Carol Barta’s short reign keeps bringing her back to the Museum

In Carol Barta’s storied career as an actress and radio personality, few things are as memorable as the week she spent on the throne of the Fairy Princess at Kline’s department store in 1956. And the story isn’t complete until she returned for a glamorous night at the Kansas City Museum surrounded by the beauty of other Princesses in Corinthian Hall.

The Magic Begins
Shortly after college in the 1950s, as Carol was interviewing for broadcasting jobs in Kansas City, she answered an ad for the Kline’s Fairy Princess in the downtown store. Armed with a lovely gown from her reign as Miss Prairie Village, Carol snapped up the Fairy Princess job and began waving her scepter to release gifts down the magic slide, into the arms of adoring girls and boys.

“I loved what I was doing,” Carol explains. “It was very magical. I loved shopping downtown, and this was wonderful.”

Every Thursday night and Saturday, this Fairy Princess greeted throngs of downtown shoppers and their wide-eyed children. Then one day a job offer at KUDL radio landed on her lap, guaranteeing her full-time work. Her practical father convinced her to trade her tiara for a microphone.

Back to the Museum
She went on to build a successful career in radio and film, but kept an affinity for the Fairy Princess. Her daughter Becky, also an actor, was a Fairy Princess in the 1989, after the Princess moved to the Kansas City Museum.

Like many Kansas Citians, she had visited the Kansas City Museum as a child on a school field trip. “The Museum has come in and out of my life,” Carol explains. “Later, I was a member of the heirloom dolls club, and we used to meet in the Museum. It’s been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.”

Then just last year, Carol and several other former Fairy Princesses returned for a holiday reunion. “I’ll never forget it – it was so glamorous, such a magical night. As the four current Princesses descended down the staircase, I was in ecstasy,” Carol says. “My friend, Charles Ferruzza, was with me and saw my reaction – he said, ‘Carol, come back down to earth.”


Meet Carol Barta at the Holiday Open House
Though her reign was short, Fairy Princess Carol Barta has kept the magic alive for decades. You can meet Carol and other Princesses at the Kansas City Museum’s Holiday Open House this Friday, Dec. 5 from 4:00-8:00 pm. Please bring photos to add to our online photo gallery.