Everyone knows Barbieis a California girl down to her little plastic core. She has peroxide-blond hair, drives a red convertible and lives in a Malibu Dream House. But what most don’t know about the little doll, who celebrates her 50th birthday this year, is that she was actually born and raised in the northwoods of Wisconsin.
According to a series of books published by Random House in the 1960s, Barbie was born Barbara Millicent Roberts on March 9, 1959, to George and Margaret Roberts. She grew up in the fictitious town of Willows, Wis. (not to be confused with the real-life town of Willow, Wis., population 493, in Richland County). Barbie attended good old Willows High School, but soon after, ditched her heartland roots for the glitz of Hollywood.
“Mattel chose Willows, Wis., to give Barbie an ‘everygirl’ backstory,” says Robin Gerber, author of Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World’s Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her. “There was concern that mothers would not buy their daughters an adult doll with breasts, so the branding team tried to make her seem as ‘all-American’ and wholesome as possible.”
Since her debut by creator Ruth Handler at the New York Toy Fair, Barbie has evolved into a fashion plate and a go-getter, and has explored careers ranging from a cowgirl to U.S. president (but never a Wisconsin dairy farmer).
“Barbie in the ’60s was a very good role model. She let little girls be whoever they wanted to be,” says Karen Caviale, co-founder of the Kenosha-based Haute Doll magazine. But today she has less appeal. “There are so many fashion dolls out right now,” Caviale notes. Yes, but how many have that wholesome Badger upbringing?
