What would a real life Barbie look like? She turns 50 on Monday, but Barbie has a remarkable figure for a woman of any age. So what if you scaled her up to human proportions?A doll for the ages: Change has been a constant for Barbie's 50 years
4 Barbie is the brainchild of Ruth Handler, one of the founders of Mattel.
5 Handler was inspired by a European doll called Bild-Lilli, a doll for adults that Handler said she saw in Vienna or Lucerne.
6 Handler named the Americanized doll after her daughter, Barbara.
9 Barbie's boyfriend is Ken. He's named after Handler's real-life son, who, incidentally, hated the comparisons.
10 Barbie and Ken split up in 2004. They reunited in 2006.
17 There are more than 500 groups related to Barbie on Facebook, including one called Tequila Barbie.
18 Another group is called Divorce Barbie. "Divorce Barbie comes with Ken's boat; Ken's house; Ken's car; Ken's money;" and, well, you get the idea. Last time we checked, there were eight members.
30 The first commercials for Barbie ran on "The Mickey Mouse Club."
