Our lives as children were fairly typical for the south in the early 60's. Our mother stayed at home and our father drove a truck for Borden's Milk. Because we lived so far out in the country, the only playmates we had were ourselves. In those days, even though our parents were of humble means, we were blessed with bountiful presents at Christmas. The toys of choice for us little girls were dolls-preferably Barbie dolls. Barbie was the inspiration for our imaginary adventures. She was wonderful. She had beautiful clothes and such wonderful accessories. How I loved the brightly colored high-heeled shoes. This was some really grown-up stuff! Remember when the bendable leg Barbie came out? But the very best thing about Barbie was her hair. The whole Barbie thing was a psychological phenomena for girls in the 60's. What was it about her that made you want to immediately take off her clothes and cut her hair? We, as with other little girls, could not resist this phenomena. I tried to keep my Barbies nice; my little sisters, on the other hand, would get their hands on a pair of scissors and would "fix" Barbie's hair. The bendable legs would break, the pretty clothes and shoes would get lost, and ultimately, this Barbie would wind up tossed into a Barbie purgatory that we called The Nasties. Favorite dolls would become a Nasty when the supply of new dolls was replenished and, thus, the population of the Nasties was numerous. The origin of the term "Nasties" is long forgotten. The Nasties were comprised of broken and discarded dolls and other toys that were no longer desirable. They lived in the "garbage dump", which was a broken down ugly box in the corner of the room or a closet. We had Nasty Ken, Nasty Skipper, Nasty Barbie, etc. Some of these wretches had no heads, missing arms, broken bendable legs and definitely had butchered hair cuts. They were also naked, which compounded their evil character. The purpose of the Nasties were complicated. The character of these outcasts could be summed up in one word: evil. Their singular purpose was to ruin the machinations of the good Barbies. We would play out scenarios wherein our dolls were involved in different plays (we called them plays), usually with Ken doing something stupid (the influence of the Honey-Mooners and the Flintstones). Ultimately, in the middle of Ken's stupidity, the Nasties would attack.. With great shrieks and yells, we would grab the Nasties and fling them at the good Barbies, who would supposedly screech and run helter skelter. Sometimes it was as punishment for Barbie and company, sometimes it was just because our little story line had become boring. How did we come up with such warped play? We had very little T.V.; no Wal-mart to buy a new toy anytime we threw a fit. Our toys assumed many rolls; a rocking horse evolved into a roof for a doll mansion.

NASTY

Our lives as children were fairly typical for the south in the early 60's. Our mother stayed at home and our father drove a truck for Borden’s Milk. Because we lived so far out in the country, the only playmates we had were ourselves. In those days, even though our parents were of humble means, we were blessed with bountiful presents at Christmas. The toys of choice for us little girls were dolls-preferably Barbie dolls.

Barbie was the inspiration for our imaginary adventures. She was wonderful. She had beautiful clothes and such wonderful accessories. How I loved the brightly colored high-heeled shoes. This was some really grown-up stuff! Remember when the bendable leg Barbie came out? But the very best thing about Barbie was her hair. The whole Barbie thing was a psychological phenomena for girls in the 60's. What was it about her that made you want to immediately take off her clothes and cut her hair?

We, as with other little girls, could not resist this phenomena. I tried to keep my Barbies nice; my little sisters, on the other hand, would get their hands on a pair of scissors and would “fix” Barbie’s hair. The bendable legs would break, the pretty clothes and shoes would get lost, and ultimately, this Barbie would wind up tossed into a Barbie purgatory that we called The Nasties. Favorite dolls would become a Nasty when the supply of new dolls was replenished and, thus, the population of the Nasties was numerous.

The origin of the term “Nasties” is long forgotten. The Nasties were comprised of broken and discarded dolls and other toys that were no longer desirable. They lived in the “garbage dump”, which was a broken down ugly box in the corner of the room or a closet. We had Nasty Ken, Nasty Skipper, Nasty Barbie, etc. Some of these wretches had no heads, missing arms, broken bendable legs and definitely had butchered hair cuts. They were also naked, which compounded their evil character.

The purpose of the Nasties were complicated. The character of these outcasts could be summed up in one word: evil. Their singular purpose was to ruin the machinations of the good Barbies.
We would play out scenarios wherein our dolls were involved in different plays (we called them plays), usually with Ken doing something stupid (the influence of the Honey-Mooners and the Flintstones). Ultimately, in the middle of Ken’s stupidity, the Nasties would attack.. With great shrieks and yells, we would grab the Nasties and fling them at the good Barbies, who would supposedly screech and run helter skelter. Sometimes it was as punishment for Barbie and company, sometimes it was just because our little story line had become boring.

How did we come up with such warped play? We had very little T.V.; no Wal-mart to buy a new toy anytime we threw a fit. Our toys assumed many rolls; a rocking horse evolved into a roof for a doll mansion.