Dolls !!! Dolls !!! Dolls !!!: September 2010

Barbie is the most famous doll that struck the hearts of girls way back in the 50s. The first Barbie was a creation of Ruth & Elliot Handler, inspired by their daughter Barbara Handler aka Barbie. Ruth watched her daughter and her friends play with adult female dolls more than the baby dolls during childhood. Ruth knew that the imagination of the girls was what made them play with the adult dolls more. It was important for the little girls to imagine how would they become when they grew up. Most of the dolls that were available at that time were made of cardboard, she thought of making a real life sized doll. After much persuasion, Mattel Corp bought the idea and the first barbie was introduced to the world at the American Toy Fair in NY 1959. Barbie has never looked back ever since.

Barbie was a wild hit, girls went crazy over the toy and the first edition set a new sales record for Mattel the very first year at 351,000 sold at $3.00 each. Barbie's popularity has rarely waivered and has over one billion of the soft toy's lookalikes sold to this day. It is one of the most successful in the history of the toy industry. Barbie had lots of accessories available, That took the retailers by storm! Mattel was swamped with orders that it took several years for supply to catch up with demand.