Tea at Trianon: The Evolution of the Barbie Doll

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

The Evolution of the Barbie Doll

From Nature World Today:

At the time of Barbie’s creation, at least in America, there weren’t any dolls that looked like her. For a long time, children’s toys were created somewhat in the image of children and the things that they found enjoyable. No one had thought about making toys for kids that depicted the lives that their parents were living…That was until Ruth Handler came across the Bild Lili doll in Germany… Bild Lili was originally designed after a comic strip character and was initially marketed toward men, and later became popular with children. Even though some people had an issue with the way that Barbie looked at first, the idea slowly started to pay off once they realized that their kids enjoyed playing with dolls that depicted a completely different period of life. When you think about it, most good business ideas come from someone seeing something revolutionary and realizing that there is potential for that product to work due to a hole in the market. And the Barbie doll is no exception to the rule… Let this be a lesson to anyone who wants to capitalize on their own idea but has yet to do so.
After her return to the States, Ruth began designing the revolutionary doll with the help of fellow designer Jack Ryan. Seeing as this new doll was essentially like another child for Ruth, she decided to name her after her own daughter, Barbara and that’s where the idea for the name Barbie came from. Barbie was released at the American International Toy Fair in New York City on March 8, 1959, which is officially known as Barbie’s birthday. One can only imagine how revolutionary a doll like this must have been in America in 1959. After the Barbie doll was released at the American International Toy Fair, Mattel had roughly sold around 350,000 Barbie dolls in their first year of production. Considering the time in history, those kinds of statistics are pretty outstanding for 1959…(Read more.)