Living Barbie's advertisement touted that she "twists left and right and bends at the waist like a willow." Huh? Bends like a tree? No matter, I had hours of fun with these two! She has pretty, extra-long lashes (no falsies here!).

These dolls aren't super-popular with collectors unless it's a Living Barbie produced in Japan rather than Taiwan. I tried reading the stamps on the bums from my collection but my old eyes cannot decipher the small imprint! 

I watched an eBay bid for a Dramatic Living Barbie (1969) today and it sold for $184 NRFB, and another mint/no box 1970 Dramatic Living Barbie which went for $89 - both great deals for the winners!

1970 Dramatic New Living Barbie - Values: $260 NRFB; $120 mint/no box
1970 Dramatic New Living Skipper - Values: $110 NRFB; $60 mint/no box

Values from "Vintage Barbie Dolls" by Hillary Shilkitus James (2011)

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