The birth of Barbie
The first Barbie doll, created by Ruth Handler, was sold in 1959 and the plastic creation went on to sell 350,000 in the first year.
The first Barbie doll was sold in 1959.
It took Ruth Handler, who created it, years to convince her male colleagues that it would sell.
The plastic creation sold 350,000 in the first year and went on to take the world by storm selling millions.
It’s now been turned into a live action film starring Margot Robbie which hits the cinemas on Thursday 20 July.
Ruth and husband Elliot Handler spoke to the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ’s Alan Dein in a 1990s documentary which Claire Bowes used to make this programme first broadcast in 2014.
(Photo: A Barbie doll from 2009. Credit: Victor Chavez/WireImage via Getty Images)
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- Thu 20 Jul 2023 07:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa
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Witness History
History as told by the people who were there
