On March 9, 1959, Mattel’s Barbie doll, created by Ruth Handler, made its public debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York. Barbie was first revealed in her famous black-and-white swimming suit. To celebrate her 50th birthday, Mattel will feature a modern version of the black-and-white suit. Barbie is also receiving a real Barbie Malibu Dream House, a 3,500-square-foot home in Malibu.

— Information from the Associated Press and Barbie.com

“I remember me and my friends cutting our Barbies’ hair and styling it and just having fun with that.” — Jennifer Ramthun, junior in anthropology

“They’re kind of like a collector’s item and I like those kind of dolls even like now…even when I see that kind of doll I buy them, they take me back to being that age.” — Catherine Thomas, senior in journalism and mass communication

“I didn’t play with Barbies because when I was about three we were on a trip to Iowa and I was like: ‘Mom can you put Barbie’s hat on? Can you put Barbie’s shoes on?’ and you know my mom had two other kids in the car too. It was a long drive, and she got fed up with Barbie and ripped Barbie’s head off and threw it out the window and I didn’t play with Barbies after that.” — Catherine Calistro, freshman in communication studies

“Me and my brother shooting my sister’s Barbies with BB guns.” — Mark Wisted, sophomore in electrical engineering

“My mom had a bunch of old Barbies, and they were probably worth a lot of money but it didn’t really matter. We used to play with them up at our lake home, like I was about five, my sister was two, we played with the Barbies together. These were old school Barbies, like antique Barbies. We just cut all their hair off and like took all their clothes off and undressed them. And I think we even played with them then as we were older and did probably lewd things.” — David Markman, senior in industrial engineering

“I remember using the pizza box table in the middle of the pizza and I would use that for my Barbie table.” — Jayne Knaeble, sophomore in pre-advertising