which stands 1 inch taller than a standard Ken doll, has custom clothing that salutes his Akron, Ohio, roots and Nike shoes. Several athletes have been recognized with their own Barbie dolls.

Ruth Handler, who co-founded Mattel with her husband, Elliot Handler, and Harold Matson in 1945, noticed her daughter, Barbara, playing with paper dolls ... Ruth named the doll Barbie, after ...

The makeup was no doubt applied because Barbie was meant to be older than traditional dolls marketed to preteens ... One Barbie doll is sold every three seconds somewhere in the world.