WEBVTT - How Was the Barbie Doll Invented?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff. Lauren

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<v Speaker 1>Vogelbaum here. On July twenty fourth of nineteen fifty two,

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<v Speaker 1>a curvaceous bombshell named Lily graced the pages of a

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<v Speaker 1>German tabloid for the first time. A character created by

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<v Speaker 1>cartoonist rein Hard boyteen, Lily was single and in search

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<v Speaker 1>of a rich boyfriend. I think of the character as

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<v Speaker 1>a modern working girl version of Scarlett O'Hara from Gone

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<v Speaker 1>with the Wind. Deprivations brought on by the Second World

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<v Speaker 1>War had worn down her spirit, except for a determination

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<v Speaker 1>to be amply provided for a passion. No longer motivated dating,

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<v Speaker 1>she was simply on a quest for the wealthiest suitor.

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<v Speaker 1>Lily was, in short, a gold digger, but with mile

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<v Speaker 1>long legs, a generous bus line, and scant clothing. A

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<v Speaker 1>cartoon Lily nonetheless charmed the magazine's largely male readership. Her

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<v Speaker 1>brassy personality and pin up figure wooed men so effectively

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<v Speaker 1>that the character was transformed into a doll in nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>fifty five. The Lily Dolls, which came in seven inch

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<v Speaker 1>and eleven inch sizes, that's seventeen and twenty seven centimeters

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<v Speaker 1>weren't marketed to little girls. They were intended for adult men.

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<v Speaker 1>At that time, girls played with baby dolls and prepubescent

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<v Speaker 1>shaped fashion dolls. Lily, on the other hand, depicted a

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<v Speaker 1>worldly woman with impossibly petite feet in black spike heels

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<v Speaker 1>supporting a distinct hourglass frame, crimson lips puckered slightly in

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<v Speaker 1>a flutatious pout, and big, thickly lined eyes that gazeduggestively

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<v Speaker 1>to the side. With advertising taglines such as whether more

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<v Speaker 1>or less naked Lily is always discreet, and a wardrobe

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<v Speaker 1>consisting of neckliges, tiny tops, and tight pants. Lily dolls

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<v Speaker 1>were essentially adult novelty toys. People gave them as bachelor gifts,

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<v Speaker 1>and men drove around with Lily on their dashboards. But

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<v Speaker 1>when an American woman named Ruth Handler spied a Lily

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<v Speaker 1>doll in a store while vacationing in Switzerland, she didn't

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<v Speaker 1>see it as a prurie and novelty. Instead, she thought

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<v Speaker 1>it would be the perfect toy for her daughter, Barbara.

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<v Speaker 1>Handler had observed Barbara and her friends playing with paper

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<v Speaker 1>dolls that depicted teenage girls or adult women, and Handler

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<v Speaker 1>that was their way of practicing for adulthood. Yet, aside

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<v Speaker 1>from these two dimensional paper dolls, no other dolls available

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<v Speaker 1>in stores portrayed the mature female body. For that reason,

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<v Speaker 1>she bought two Lily dolls for Barbara during that Switzerland

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<v Speaker 1>trip in nineteen fifty six and one for herself. By

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<v Speaker 1>the time Ruth Handler encountered the Lily doll on her

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<v Speaker 1>vacation in Switzerland, the toy company that she and her

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<v Speaker 1>husband had founded, Mattel had started turning a prophet. The

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<v Speaker 1>United States was in its post World War two economic

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<v Speaker 1>boom that fueled widespread concus zumorism, and adults weren't the

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<v Speaker 1>only shoppers who advertisers targeted a Thanks to television and

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<v Speaker 1>the launch of shows like Howdy Duty in nineteen forty

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<v Speaker 1>seven and The Mickey Mouse Club in nineteen fifty five,

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<v Speaker 1>the children were a new market and source of revenue.

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<v Speaker 1>If youngsters saw a new toy on television, they might

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<v Speaker 1>nag their parents into buying it for them. Mattel seized

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<v Speaker 1>upon this opportunity as a chance to expand their stake

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<v Speaker 1>in the toy industry. With Lily as her muse. Handler

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<v Speaker 1>convinced her husband and the all male design team at

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<v Speaker 1>Mattel to follow her lead in filling the as of

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<v Speaker 1>yet empty market niche for a more mature female doll.

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<v Speaker 1>Mattel began crafting Handler's dream doll by nineteen fifty seven.

