Barbie has had a makeover and, as you’ve probably heard is more racially diverse now with 4 new body types, 7 skin tones and 18 eye colors. Her maker, Mattel, wants you to know all about THAT but they keep under wraps, Barbie’s rather sordid past. It turns out that Barbie’s original design was based on a German adult gag-gift “escort” doll named Lilli.
Barbie actually started out life in the late 1940s as a cartoon character created by artist Reinhard Beuthien for the Hamburg-based tabloid, Bild-Zeitung in Germany. The comic strip character was known as “Bild Lilli”, was a post-war gold-digging gal who seduced wealthy male suitors. She became so popular, the newspaper decided to market a three-dimensional version in 1953, which was available at bars, tobacco kiosks and adult toy stores. She was given out as bachelor party’s and hung from a car’s rearview mirror. (See the pic below of pilots in the war with Lilli on the plane console.)
Lilli had a wide range of outfits and accessories that you could buy for her too, and eventually little girls began wanting her. Ruth Handler, one of the founders of Mattel was travelling to Europe in the 50s and bought a few Lilli dolls to take home. She had an idea, and began to re-worked the design of the doll. and she debuted Barbie at the New York toy fair on March 9, 1959. Mattel acquired the rights to Bild Lilli in 1964, and production of the German doll ended.
And the rest is Herstory. THE most popular doll in the world, has a past. She wasn’t an astronaut, a race car driver, a career gal or even a homemaker. She was a fast-talkin’ good-time girl. Kinda like everybody forgets that Pretty Woman was about a call girl because Julia Roberts was so likable and cute.
Mattel’s, Ruth Handler with the reborn Lilli as Barbie
Lilli on display at the Barbie Museum in Prague
(T/Y, Randy; via MessynessyChic)
