9 March, 1959

Can you guess who was born on 9 March, 1959?  All little girls have at least one of them!  Yes, you guessed it – Barbie was born!

And, boy oh boy, Barbie has gone places!  Over a billion Barbie dolls have been purchased since she was born – Mattel  claims that three Barbie dolls are sold every second!

A lady by the name of Ruth Handler saw her daughter, Barbara give adult roles to her paper dolls.  Dolls on the market at the time were baby dolls so Ruth thought it would be a great idea to create an adult doll.  Ruth’s husband was a co-founder of Mattel toys so she told  him about her idea and that she felt that there was a window in the market open for this.  Elliot was not enthusiastic, nor were the other directors of the Company.

During a trip to Europe with her two children, Barbara and Kenneth, Ruth came across a doll called Bild Lilli.  Bild Lilli was just the doll Ruth had thought about for the American market.  She bought a few of them and brought them back to the US where she started re-working Bild Lilli to create the doll she would eventually call “Barbie”.  The doll made its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York on 9 March, 1959. This date is also used as Barbie’s official birthday.

Mattel bought the rights to the Bild Lilli doll in 1964 and stopped production of the doll…..and Mattel has never looked back.

Barbie is a household name now in the United States and, yes, all over the world.  Most little girls have several Barbies and lots of clothes to take her swimming at the beach, to take her to her job at the office, to take her camping, and to take her to Buckingham Palace to the Ball!

Barbie has also made it to the big screen.  Hollywood called and she answered!  There are numerous DVDs in which she stars as various characters.  One of the best that our grand daughters particularly enjoy is “Barbie As The Princess and The Pauper“.  If you have not seen it, spend the $5.00 to get it..  Amazon.com has it as does Target.

A very sweet aside to Barbie’s story is that one of your Two Chums, Robin, was the voice on the first “talking Barbie”.

For many many years Barbie certainly has given joy and abundance in life!