First Barbie
Today, Barbie celebrates her 50th birthday!
Co-founder of Mattel Toys, Ruth Handler, watched her daughter Barbara play with paper dolls and pretend they were adults. Handler had the brilliant idea to create a teen doll that little girls could play and dream about the future with.
Handler recognized the importance of helping kids realize their goals and dreams through playing. As a result, she decided to make three-dimensional teen dolls through her own company co-founded with her husband.
The couple revealed Barbie at New York’s annual Toy Fair in 1959. She was unlike any other doll at the time.
More interesting facts about Barbie:
- Around 350,000 dolls were sold during the first year of production.
- Barbie was one of the first toys to have a marketing plan based extensively on TV advertising.
- Barbie has had several careers including being an astronaut, a doctor and a Nascar driver.
First Black Barbie
Her ethnic companions include, Christie (Black) and Teresa (Hispanic); both made their U.S. debut in the ’80s. She also has many family members, the famous being Skipper.
In September 2003, Saudi Arabia banned the sale Barbies stating she didn’t conform to Islam principles.
- If Barbie was real, her measurements would be (estimated) as follows: 36-18-33 and she would be 5′9 (ridiculous! I’m 5′9, and those definitely are not my measurements lol) . And according to research by the University Central Hospital in Finland, if Barbie was real, she wouldn’t have the 17 to 22 percent body fat needed for women to menstruate.
First Hispanic Barbie
Check out more info on Barbie at: http://www.barbiecollector.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie.
