The island princess

Eight months after Barbie’s debut at the Toy Fair, Mrs. Handler was, according to the Los Angeles Times, driving a گلابی Thunderbird and running a half-million-dollar business.

Barbie sales continued strong throughout the early 1960s; her clothing, her accoutrements, and her Dream House adding to skyrocketing success. In 1961, Mattel brought out the ultimate Barbie accessory: Ken, Barbie’s square-jawed, crew-cut sporting steady beau named for Mrs. Handler’s son.

In the late 1960s, with the women’s liberation movement, Barbie seemed out of step with the new social reality and faltered a...