These boys had been competing with each other by trying to throw a knife so that it would stick in the ground (easier said than done). Then some neighborhood girls came along. They had a picnic basket filled with dolls. Out came Barbie and Ken in camouflage. The camo sparked instant curiosity among the boys. Barbie was invented by Mattel in 1959. Ken came along in 1961. By 1975 when I took this shot in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, they were hugely popular across America.
