On March 9, 1959, the first Barbie doll went on display at the
American Toy Fair in New York City.

Eleven inches tall, with a waterfall of blond hair, Barbie was
the first mass-produced toy doll in the United States with adult
features. The woman behind Barbie was Ruth Handler, who
co-founded Mattel, Inc. with her husband (below) in 1945. 
        
        
        
        
        
       

Elliott and Ruth Handler

Mattel’s headquarters and factory near LAX in 1956.

The Cabbage Patch Kids doll brand set every toy industry sales
record for three years running, and was one of the most popular
lines of children’s licensed products in the 1980s and has
become one of the longest-running doll franchises in the
United States.

Cabbage Patch creator Xavier Roberts, below, copyrighted his
design in 1976 and sold the rights to company Giant Coleco in
1982. Dolls that were made prior to the Coleco handover are
worth the most.

On March 9, 1959, the first Barbie doll went  on display at the
American Toy Fair in New York City.

Eleven inches tall, with a waterfall of blond hair, Barbie was the
first mass-produced toy doll in the United States with adult
features. The woman behind Barbie was Ruth Handler, who co-
founded Mattel, Inc. with her husband in 1945. After seeing her
young daughter ignore her baby dolls to play make-believe with
paper dolls of adult women, Handler realized there was an
important niche in the market for a toy that allowed little girls
to imagine the future.

First Barbie TV commercial in 1959.

The woman behind Barbie was Ruth Handler,who co-founded Mattel, Inc. with her husband in 1945.

Tracy Stratford as seen in “Living Doll”, the 126th episode (season 5)
of the CBS television anthology series The Twilight Zone. Original air
date was November 1, 1963.

Tracy Allison Stratford was born January 19, 1955 in Los Angeles, Calif.

Tracy Stratford also appeared on TV’s Ben Casey (1961) and The
New Loretta Young Show (1962).

June Foray (born June Lucille Forer)
(September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017)

In 1960, June Foray provided the voice for Mattel‘s original “Chatty Cathy“ doll; capitalizing on this, Foray also voiced the malevolent
“Talky Tina” doll in the Twilight Zone episode “Living Doll“.

Telly Savalas with the Living Doll. 

Ken is a doll and fictional character introduced by Mattel in 1961 as
the counterpart of Barbie, who was introduced two years earlier.

Similar to his female counterpart, Ken has a fashionable line of
clothing and accessories. In the Barbie mythos, Ken met Barbie
on the set of a TV commercial. He is Barbie’s boyfriend, as it is
written on every box produced since 1961. Since his debut, Ken
has held at over 40 occupations. He was invented by Elliot
Handler (below).

Ruth and Elliot Handler, creators of Ben and Barbie.