I had dolls and loved them above all else. I still have my favorites. But nothing that was a name brand, except for one Madame Alexander and I wasn't allowed to play with her. I still have her, too.
And we weren't allowed to have Barbies. We did have Chrissie dolls and some one of the aunts made a huge wardrobe of outfits for them.
Oh, well. We thought having our own record players was quite a boon.
I still have my Adame Alexander doll too. I wasn't real big on dolls and neither were my girls (we'd rather play "fort" and "war" with the boys) but I still loved her. When my girls were little, they could gently play with my old Cindy if they were sick in bed.
My mom objected to the whole Barbie marketing scheme so we never had them either.
And it WAS a big deal to have your own record player!
My kids would think having a record player was quite a treat, too! I usually say, "When you have a job and your own apartment, you can buy whatever electronics you want!"