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<v Speaker 1>They kept Lily's general figure, but scrubbed off some of

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<v Speaker 1>her makeup, relaxed her smile, and used soft vinyl instead

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<v Speaker 1>of hard plastic to construct her. A fashion designer, Charlotte

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<v Speaker 1>Johnson was hired to create a tasteful, yet chic wardrobe

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<v Speaker 1>for Mattel's new doll. This was where Lily's extreme hourglass

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<v Speaker 1>shape was a practical aesthetic bonus. Johnson was working with

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<v Speaker 1>the same types of thick fabrics that were used in

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<v Speaker 1>human sized garment making, so the doll's unrealistically narrow waist

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<v Speaker 1>and large bust actually helped the tiny garments look sharp

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<v Speaker 1>and shapely at scale, the final product standing at eleven

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<v Speaker 1>and a half inches that's twenty nine centimeters. The debuted

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<v Speaker 1>at the nineteen fifty nine New York Toy Fair didn't

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<v Speaker 1>look drastically different from Lily A. Sporting a black and

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<v Speaker 1>white striped swimsuit, open toads, toilettos, and gold hoop ear rings.

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<v Speaker 1>It had Lily's racy curves, but a more demure style.

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<v Speaker 1>Named in honor of Handler's daughter, Barbara, Mattel called the

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<v Speaker 1>new doll Barbie. Everyone knows the rest of Barbie's history.

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<v Speaker 1>She bade scores of friends and became the most popular

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<v Speaker 1>toy in history. But Barbie didn't receive a warm welcome

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<v Speaker 1>at that New York Toy fair, and before she hit

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<v Speaker 1>the stores, Mattel had to figure out how to sell

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<v Speaker 1>such a womanly doll to wary mothers. The thought of

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<v Speaker 1>having a doll with a prominent bust sitting around the

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<v Speaker 1>home did disturb some mothers. A Barbie's mature body seemed

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<v Speaker 1>borderline pornographic and potentially damaging to young girl's psyches, an

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<v Speaker 1>argument that continues disissle in today's culture. After all, if

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<v Speaker 1>the original Barbie were person sized, her measurements would be

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<v Speaker 1>thirty eight eighteen thirty four. In order for Mattel to

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<v Speaker 1>popularize Barbie, the company had to advertise in a strategic

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<v Speaker 1>way that would allay concerned mother's fears. Over the course

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<v Speaker 1>of six months, an advertising expert by the name of

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<v Speaker 1>Ernest Dieter studied the responses of girls and their mothers

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<v Speaker 1>to Barbie. From his extensive research, Dieter concluded that instead

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<v Speaker 1>of attempting to mitigate Barbie's mature qualities, Mattel should emphasize them.

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<v Speaker 1>Barbie was well dressed and attractive. Mothers ought to consider

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<v Speaker 1>her a tool for teaching their daughters about the importance

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<v Speaker 1>of appearance and femininity, while some women, like my own mom,

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<v Speaker 1>would later take Barbie to task for imparting such lessons.

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<v Speaker 1>The advertising tactic worked in the nineteen sixties. Barbie's on

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<v Speaker 1>and off boyfriend Ken, hit stores in nineteen sixty one. Ironically,

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<v Speaker 1>Ken is named for Ruth Handler's son, which makes the

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<v Speaker 1>real life Barbie and Ken and siblings. The plastic couple

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<v Speaker 1>would go through a breakup in two thousand and four,

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<v Speaker 1>but reconciled in twenty eleven. Mattel's first black dolls appeared

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<v Speaker 1>in the late nineteen sixties, and other skin tones hit

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<v Speaker 1>the shelves in the eighties. Meanwhile, the basic Barbie underwent

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<v Speaker 1>a significant makeover in nineteen seventy one with the release

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<v Speaker 1>of Malibu Barbie. For the first time, Barbie's eyes looked

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<v Speaker 1>straight ahead rather than to the side like Lily's. She

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<v Speaker 1>traded her honey brown locks for Platinum blonde and displayed

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<v Speaker 1>an open mouthed smile. In the twenty teens, the brand

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<v Speaker 1>released different body types for Barbie and Ken. Barbie has

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<v Speaker 1>also moved far beyond her original career ambitions of a

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<v Speaker 1>teen fashion model. She's held down more than two hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and fifty jobs to date, including paleontologist, astronaut McDonald's cashier, firefighter,

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<v Speaker 1>pro tennis player, game developer, and president during her pink

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<v Speaker 1>hued reign. Mattel estimates that an average of two Barbie's

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<v Speaker 1>have been sold every second across the world since the

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<v Speaker 1>first official Barbie convention in nineteen eighty. Barbie collecting has

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<v Speaker 1>remained a robust Niche rare and limited edition dolls, such

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<v Speaker 1>as the Dolls of the World collectibles can sell for

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of dollars, and, of course, in twenty twenty three,

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<v Speaker 1>the Barbie film, directed by Greta Gerwig, made a bit

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<v Speaker 1>of a splash, becoming the highest grossing film of the

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<v Speaker 1>year at some one point four billion dollars, not bad

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<v Speaker 1>for a novelty. Today's episode is based on the article

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<v Speaker 1>who invented the Barbie Doll and Why? On How Stuffworks

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<v Speaker 1>dot Com, written by Kristin Conger. Brain Stuff is production

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<v Speaker 1>of iHeartRadio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com and

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<v Speaker 1>is produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts my heart Radio,

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<v Speaker 1>visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

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<v Speaker 1>to your favorite shows.