Bild Lilli doll - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Bild Lilli Doll was a German fashion doll

Fashion doll

Fashion dolls are dolls primarily designed to be dressed to reflect fashion trends. They are manufactured both as toys for children to play with and as collectibles for adult collectors. The dolls are usually modeled after teen girls or adult women, though child, male, and even some non-human...

produced from 1950 to 1964, based on the comic-strip character Lilli. She is the predecessor of Barbie

Barbie

Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....

History

In the beginning Lilli was a German cartoon character, created by Reinhard Beuthien for the tabloid Bild-Zeitung

Bild-Zeitung

The Bild is a German tabloid published by Axel Springer AG. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday, while on Sundays, Bild am Sonntag is published instead, which has a different style and its own editors...

in Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. In 1953 Bild-Zeitung decided to market a Lilli doll and contacted Max Weissbrodt from the toy company O&M Hausser in Neustadt/Coburg, Germany. Following Beuthien's drawings, Weissbrodt designed the prototype of the doll, which was on sale from 1955 to 1964, when Mattel

Mattel

Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...

acquired the rights to the doll and German production stopped. Until then production numbers reached 130,000. Today Lilli is a collector's piece as Barbie

Barbie

is, and commands prices up to several thousand Euros, depending on condition, packaging and clothes.

The cartoon

Reinhard Beuthien was ordered to make a "filler" to conceal a blank space in the Bild-Zeitung

Bild-Zeitung

of June 24, 1952. He drew a cute baby, but his boss didn't like it. So he kept the face, added a ponytail and a curvy woman's body and called his creation "Lilli". She sat in a fortune-teller's tent asking: "Can't you tell me the name and address of this rich and handsome man?" The cartoon was an immediate success so Beuthien had to draw new ones each day.

Lilli was post-war, sassy and ambitious and had no reservations talking about sex. As she had her own job she earned her own money as a secretary but wasn't above hanging out with rich men ("I could do without balding old men but my budget couldn't!"). The cartoon always consisted of a picture of Lilli talking to girlfriends, boyfriends, her boss ("As you were angry when I was late this morning I will leave the office at five p.m. sharp!"). The quips underneath the cartoons handled topics ranging from fashion (to a policeman who told her that two-piece-swimsuits are banned: "Which piece do you want me to take off?"), politics ("Of course I'm interested in politics; no one should ignore the way some politicians dress!") and even the beauty of nature ("The sunrise is so beautiful that I always stay late at the nightclub to see it!"). The last Lilli cartoon appeared on January 5, 1961.

The doll

Lilli was available in two sizes, 30 cm (12 inches) and 19 cm (7.5 inches). She held three patents absolutely new in doll-making: The head wasn't connected to the neck, but ended at the chin; the hair wasn't rooted, but a cut-out scalp that was attached by a hidden metal screw; the legs didn't sprawl open when she was sitting. The doll was made of plastic and had molded eyelashes, pale skin and a painted face with side glancing eyes, high narrow eyebrows and red lips. Her fingernails were painted red, too. She wore her hair in a ponytail with one curl kissing the forehead. Her shoes and earrings were molded on. Her limbs were attached inside by coated rubber bands. The cartoon Lilli was blonde, but a few of the dolls had other hair colours. Each Lilli doll carried a miniature Bild-Zeitung

Bild-Zeitung

and was sold in a clear plastic tube.

In 1955 the tall dolls cost DM 12, the small DM 7.50. German office workers then had a monthly salary of approximately DM 200 to DM 300, so the doll was by no means a cheap toy. She was originally marketed to adults in bars and tobacco shops as a joke or gag gift. Many parents considered her not appropriate for children. Ariel Levy

Ariel Levy

Ariel Levy is a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine and author of the book Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Vogue, Slate, Men's Journal and Blender...

refers to her as a "sex doll" in Female Chauvinist Pigs

Female Chauvinist Pigs

Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture is a book by Ariel Levy which critiques modern feminist culture in the United States and elsewhere....

and in interviews on the Lilli-inspired Barbie doll, Eve Ensler

Eve Ensler

Eve Ensler is an American playwright, performer, feminist and activist, best known for her play The Vagina Monologues.- Personal life :...

refers to Lilli (without elaboration) as a "sex toy". A German brochure from the 1950s states that Lilli was "always discreet," and that her wardrobe made her "the star of every bar." Although the doll was originally not designed as a children's toy, she eventually became popular with children. Doll houses

Dollhouse

A dollhouse is a toy home, made in miniature. For the last century, dollhouses have primarily been the domain of children but their collection and crafting is also a hobby for many adults. The term dollhouse is common in the United States and Canada...

