​​​​​​​Behold The Valley of the Dolls

by David James Mansour 

Dolls waiting to be photographed for Behold the Valley of the Dolls. 

"All the leaves are brown, And the sky is gray 
I've been for a walk, On a winter's day 
I'd be safe and warm, If I was in LA 
California dreaming
On such a winter's day."

~ "California Dreaming" by The Mamas & the Papas​

I'm called "Barbie Expert," "Top Barbie Collector," "Barbie Obsessive," and the "Barbie Guy." 
I've talked about Barbie numerous times on TV and the radio and for newspapers and magazines. 

I've given public Barbie presentations and help other Barbie friends identify dolls and guide them on collecting (38-years of collecting does give one much knowledge on the Barbie doll.) ​

Above: Me with among my toy collection in 1999 (left) and 2007 (right). 

Below: The four corners of my "Toy Room" at it's peak in 2011.  

     The Kansas City Star's "Blond Ambition" story was the first of many to follow. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, when area newspapers and magazines needed someone to talk about Barbie, I was the Barbie Guy they contacted. 

Left: An early-1990s photograph of vintage dolls. I believe every single one of these was given to me by friends. 

Right: Barbie's Friend Ship, a cherished gift from my dentist. It displays prominently in my collection today.  

Collecting Barbie isn't all fun and games... Nah, it's all fun and games! 

Above: Barbie cheerleaders. The dolls had to try-out to make the varsity, jr. varsity and yell leader squads. 

​Below, from left to right: A Barbie Christmas tree I created using actually Barbie dolls and fashions as ornaments, donated for charity auction (it drew the highest bid); Will you be my Valentine?—a Valentine card box, another one of my holiday creations Valentine Card box; and a Barbie Beach Party photo shoot... Surf's up, dolls!

Despite all the other toys I was collecting, the Barbie dolls had my heart and set displayed in the middle of the Toy Room on a set of shelving units I dubbed "Barbie Island.   

"Hallelujah, Holy Grails" - New dolls for the collection! 

Three times Barbies from my collection made the front page of The Kansas City Star!

     Barbie and me, we go way back. 1961. The third year of production for Mattel’s “teen-age fashion model,” acclaimed by Life magazine as the “Most popular doll in town,” the year her boyfriend Ken made his debut, the year I was born.  

     From earliest memory I knew of Barbie. My big sister Paula, ten years older, had Barbie dolls. Because I was regularly engrossed in Paula’s dolls, when she outgrew them as a teenager in the late-1960s, she handed her whole collection to me—Barbies, fashions, and doll cases. This was a dream come true for a little Barbie boy.  

  My little sister Kim, six years younger, was customarily spoiled with Barbie as birthday, Christmas and just-because gifts. To my delight I couldn’t wait to see what new dolls she received, and couldn’t wait to play with them. Kim let me lead the way in the adventures of Barbie playtime. 

     At the time it was socially unacceptable for boys to play with dolls. I once overheard a conversation involving my mother with another parent who criticized me for playing with a Barbie doll. In defense mom responded, “A doll is a toy and a toy is meant to be played with by all

​children.

One shelf, two shelf, three shelf...

four shelf and more!

       Fast forward to 1987. I’m a newbie hairdresser, first year in a salon, living in the Kansas City area. It’s the 21st of September, my birthday, when the pivotal moment of Barbie collecting occurs: I received a present of Barbie and the Rockers, a new wave band comprised of six neon-fashioned dolls. I was totally enamored. 

     This birthday gift reignited a love for Barbie I hadn’t felt since childhood. Overnight these dolls grew into an addiction, an obsession, a collection hovering around 1,400 today!   

         Fortunately, my parents and siblings raised me with open minds. They gifted me with dolls as birthday and Christmas gifts. Mom bought me Malibu Ken so I could play “Barbie” with the girls-next-door in our suburban Virginia neighborhood of Washington, D.C. 

​In the dawning of teen years, the inevitable happened: I lost interest in Barbie. I didn’t give her much thought. I tucked her away in memories of yesteryear.  

The nostalgia I felt over the toys I collected inspired me to write From ABBA to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century.

   Alongside Barbie, I collected other dolls, toys, board games, lunch boxes and pop culture memorabilia. This accumulated into an extensive toy collection that filled every inch of a spare bedroom in my Kansas City home. 

