The Toys That Made Us
Docuseries: 12 episodes
Director: Tom Stern and
Brian Volk-Weiss
Distributor: Netflix

 

The minds behind history's most iconic toy franchises discuss the rise (and sometimes fall) of their billion-dollar creations.

The Toys that Made Us covers a variety of legendary toys from the 20th century and today. I discuss some sordid origins of the Barbie doll, especially the Bild Lilli doll, which was modeled on a gold-digging cartoon character in Hamburg's Bild Zeitung during the mid-1950s.