Wishing You a Season of Fun and a Happy New Year of Ideas
Wednesday, December 18, 2013 at 4:00AM | Marjorie Sarnat 
“See what happens when we run out of crayons?” Illustration by Fred Crump Jr.When we think of the holidays we can't help but have visions of sugarplums and toys. Some toys have endured along with our traditions.
These toys are classics that generations have, and continue to, grow-up with. These playthings have a universal appeal that satisfies something within us, young and not-so-young.
It was creative thinkers who gave them life.
A Doll with a Dream
As Ruth Handler watched her daughter, Barbara, play with paper dolls, she observed that Barbara gave them adult roles as she dreamed of her own future.
Back then dolls represented babies and little girls. Discovering a gap in the market, Ruth mentioned the idea of an attractive grown-up doll to her husband, Elliot, who was co-founder of the new Mattel Toy Company.
Mattel believed in the idea and began development of a doll they named Barbie, after the Handlers’ daughter. She made her debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York in 1959. The Barbie Doll is now a cultural icon and remains a best selling toy.
Ruth Handler had taken a commonplace doll, which had been around for centuries, and adapted it to meet a need.
Charles Darrow, Crayola crayons, Fred Crump Jr, Ruth Handler, inventing, toys 
