Doll:Miss Seventeen

When the Bild Lilli doll proved so popular among girls in the 1960s, the doll's German manufacturer, Elastolin, licensed Louis Marx & Company to produce the dolls in the United States. By 1961 the American toy company offered its "Bonnie" and a 15-inch doll called "Miss Seventeen." At the same time, of course, Mattel was selling its successful Barbie doll, a doll very much based on the Bild Lilli doll Mattel executive Ruth Handler had seen in Europe. Because Marx had the agreement with Elastolin, it sued Mattel to stop producing Barbies. Marx's suit, however, was unsuccessful, and Barbie remained successful for decades while Marx halted production of its Lilli dolls in 1964.