, room settings, furniture, and other toy accessories to scale with the small Lilli were produced by German toy factories to cash in on her popularity amongst children and parents. Lilli and her fashions were sold as children's toys in a number of European countries, including Italy and Scandinavian states. Lilli was as high-profiled and successful as a toy as she was as an adult novelty, although outside of Germany she is mostly remembered in the latter guise.

The wardrobe

Lilli came as a dressed doll, with additional fashions sold separately. Her fashions mirror the lifestyle of the 1950s: She had outfits for parties, the beach and tennis, as well as cotton dresses, pajamas and poplin suits. In her last years, her wardrobe consisted mainly of "Dirndl

Dirndl

A dirndl [ˈdɪʁndl̩] is a type of traditional dress worn in Bavaria, Liechtenstein, Austria, and South Tyrol, based on the historical costume of Alpine peasants. Dresses that are loosely based on the dirndl are known as Landhausmode.-Description:...

" dresses. Lillis dresses always have patent fasteners marked "PRYM". PRYM is the leading German button manufacturer; most German dollmakers used, and still use, its products.

Imitations

The doll became so popular that she was exported to other countries, including the United States, where she was just called "Lilli". Some Lillis have been seen in original packaging dating from the 1950s for an English-speaking market labeled as "Lilli Marlene", after the famous song. Several toy companies (mainly in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

) started producing fashion dolls looking very similar to Lilli. These dolls are easy to distinguish because of their poor quality.

Lilli also inspired the production of another fashion doll of high quality who would soon outshine her: Barbie

Barbie

, produced by Mattel

Mattel

. Ruth Handler

Ruth Handler

Ruth Handler was an American businesswoman, born to Jewish-Polish immigrants Jacob and Ida Moskowicz, the president of the toy manufacturer Mattel Inc., and is remembered primarily for her role in marketing the Barbie doll....

, one of the company's founders, bought some of the Lilli dolls when she was on a trip to Europe. Back home she reworked the design of the doll and renamed her Barbie

Barbie

, who debuted at the New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

toy fair on March 9, 1959. Barbie

Barbie

had rooted hair and her shoes and earrings were not molded — apart from that she was a lookalike of Lilli. Barbie

Barbie

celebrated 50 years of continuous production in 2009.

Louis Marx and Company

Louis Marx and Company

Louis Marx and Company was an American toy manufacturer from 1919 to 1978. Its boxes were often imprinted with the slogan, "One of the many Marx toys, have you all of them?"-Logo and Offerings:...

acquired the rights to the Lilli doll from O&M Hausser and released it in America as the Miss Seventeen (doll) in 1961. Marx unsuccessfully attempted to sue Mattel for patent infringement.

Also in Spain, Muñecas FEJ (Guillen y Vicedo) copied the moulds of Bild Lilli and made a very similar doll, but with darker skin, white earrings and articulated waist. However, Spanish society was extremely conservative then and was not ready for such "sexy" dolls. Mothers were not buying them for their daughters and the manufacturer had to retire them from the market.

Related characters

In 1962 Beuthien created another cartoon character called "Schwabinchen" for a Bavarian newspaper but it wasn't as successful as Lilli and the dolls inspired by her were of poor quality. Later he started "Gigi", who had even less success and never made it into a doll.

Lilli became so popular in Germany that in 1958 a movie about her was produced: Lilli — ein Mädchen aus der Großstadt (Lilli — a Girl From the Big City). The star was chosen from a contest: Young women all over Germany sent their photographs to the Bild-Zeitung

Bild-Zeitung

hoping for a career as a movie star. The winner was the Danish actress Ann Smyrner

Ann Smyrner

Ann Smyrner is a Danish actress who was active in the 1960s in Italy, the USA, Austria and West Germany. She played in adventure, comedy, science fiction, crime, and horror movies, among which are the Sidney Pink science fiction movies Reptilicus and Journey to the Seventh Planet .Ann Smyrner...

.

Lilli lent her name to several luxury products like scent, wine and rhinestone jewellery.

History

The cartoon

The doll

The wardrobe

Imitations

Related characters

Further reading