Was She Barbie's Muse?

No I am not Barbie-obsessed. I never had even one. Perhaps I am Barbie-deprived. Barbie was born long after I shuttered my dolls in their eternal tomb, my toy box. And, yes, I always thought I missed something.

The other day my husband ceased channel-surfing long enough to settle on a TCM film, 1950's "The Black Rose" with Tyrone Power. In passing I caught a scene featuring an elfin-faced young woman speaking with a musical French accent. She was Cecile Aubry, and I remembered the name from the days of soaking up movie magazines.

What ever happened to Cecile Aubrey? She was indeed French and won a Fox movie contract after starring in the French film "Manon". Her Hollywood career was short-lived. After she appeared in "Blackbeard" it was revealed she had been secretly married for six years to the eldest son of the pasha of Marrakesh. That sounds like part of the plot of the Coen Brothers "Hail Caesar" about a Hollywood "fixer" and set in 1951.

She went on to become a successful writer of children's books and children's television programs in France. She is most noted for the book, "Belle and Sebastian" about the adventures of a boy and his dog. Cecile Aubry died in 2010 at age 81.

While doing this bit of in-house research, it struck me that Cecile Aubry may have been the inspiration for Barbie, born in 1959. What do you think?