Barbie got her first best friend in 1963, when the delightful, freckled-faced Midge Hadley came onto the market. Midge had a cornucopia of hair colors that corresponded with her swimsuit: Blonde came with two shades of blue, brunette came with pink and red, and titan came with yellow-green and orange. She was the third ever doll of the franchise to be released with Barbie being the first and Ken being second.
History
In year 1963, Mattel introduced Midge onto the market, who had less makeup and a more friendly look than Barbie after Barbie was 'sexually intimating' looking more like an adult woman, like Bild Lilli was, and Midge won the hearts of little girls everywhere, just like Barbie. Midge started dating Allan Sherwood in 1964 when he was introduced as Ken's best friend. Midge, Barbie, Alan and Ken would double-date.
Midge was discontinued in 1967, and was replaced by PJ, who used the same Midge face mold. PJ was freckle-less, very pale, and wore heavy makeup that accentuated her rooted eyelashes in the Mod era.
Midge came back in the late 80's, first being California Dream Midge, but her appearances continued to be spotty, next being seen marrying Allan in the 1991 Wedding Day set, only to disappear again (aside from 35th anniversary Midge from 1997) until the Happy Family series, which was quick to retire after absurd accusations of it promoting teen pregnancy. Midge finally came back, permanently, in 2013, though no longer married with children, as they and Allan no longer exist.
In the early years, Midge was a teenager, same age as Barbie, but during her multiple comebacks, it was led to believe that she was more of a young adult, around twenty-five years old when marrying Allan, then having children. The first was Ryan, who came as a small child in the Happy Family series, Later, she had a little girl, Nikki, named after her best friend.
Later, around Nikki's first birthday, Midge was "pregnant" again with another child, who wasn't named or given a specific gender, as the gender was a surprise when the owner opened the doll's box. Midge has two known parents who are simply called "Robert" and "Ethel". At first, the grandparent dolls were sold together as part of a big set consisting of the dolls and a kitchen play set, but for Nikki's first birthday, they were sold separately. They too came in both Caucasian and African American versions. They use different body molds to reflect their age.
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