The Barbie Doll has quite a reputation. Some mothers love them; some mothers hate them.  It’s usually because of the exaggerated feminine body of the doll. Once you understand the history of the Barbie doll, it all makes sense.  Barbie has a past that isn’t appropriate for the makings of a little girl’s doll. But that information isn’t common knowledge.
I remember standing in the aisle of Dorsey’s Toy Store in my neighborhood town of Montrose, eagerly eyeing the much-talked-about doll in the black and white striped swimsuit. There were two dolls to choose from — Blonde Barbie and Brunette Barbie. There was a lot of excitement about this doll that didn’t look like my other dolls.

 

Barbie made her debut in 1959 in New York. I was five years old at the time. Eventually, I got a blonde  Barbie doll that looked like this:

 

barbie first one

Barbie was based on a cartoon from the German Tabloid Newspaper, The Bild. (a paper of mostly pictures, ‘Bild’ in German means picture.)

Bild Newspaper

 

She looks more like a pin-up girl — long legs, small feet, buxom with a small waist and pouty lips. For sure, a man dreamed her up. She was named Lilli, and she was a Sunday regular in the Hamburg Germany paper — just filling up some extra space. It was the 1950’s and 1960’s during post-war Germany. In 1953, the newspaper decided to market the femme-fatale cartoon as a doll.

 

In 1952, Reinhard Beuthian was commissioned to create a cartoon for the Bild-Zeitung newspaper.  He drew a baby; it was rejected; then he drew the bombshell babe, Lilli. She appeared in the paper on June 24, 1952, and was a big hit until her run ended on Jan 5, 1961.

 

One scene showed her sitting in a fortune teller’s tent and asking — “Can’t you tell me the name and address of this rich and handsome man?”

Another:  A policeman told her that two-piece swimsuits were banned — which she answered, “Which piece do you want me to take off?”

barbie.lili

See all the original Cartoons of Lilli.Â