The precursor to the Barbie doll was not meant for children. Born in Germany in 1952, the inspiration for America’s most famous doll was a saucy high-end call girl named Lilli. First created as a ...
Barbie likely wouldn't exist if Mattel's founder hadn't stumbled across Bild Lilli, a plastic doll based on a comic strip. For years Ruth Handler had struggled to convince her colleagues to make an ...