Let's Call Her Barbie by Renee Rosen
Published by Berkley
Publication date: January 21, 2025
Genres: Book Clubs, Fiction, Historical
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As a child of the 60s/70s I was one of the numerous little girls clamoring for a Barbie doll. Much like the opening for the movie Barbie (fabulous, a must see) I’d loved my baby doll to death, but needed something more and Barbie was the dream, but it was not to be for me. My personal trauma aside, Renée Rosen now takes readers on an in-depth journey of how the iconic Barbie came to be in her new novel, Let’s Call Her Barbie. It’s a twisted, real-life drama that makes for riveting reading.
Ruth Handler and her husband Elliott created Mattel in the 1950s. As that decade neared a close Ruth, who headed up sales, came to the conclusion that little girls needed aspirations beyond being mothers. When she saw an adult female figurine in Europe, the idea for Barbie was born.
Ruth’s creative spark was brought to physical reality by Jack Ryan, a former aerospace engineer. His technical expertise made the doll possible, but it was Ruth who understood that the doll was just the beginning. From here Let’s Call Her Barbie goes into the fascinating details behind Ruth’s vision and determination to make the doll unique and irresistible to little girls—even if their mothers initially disagreed. The months that went into making the decisions about everything that is now ubiquitous about the doll, her shape, her hair, her pose-ability, her wardrobe and accessories are shown for the unprecedented and unique challenges they were at the time.
Much like the doll herself Let’s Call Her Barbie is bright, fun reading. What is surprising is the darker side of her history. Namely, that Ruth was continually dismissed as her creator and as the force behind her very existence. To the extent that a high-powered group of executives wanting to work with Mattel scheduled a critical meeting in a men’s club, forcing Ruth to take the service elevator to attend. This is just one of the many indignities and attempts to diminish her power that Ruth endured.
These realities act as a sharp counterbalance to the more operatic dramatics of the personal lives of the key players at Mattel. As the 60s segued to the 70s and the financial rewards of Barbie and her world continued to accumulate several of the company’s key players engaged in behavior that would have made a soap opera writer proud. None of this is conjecture as Rosen uses numerous historical resources to recount the trajectory of one doll and her impact on the world of not just toys, but the imaginations of generations of little girls and the fruition of one woman’s idea and indomitable determination to make her happen.
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