March 9, 1959: The Barbie Doll Is Introduced

The original doll

March 9, 1959: Mattel introduces the Barbie doll, at the American International Toy Fair in New York. The world of toys will never be the same.

The doll was designed by Ruth Handler, a 42-year-old Jewish woman from Denver. Her husband, Elliot, made plastic furniture, and Ruth was his salesperson, landing contracts with Douglas Aircraft. With Harold "Matt" Matson, they formed a furniture company, combining the men's names: "Matt" and "El" became "Mattel." Why wasn't her name included? Elliot later said they couldn't fit her name in.

When sales fell during World War II, Mattel began to make toy furniture. The success of this business caused Ruth and Elliott to move Mattel fully into toy manufacturing. Observing her daughter Barbara and friends have fun with paper dolls and role-play adult scenarios, Ruth noticed a market void: Dolls available at that time featured mainly babies or toddlers, but nothing really adult. So she created one, and named it for her daughter: "Barbie."

Eventually, to counter the idea that Barbie's physical proportions were unrealistic, and forced unfair expectations on girls, Mattel not only changed her overall look, but built an entire myth around the character, showing that she could take any job, those traditionally given to women, and those traditionally given to men. Eventually, there would be Scientist Barbie, Astronaut Barbie, and President Barbie. Of course, she also got the Malibu Dream House and the pink Corvette, both of which became inseparable parts of her iconic status.

The 1995 versions of the doll and the Corvette

According to the myth, Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts, daughter of George and Margaret, from the fictional town of Willows, Wisconsin. She has 3 younger sisters, named Skipper, Stacie, and Kelly, who was renamed Chelsea in 2011. Her boyfriend was named Ken (in full, Kenneth Sean Carson), named for the Handlers' son. (I don't know what psychologists make of that.) There would be black, Latina and Asian Barbies. 

Ruth Handler died in 2002, Elliot Handler (who also created Hot Wheels cars for Mattel in 1968) in 2011.

UPDATE: The highest-grossing film of 2023 was Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig, starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling as Ken, and Rhea Perlman as Ruth Handler. That's right: Not only does Barbie have to enter "the real world," she literally meets her maker.

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March 9, 1959 was a Monday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were no games scheduled in the NBA or the NHL. So there were no scores on this historic day.