Scandal tainted long career of Barbie's creator

— -- Gorgeous blonde actresses Patricia Clarkson and Emma Thompson turn 50 this year. So does another famous flaxen-haired beauty: the iconic, sometimes controversial, always curvaceous Barbie doll.

On Valentine's Day, Barbie was feted at Fashion Week in New York City. On March 9, the anniversary of the doll's debut at the New York Toy Fair, toy company Mattel will host a party at a life-size Malibu Dream House.

Robin Gerber has written a biography of the brains behind Barbie, Ruth Handler: Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her.

Today, Barbie dolls are sold in 140 countries at an astonishing rate of three dolls a second, according to Forbes magazine. But at that first Toy Fair, the outlook was far from bright.

Handler, who founded Mattel in 1944 with husband Elliot and Harold "Matt" Matson, was inspired to create the doll during a post-WWII era dominated by baby dolls and paper dolls.

After observing her own daughter, Barbara, at play, Handler thought a more lifelike, sturdy alternative would spark girls' imaginations and prove highly profitable for Mattel.

A 1956 trip to Europe was the impetus. While in Lucerne, Switzerland, with 15-year-old Barbara, Handler saw in a shop window a hard plastic doll named Lilli. Lilli, originally marketed as a sex toy, was sold in different outfits. Ruth knew she could do better by designing a more appealing toy and selling clothing and accessories separately.

At the time, men dominated the toy industry, and many thought Barbie's prodigious bust would be off-putting to conservative parents. But Handler hired motivational researcher and branding pioneer Ernest Dichter to help her create a strategy for Barbie.

Gerber writes, "If Ruth's fellow toymakers underestimated anything about her … it was her competitive drive. She liked to win, and she intended to do so with the Barbie doll."

When Barbie TV commercials launched in March 1959, the doll was presented as a model-like toy that could help girls learn to be fashionable. Although the Toy Fair reception was disappointing, by summer the commercials had triggered astonishing demand. In fact, Gerber writes, it took Mattel three years to catch up.