This story takes place in the 1930’s. It’s a story
that starts out sounding like one we’ve all heard before.
A young girl meets a boy and they fall in love. The girl graduates
from high school. She has visions of a great career success in the real world and wants
to go to college. Her parents are not overly enthusiastic about college since it is more
traditional for a girl to get married and raise a family. The girl goes to college anyway and marries the boy
too. This married girl and boy are Ruth and Elliot Handler. They raise two children,
Barbie and Ken.
In the mid 1940’s, the young ambitious duo Ruth and
Elliot Handler, owned a company that made wooden picture frames. Elliot and his partner
Harold Mattson built the samples and Ruth was in charge of marketing them. Elliot began to
use the scraps of wood from picture frames to make doll furniture. This was the beginning
of their toy business. It was in 1945 that Ruth and Elliot Handler joined with their close
friend Harold Mattson to form a company that would be known for the most famous and
successful doll ever created. This company would be named Mattel, MATT for Mattson, and EL
for Elliot. Mattel continued to grow from a very profitable business into a corporate
giant.
In the mid 1950’s, while visiting Switzerland, Ruth
Handler purchased a German Lilli doll. Lilli was a shapely, pretty fashion doll first made
in 1955. She was originally fashioned after a famous cartoon character in the West German
Newsletter, Bild. Lilli was made of hard plastic with molded on shoes and earrings.
She was available in 11 ½" or 7" in heights. Her hair was long and pulled back
into a ponytail. There was a large wardrobe available for this doll. Lilli is the doll
that would inspire Ruth Handler to design the Barbie doll.
Ruth knew what she wanted Barbie to look like. With the help
of her technicians and engineers at Mattel, Barbie was born. Ruth then hired Charlotte
Johnson, a fashion designer, to create Barbies wardrobe.
It was in 1958 that the patent for Barbie was obtained. This
would be a fashion doll unlike any of her time. She would be long limbed, shapely and
beautiful, all of this and only 11 ½" tall.
Paper fashion dolls of the times would give way to a three
dimensional beauty with a wardrobe of unsurpassed quality. Ruth and Elliot would name
their new fashion doll after their own daughter, Barbie. Barbie dolls’ soon to be
boyfriend Ken, would be named after their son Ken.
In March of 1959, Barbie doll would make her way to the New York Toy
Show and receive a cool reception from the toy buyers. She would be viewed as risky to
buyers since she was not the typical style selling baby doll of the times. Upon seeing
Barbie on store shelves, the public decided differently. By 1960, the mood would change
and the orders started pouring in to Mattel. It took several years for Mattel to catch up
with the demand for Barbie. Within ten years, the public purchased $500 million worth of
Barbie products.
Barbie has undergone a lot of changes over the years and has
managed to keep up with current trends in hairstyles, makeup and clothing. She is a
reflection of the history of fashion since her introduction to the toy market. Barbie has
a universal appeal and collectors of all ages enjoy time spent and memories made
with their dolls.
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