One of the most recognizable toys in American history traces back to a German gag gift based on a satirical comic strip about a call girl. This episode follows Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler from watching her daughter Barbara project adult roles onto paper dolls, through the all-male board’s rejection of an adult-bodied doll, to the 1956 Swiss trip where she bought three Bild Lilli dolls and brought the prototype back to California. Barbie debuted at the New York Toy Fair on March 9, 1959, in a black and white zebra swimsuit for three dollars.

We unpack the razor-and-blades business model built on 22 hand-stitched outfits, the fictional biography of Barbara Millicent Roberts from Willows, Wisconsin, the managed romance with Ken, and the long list of controversies: the 1963 diet book that said Don’t Eat, the scale set to 110 pounds, the Teen Talk doll saying math class is tough, and the computer engineer book. Then we cover the clumsy and later meaningful moves toward diversity, the 2016 body types, the Bratz lawsuit, the Saudi Arabia ban, and the pivot to films, YouTube and the 2023 movie.

• Why Mattel argued the tiny waist was needed for seams, snaps and zippers
• Colored Francie, Kitty Black Perkins and the 1990 focus groups that created new molds
• Share-A-Smile Becky and the wheelchair that could not fit in the Dream House elevator
• Dolls with Down syndrome, blindness, type 1 diabetes and a planned autistic doll
• The Dream Gap Project and whether a plastic doll can change how girls see themselves