Barbie is looking mighty fine for being over 50 years old! It is truly hard to believe she’s been around since 1959, and has maintained her high ranking in the ever-changing world of toys.
Ruth Handler created the first Barbie doll for her daughter Barbara. She saw that girls only had the option of playing with “baby” dolls. This was at a time (in the 1950s) when paper dolls were a huge craze. Girls enjoyed changing the outfits on their paper dolls and also they enjoyed role playing with their paper dolls.
Luckily, Ruth Handler was married to one of the co-founders of the Mattel Toy Company. The rest, as they say, is history. The first Barbie was born, and she’s been going strong since then!
Barbie Dolls,
