The History of Barbie Dolls

Born on March the 9th, 1959, Barbara Millicent Roberts stormed the American toy market sporting a black-and-white striped bathing suit, red pouty lips and a sassy blonde pony tail—a close reflection of 1950s sex symbols such as Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe. Eleven inches tall with strikingly long legs, Barbie was the brainchild of Ruth and Elliot Handler, co-founders of Mattel, Inc., after Ruth watched her daughter play make-believe with paper dolls of adult women.

Modeled After German Doll

Modeled after a German comic-strip character, Bild Lilli, Barbie’s first year on the market witnessed sales of 300,000 dolls at $3.00 each, affirming Ruth’s gut instinct that young female imaginations were curious about what the future might bring as they grew up to be wholesome young women. Now considered one of the most enduring playthings in history, over the span of her dominance in the lives and dreams of young girls, Barbie has held down some 200 careers, breaking the plastic ceiling in 1965 when she traveled to the moon, just four year before Neil Armstrong’s historic first steps on the lunar surface.

Gifted Career Woman

Other empowering jobs include president of the United States, super model, rock star, physician, paleontologist and a computer engineer, not to mention a drag queen, Amelia Earhart and a cover model for Sports Illustrated. Introducing her on-again, off-again boyfriend Ken Carson in 1961, Ruth named Ken after her son, followed by the introduction of Barbie’s best friend, Midge Hadley in 1963, in an effort to dampen criticism that Barbie was nothing more than a superficial sex symbol. A year later, Barbie’s little sister, Skipper Roberts, joined the playful fray, followed by a conga line of celebrity Barbie’s modeled after Cher, Audrey Hepburn, Diana Ross and JK Rowling.

Ethnic Diversity

In a world rich in ethnic diversity, in 1968, Mattel introduced Barbie’s African American friend Christie, while in 1980, the company launched additional Black and Latina Barbies to help young girls of a wide range of ethnicities imagine their future lives as engaging and successful young women. To date, more than 40 different international Barbies have made their way onto the world’s toy market, making the Barbie doll, one of the most quintessential playthings in the history of toys.