I've been an avid Barbie collector for nearly 40 years, and over the years I've had the honor of talking about the world's most famous doll  on television, radio and for newspaper and magazine. The media coverage garnered  me attention as "Barbie Expert," but honestly I like to think of myself as just a "Barbie Guy."  I enjoy giving public Barbie presentations and meeting other Barbie 
enthusiasts. I also enjoy guiding new collectors on Barbie collecting and helping identify dolls (you gain much knowledge when you've been collecting as long as I have).

How did all begin? Here's my story... 

Three shots of me posing among my toy collection in Kansas City. 

At the time it was socially unacceptable for boys to play with dolls. Once I overheard a conversation involving my mother with another parent who criticized me for playing with a Barbie. In defense mom responded, “A doll is a toy and a toy is meant to be played with by all children.” I was lucky to have parents with open minds and an abundance of unconditional love. They gave me dolls not only as gifts but if one caught my eye in the toy aisle, they would buy it. 

  Come 1980, the inevitable happened: I grew up, lost interest in dolls. Didn’t give Barbie much thought, tucked her away in yesteryear’s childhood.     

Nostalgia and curiosty over the dolls and toys I collected inspired me to research and 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.

​

This newly vamped “Barbie Room” is truly a tribute to my 39 years of doll and toy collecting.     

"California dreamin', On such a winter's day..."
In the summer of 2012 I followed a life dream by moving to California. Beautiful San Diego became my new home. 

In preparation for the move I downsized 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 storage.

I found myself slowly converting the condo's guest room/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. Another shelf would go up, and more Barbies would be dispayed, and so on.   ​ 

 Dolls my mother gave to me as gifts when I was a child: Talking Ken, Big Jim and Malibu Ken.

​      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! ​

​     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. 

Television (Discovery Channel's Pop Nation) , newspapers (The Washington Post) and presentations (National Barbie Day). 

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

Below: My Barbie collection, circa 1993.  

1987's Barbie and the Rockers, they first six dolls I ever collected. I got the complete set as a birthday gift in September 1987, and these dolls initiated me as a Barbie collector.)

40 Shelves, 1,400 Dolls!

Got toys? The four corners of my "Toy Room."

​​​​​​​Behold The Valley of the Dolls

by David Mansour 

I've been told I look like a Ken doll countless times over the years. I actually don't mind that at all because I can't help but agree.

This 2026 Fashionistas Ken doll below looks like an exact mini-me of myself in 1988. On Instagram, Claudio from Brazil altered the photo so I'm dressed just like my mini-me!

Working on Behold the Valley of the Dolls.

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

Despite all the other toys I collected, the Barbies always held my heart. They were  displayed in the middle of the Toy Room on a set of shelving units I dubbed "Barbie Island.     

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.  

I’ve always known Barbie. I’m bookended by two sisters: Paula, ten years older, and Kim, 6 years younger. Paula played with the first Barbie dolls—Ponytail Barbie, Bubble Cut Barbie, Midge, Ken. I was captivated by her dolls. When Paula outgrew them as a teenager in the late-1960s, she handed her Barbies to me because she knew I would play with them. As you can imagine, this was a dream come true for a little Barbie boy.

Kim customarily was spoiled with Barbie as birthday, Christmas and just-because gifts. These were the dolls of the early-1970s mod era—Twist ‘n Turn Barbie, Malibu Barbie, Quick Curl Barbie, Mod Hair Ken. I couldn’t wait to see what new doll Kim received, eager for her to free it from the box so we could play. She always let big brother David lead the way in Barbie playtime adventures. 

Promoting From ABBA to Zoom on TV. No matter where I went, Barbie and Ken went with me.

Dolls in San Diego: 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 big-haired, neon-fashioned dolls. What a delightful surprise! At age 26, I never imagine having a Barbie again.

The birthday gift reignited a love for Barbie unfelt since childhood. Overnight these dolls grew into an addiction, an obsession, a collection hovering around 1,400 today.

In 2018, I began photographing the 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 was acquiring Barbies I overlooked in the initial years of collecting and as upgrades from the dolls I already had who were missing their original outfits. I felt these missing dolls and missing outfits were important to have in the book.