Was the Barbie Doll based on a true person?

Answer 1

No, In the 1950s Ruth Handler, "creator" of the Barbie doll, noticed that her daughter, Barbara, preferred to play with dolls that resembled adults rather than infants. At that time, most three-dimensional dolls were made to look like babies or small children; however, Barbara preferred playing with paper dolls that looked like adults. Realizing that there was a hole in the marketplace, Handler suggested the idea of a three-dimensional adult-bodied doll to her husband, Elliot Handler, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company, but the idea was scoffed at. Mattel's directors told her that it would be impossible to create such a doll.

However, during a trip to Germany with her daughter, Handler discovered a German doll called the Bild Lilli doll in a shop window. The adult-figured Lilli doll was exactly what Handler had in mind, so she purchased three of them. She gave one to her daughter and took the others back to Mattel.

The Lilli doll was based on a popular character appearing in a comic strip drawn by Reinhard Beuthin for the newspaper Die Bild-Zeitung. Lilli was a fashionable "society girl" who knew what she wanted and was not above using men to get it. The Lilli doll was first sold in Germany in 1955. Although the doll was initially marketed to adult men in bars and tobacco shops, it eventually became popular with children, who enjoyed dressing her up in outfits that were available separately. The doll was so popular, she was even exported to other countries, including the United States.

Back home Handler reworked the design of the doll (with help from engineer Jack Ryan), the concept was revamped, and the doll was given a new name: Barbie, after Handler's daughter, Barbara. The doll made its debut at the New York International American Toy Fair on March 9, 1959. (This date is also used as Barbie's official "birthday".) Mattel acquired the rights of the Bild Lilli doll in 1964 so the production of "Lilli" was stopped.

The first Barbie doll wore a black-and-white "zebra-striped" swimsuit and signature topknot ponytail with tightly-curled bangs. The dolls were available either as blonds or brunettes. In succeeding years, Barbie dolls were made available with other hair styles and colors. The doll was marketed as a "Teen-age Fashion Model", so many fashions were available for her as well. Barbie's wardrobe was designed by esteemed Mattel fashion designer Charlotte Johnson, whose inspiration came from the fashion runways of Paris.

Ruth Handler stated that she felt it was "important to a little girl's self-esteem to play with a doll that [had] breasts", believing it would allow them role-play and imagine their future lives as adult women. However, Barbie's exaggerated proportions have always been a point of contention for her detractors. Mattel asserts that Barbie's exaggerated proportions are necessary to allow clothes to fit properly on such a small scale, but many have suggested that Barbie's unrealistic proportions may contribute to self-esteem and body image problems in young girls. Mattel has adjusted Barbie's proportions in recent years as an answer to current fashion trends, but the present Barbie doll body is still uncharacteristic of most women.

Answer 2

No. There were several of that type of dress-up doll at the time; Barbie was just the freakiest, blondest, and most publicized.

If she were a real woman, she would be six feet tall, weigh 100 pounds and wear a size 4. Her measurements would be 39-19-33.

Answer 3

No, it was based on a German doll, called Bild Lilly, who was in turn based on a cartoon character, I believe. We all know that the doll's proportions are pretty extreme for a human adult; they are designed around being able to wear a variety of clothing designs on a tiny scale. Think, for example, if she had a normal waistline. The fabric of a full skirt gets gathered at the waistline. You can only get the fabric so thin before it is too insubstantial to work, so her waistline gathers are more extreme than a human's. Her waistline would all but disappear in the bulk of the gathered fabric.

Same goes for the head compared to the rest of the body, and the hair compared to the head. If they were in scale, her head would seem too small, and her hair would be a mere wisp.

Dolls are not human, and not directly miniatures of humans. Their proportions have to be somewhat different in order to meet the needs of the play action -- fixing her hair, changing her clothes, etc.

Answer 4

The inspiration for creating a Barbie beyond the paper dolls of that time being played with by her daughter Barbara. Finding a doll in Germany thatr fit with her idea, she had the rights to it purchased by Mattel. The name was for her daughter because she had caused her to think about such a doll.

Answer 5

Yes the Barbie Doll is named after the makers daughter, Barbara. Soon later she made a boy doll named after her son, Ken.

Answer 6

If Barbie was a real person she would be in a wheel chair because of her unproportional leg length and if she managed to move she would have to crawl in order to carry her tit*ts around. Oh wait, that suits Ken just fine. Plus she would be severely underweight.

P.S If Ken were real then he would have no penis.
P.P.S Also barbie would have no nipples nor a vagina for that matter. There would be no baby Kelly from these two freaks of nature.

Answer 7

No. Ruth Handler created the first Barbie in 1959. It was named after her daughter Barbara

Answer 8

I believe it was, but with obvious enhancements. Believe it or not, there is a woman somewhere in America who has had multiple plastic surgeries to make herself look like Barbie. Talk about needing to get a life...

Answer 9

Marilyn Monroe.

Answer 10

sharkgirl is correct.

Barbie was named for the toy company/ creator's daughter, and Ken is named for her son.

Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.

One story *I* heard about how she came about was that the woman saw a doll in a window of a shop in Germany and basically copied it.

Ah, here's the story...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie

Barbie and I share the same birthday ! ;D