First ‘Barbie’ Ad, 1959

6 comments to First ‘Barbie’ Ad, 1959

• Paul

  June 23, 2011 at 10:13 am · Reply

  The 1959 Barbie looks like Anne Francis of that era. Check out this picture of her when she was auditioning for Forbidden Planet:

  http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTqoA9QP5lUTFS4UjgTT-QWV5MLRQ5s1b3nQz5nNZinY5CwLyf9

• Ray

  June 23, 2011 at 6:39 pm · Reply

  Barbie was based on a prostitute character:

  http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/john-walsh-barbie-was-based-on-a-cartoon-prostitute-whod-do-anything-for-money-1331669.html

• Edlin

  June 24, 2011 at 3:35 am · Reply

  If you read this article it was actually created for the daughter of Ruth Handler. Ruth Handler being the creator of Barbie and her daughter’s name was Barbara thus Barbie.

  http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/29/national/main507472.shtml

• Sarah

  June 27, 2011 at 2:34 pm · Reply

  Now I know what that Kate Middleton wedding dress reminded me of

• Ruth Fanshaw

  August 5, 2011 at 6:17 pm · Reply

  I find it interesting that the original Barbie wasn’t QUITE such a caricature of a woman as she became later. The head isn’t so tiny, nor the figure so exaggerated. Not quite.

  Also, she doesn’t seem to have been exclusively Master Race platinum blonde in those days…

• GOODSTUFF

  November 21, 2011 at 2:06 pm · Reply

  OK – color me weird but I think this is some funny stuff. Barbie was designed by Ruth Handler, who supposedly modeled the doll after a smoldering, sort of exotica prostitute character from a German comic strip, Bild Lilli. The Germans designed a doll after a sultry semi-porno character, and she bears an extremely remarkable resemblance to Barbie — or rather, Barbie bears an extremely remarkable resemblance to Lilli. (Bild Lilli, alas, came first). Ah. But, whereas the German Lilli is rather a strumpet, her American twin, Barbie, is the wholesome girl next door; if you ignore her ‘teenage’ 36-26-36 measurements and her sleek, Cleaopatra-type exotic eyeliner.