On March 9, Barbie was 64 years-old. In her first year, 300,000 were sold for $3 each. Over the last 60 years, Mattel Inc. has sold over a billion Barbie dolls. Her hand and footprints are cased in cement on Hollywood Boulevard. Now a mint condition #1 doll can fetch more than $25,000. Every 3 seconds, a Barbie doll is sold somewhere in the world.
Barbie is based on German Bild Lilli doll, who has a story all her own: Her very mature figure was meant to appeal to adults not children and before she was ever a doll, Lilli appeared in a 1940’s adult comic strip as a buxom gold digger who seduced wealthy men.
On National Siblings’ Day in 2018, people were shocked to learn that Barbie and her sibs have a last name. Her real name is Barbara Millicent Roberts, and her parents are George and Margaret Roberts from the fictional town of Willows, Wisconsin. They have seven children: Barbara, Skipper, Anastasia, Todd, Chelsea, Kelly, and Kristine. Barbie’s most popular sibling is her younger sister, Skipper, introduced in 1964, five years after Barbie was introduced.
Ken, too, has a last name. His full name is actually Kenneth Sean Carson. He was introduced two years after Barbie. For 49 years, he and Barbie were happily dating. Barbie and Ken made news of their breakup in 2004 when they decided they were better off as friends. After the breakup, Barbie had a new male companion doll named Blaine Gordon, a boogie-boarder from Australia, but after seven years apart, Barbie and Ken reunited, on Valentine’s Day.
To help young girls with cancer, Mattel produced a bald friend of Barbie named Ella. First manufactured in 2012, they were created in only a limited number and were distributed directly to hospitals. Ironically, the best-selling Barbie doll was the Totally Hair doll, debuted in 1992.
The first hijab-wearing Barbie doll honors 2016 Bronze medal winner American fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, who became the first US woman to wear the Islamic headscarf while competing at the Olympics. She says the doll is “a childhood dream come true.”
My walking-home-from-school friend, Janice M, had a Barbie doll house. We spent hours play acting. Those were the days.
https://medium.com/@social_28780/the-story-of-the-first-barbie-doll-gemr-8b1a9a38ee4dhttps://www.history.com/news/barbie-through-the-ages
Meet Lilli, the High-end German Call Girl Who Became Barbie