​The toy collection earned me more media coverage, including national TV and radio talk show spots. It also inspired me to write the pop culture book From ABBA to Zoom, published in 2005.  

Fast forward even further, to the summer of 2025.  My condo's guest room has become a full-fledged Barbie room. Closet doors removed, additional shelving and track lighting added, and over 1,400 Barbie dolls on display.

I began the summer with a collection that number 1,764 dolls. The majority of them stored in cardboard boxes in the room's closet. Reaching my 38th year as a Barbie collector and feeling I have less time on my side than ever, I desired to have all of my dolls out to be admired. 

     So, I did this thing called “The Big Barbie Purge.” During the first two weeks of August, I let go of over 300 Barbie dolls (341 to be exact) via eBay, donations, give aways, and trade for credit. 

     Deciding what Barbies to part with was a series of sifting through selected dolls multiple times. I did my best to put sentimentality aside, realizing these need to go to new owners who will appreciate them. The end goal was not to have any more Barbie dolls in storage boxes…

and I’m here to say, Mission accomplished!

Now every doll I own is out on display—and that’s a really good feeling. 🥰

The newly vamped “Barbie Room” is truly a tribute to my 38 years of doll and toy collecting.   

In 2018, I began photographing the entire Barbie collection, doll by doll, for my book Behold the Valley of the Dolls. I started collecting Barbie dolls again too. 

My focus on collecting this time was acquiring mainly vintage dolls I overlooked in the initial years of collecting. I purchased Barbies as upgrades from ones I already had who were missing their original outfits. I completed doll lines that were missing members, and scored "Holy Grail" dolls.

I wanted to photograph them all for the book.   

In the summer of 2012 I followed a lifelong dream by moving to California. Beautiful San Diego became my new home. 

In preparation for the move I started downsizing my belongings including the toy collection. Today most of the toys are gone. I did keep a select few for sentimental reasons.

And I kept all of my Barbies. I took a lengthy break from collecting after the move to San Diego. The Barbies weren't out on display, they were tucked away in a storage closet at home.

I found myself slowly converting the condo's guest room, which also serves as my office, into a Barbie room. A shelving unit would go up, and a collection of Barbies would come out of storage to be displayed on the shelves. Another shelving unit would go up, and more Barbies would be freed from storage and placed on shelves, and so on.  

 Left: "Boys Play with Barbie too." (Photographed exclusively for Behold the Valley of the Dolls.)

​Right: 1970 Talking Ken and 1971 Malibu Ken—gifts from mom when I was a child. 

Television, Newspapers, Presentations - I got it covered! 

My dolls in sunny San Diego!

Above: Early photographs of me with my collection in 1989 (left) and 1990 (right). 

Below: My Barbie collection, circa 1993.  

​How did it all begin? Here's the illustrated story... 

     When I first started collecting Barbie, I wanted my dolls to look different from each other just like people in real life. I didn't want the same look-alike blonde Barbie dolls typically issued in the late-1980s and 1990s. I had an eye for diversity and the collection reflected that. 

It was in September 1992 when I first received media coverage as a Barbie collector. The Kansas City Star newspaper was doing a makeover on the newly released Barbie for President (the first time Barbie made a presidential bid) and who better to ask than a hairdresser who collects Barbie dolls.  For the article I colored and cut Barbie's fluffy blonde hair into a chic brunette short bob. Changed into a smart black-and-white houndstooth dress suit, accessorized by a classic pearl necklace, this doll was set to take on any presidential rival (below).  

Rocker Barbie and Rocker Ken were the very first Barbie and Ken dolls in my collection.

The second Barbie and Ken added? Tropical Barbie and Western Ken. 

     In those early years of collecting, my go-to stores for Barbie shopping were Toys R Us, Children's Palace, KB Toys, Walmart, Kmart and Venture. There was something magical about walking into these stores, heading to the Barbie aisle, seeing all those pink boxes lined-up on the shelves, and anticipating what new dolls were waiting to be discovered.

     Vintage Barbies were found in yard sales, antique malls, flea markets, and at doll shows. This was years before eBay and the only way to come across vintage dolls. My first vintage dolls were given to me by friends and salon clients after they found out I was collecting Barbie. They were commonly their dolls from childhood. I went to a dentist appointment in the mid-1990s and my wonderful dentist, Dr. Aleza Meyer, honored me with a gift of her childhood Barbie dolls along with the Barbie Friend Ship airplane case, which I cherished to this day.