Yesterday marked what would have been Ruth Handler’s 94th birthday. Whether you love her or hate her, it’s impossible to deny that her invention, the Barbie doll, is everywhere. Even after she died, the Barbie doll has gone on to bigger and better things. She has her own cartoon movies, and she is still has her place as a gift during the holidays.
Legacy.com recently took a look into Ruth’s past and at the doll she created.
Though it seems hard to believe now given the ubiquity of Barbie and similar dolls, before the 1950s nearly all dolls marketed to girls were cherub-faced and designed with infant or toddler proportions. Ruth Handler, watching her own daughter play, noticed that she liked to pretend her dolls were actually adults.
Handler was also inspired on a trip to Europe in 1956, where she purchased a German produced Bild Lilli doll, Barbie’s indisputable progenitor. The doll was based on a popular German comic about a sassy, curvaceous and free-spirited secretary named Lilli. Meant as a sexy novelty gift (and, like Barbie, with additional outfits sold separately), Bild Lilli was well-crafted, expensive and definitely not marketed to children. It was designed basically as miniature 3D pin-up.
But Handler saw that such a doll could fulfill the needs of her children to project their fantasies of adult life onto playthings. Barbie — named after Handler’s daughter Barbara — premiered at a toy fair in March of 1959 and was an overnight sensation, selling 350,000 units in its first year alone. This success allowed Mattel to buy up the rights for Bild Lilli (and all associated patents) and shut down production of its German competitor.
The first Barbies, marketed as ‘Teen Age Fashion Models,’ came dressed in black and white striped swimsuits and were available as blondes or brunettes. The first Ken dolls — named for Handler’s son — would appear in 1961.