A look back at the past.

Saturday, March 9

On March 9, 1959, Barbie is presented to the world at the American Toy Fair in New York. She is named after the daughter of Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler, Barbara, who inspired her mother to create Barbie after she was spotted playing with paper dolls of adult women rather than her baby dolls.

By now, there are as many Barbies as there are stars in the sky….well, Mattel says 58 million dolls are sold annually.

Sunday, March 10

The Godfather by Mario Puzo is published on March 10, 1969 and becomes an instant hit. The story of an immigrant Italian crime family based in New York, the novel stays on the New York Times best-seller list for 67 weeks and sold 9 million copies in its first two years.

Puzo would go on to adapt the book into a screenplay for the film version of The Godfather, a movie rightly considered a classic.