The creation of the Barbie doll

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2019

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The first Barbie doll was sold in 1959. Ruth Handler, one of the founders of the Mattel toy company who created Barbie, describes how it took years to convince her male colleagues that it would sell.

Picture: Ruth and Elliot Handler, creators of Barbie. Courtesy of Mattel Inc.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
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0:35.4	Sounds.
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0:46.7	brand new podcast off the telly we share what we've been watching.
0:50.3	Cladie aider. Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming, lovely.
0:55.0	Off the telly with me Joanna Paige and me, Natalie Cassidy,
0:59.0	so your evenings can be a little less searching
1:02.0	and a lot more watching listen on BBC
1:04.7	sounds.
1:07.0	You're listening to the Witness History Podcast with me Claire Bowes and today I'm taking
1:15.8	you back to 1959 and the creation of one of the most iconic female figures of the 20th
1:22.0	century the Barbie doll.
1:24.0	I've been listening back through the BBC's archives to interviews with the family who built
1:28.8	the Mattel Toy Company and developed Barbie.
1:31.8	Barbie,
	...

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