Barbie wasn’t even intended for kids when it was created by Ruth Handler. The comic strips in post-World War II Germany that featured the risqué figure Bild Lilli are where the doll got its start. For European men, the irreverent and explicit Lilli served as the inspiration for a novelty doll that eventually drew Handler’s attention and resulted in the birth of Barbie.
Since its release in 1959, the Barbie doll has grown to become one of the most recognizable kids’ toys ever. The live-action Barbie film directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling now has the character as the lead.
However, it’s remarkable that the model Ruth Handler used to design Barbie wasn’t at all intended for children. Ruth had an entirely different thought. She was inspired to make a lifelike, anatomically accurate adult doll after observing her daughter Barbara’s interest with paper dolls of professional women.
She wanted to achieve this so that young girls might “dream dreams of the future.” Male coworkers, however, disregarded the idea, claiming that it would be extremely challenging to produce and that no mother would purchase such a doll for her child. 300,000 Barbie dolls were sold in the first year of production alone, demonstrating how popular the dolls were, but soon the maker of Bild Lilli threatened legal action against Mattel.
In the 1994 book Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll by M.G. Lord, Handler stated that “they were all horrified by the thought… of wanting to make a doll with breasts.” Even though she put the project on hold for the time being, Handler would discover the idea had promise during a 1956 trip to Switzerland.
Handler continued to inform women about the value of screenings for the early diagnosis of breast cancer after selling the business in 1991. With regard to her post-Mattel business, she claimed, “I didn’t make much money in it.” It undoubtedly restored my self-esteem, and I believe I also did the same for others.