Hannah Ritvo
Theater manager Tom Reichelt captures the moment for Lynn Krebs, left, Marie Crawford and Carol Jones Barreau.
Marie Crawford got her first Barbie when she turned 3. She still has the 1979 Sun Lovin’ Malibu Barbie Doll, which sports a two-piece turquoise tricot suit, suntan lines and raspberry sunglasses. But for the July 19 screening of the Barbie movie at Marcus Palace Cinema’s Barbie Blowout Party, Crawford, now 46, brought her two favorite Barbies: the 1985 Day to Night Barbie and the 1986 Rocker Barbie.
“My sister and I loved playing with Barbies, we’d play for hours,” says Crawford. “I can’t wait to see this movie.” She says she has been preparing for this night for weeks. “I went to Hot Topic and bought a Barbie shirt, rings and bracelets. I’m super excited.”
It’s 6 p.m., an hour before curtain time, and Barbie enthusiasts begin showing up in droves at the Sun Prairie theater. Enthusiastic staff hand out free movie posters, pink cotton candy, sunglasses, and “I Heart Barbie” pins with the ‘80s logo.
Many moviegoers, like Crawford, are decked out in pink dresses and shirts and glitzy jewelry. Other costumes include Barbie’s very first 1959 black-and-white striped bathing suit and the Inspiring Women doll line that dropped in 2018.
Attendees weave a hot-pink line throughout the lobby as they wait to strike a pose in the life size Barbie doll box. The line intersects with another, this one full of 21+ Barbies waiting for drinks.
The drink menu features four specialty cocktails: the Sparkling Barbie, Barbie Girl, The Kenny and the Hot Pink Barbie. The bartender tells me the bestseller of the night is the Sparkling Barbie, a mixture of red berry New Amsterdam, prosecco, lemonade and strawberry puree topped with a heaping portion of sparkly glitter.
Amid a sea of pink stands one Ken. Mackenzie Gale, a UW senior, wears a black skirt, white socks, Mary Jane shoes, dark sunglasses and a white collared shirt underneath a dramatically long black tailcoat suit.
“I’m the only Ken here. Someone had to do it,” Gale says. She borrowed her mother’s suit for the occasion, and got ready for the event listening to Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s “Barbie World” remix while practicing Ken-like facial movements in the mirror.
Gale’s “kenergy” is high, and excitement in the lobby rises as the clock ticks down to show time. Barbies (and Ken!) mill about, making friends, enjoying the party, and waiting in line for concessions, where a hot pink Barbie popcorn bucket is available for purchase.
Fans from all over southern Wisconsin are here for the big event, including five members of the Madison Area Doll Club — a 22-member group of women who meet on the first Tuesday of each month in Monona to talk dolls. Crawford is the incoming president of the club.
The club has been going for more than 50 years. Members present programs on different types of dolls, go on out-of-state trips to doll museums and conventions, and host annual doll auctions. Each woman has a different favorite type of doll, but all have a special bond with Barbie.
Members of the club recall using Barbies over the years to comfort younger kids. They’ve donated Barbies to school nurses and police officers to calm children in stressful situations.
“I’ve used my Barbie dolls for educating people as much as I can,” says Crawford, an ESL elementary school teacher. As the night goes on, Barbie’s power to comfort becomes clear. Women tell me about the Barbies they have with prosthetic limbs, hearing aids and Down syndrome.
At 7 p.m. the party moves to the theater. Gale, the Ken of the night, turns to her friend. “I can’t believe I’m here,” she whispers. Her friend, dressed as a Ballerina Barbie, has already purchased a ticket to see the film at a different theater the following day.
The movie is interrupted every few minutes by claps and shouts as the appreciative audience follows Barbie on a journey out of the dreamy pink Barbieland and into the real world. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is a self-aware feminine fable that celebrates the iconic doll while turning the patriarchy on its head. The weekend box office of $155 million makes the film the biggest ever debut for a female director.
I walk out of the theater two hours later surrounded by a mass of enthusiastic women. “It captured the essence of what it means to grow up,” says Gale, who leaves the theater in tears. “It captured what it means to be a girl in the truest form, which is just trying to figure things out in a messed up world that was not made to support us.”
“I cried, I laughed, I gasped, I sang along. It was surreal.”
Year Madison Area Doll Club was founded:
1971
Oldest member:
90
Youngest member:
46
Barbie manufacturer:
Mattel
Different Barbie careers:
200+
Barbie price in 1959:
$3
Barbie price now:
$10-$25
Barbie’s height:
11.5 inches
