The birth of Barbie
Ruth Handler created the Barbie doll which was first sold in 1959
Witness History · BBC World Service
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Show Notes
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 BBC’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)