Ruth Handler

Ruth Marianna Handler (née Mosko; November 4, 1916 – April 27, 2002) was an American businesswoman and inventor. She is best known for inventing the Barbie doll in 1959,[2] and being co-founder of toy manufacturer Mattel with her husband Elliot, as well as serving as the company's first president from 1945 to 1975.[3]

Ruth Handler
Handler in 1961
Born
Ruth Marianna Mosko

(1916-11-04)November 4, 1916
Denver, Colorado, U.S.
DiedApril 27, 2002(2002-04-27) (aged 85)[1]
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationPresident of Mattel (1945–1975)
Notable workBarbie
SuccessorRobert A. Eckert
Spouse
​
(m. 1938)​
Children

The Handlers were forced to resign from Mattel in 1975 after the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated the company for falsifying financial documents.[3][4]

Early life

Ruth Marianna Mosko[5][2][3] was born on November 4, 1916, in Denver, Colorado, to Polish-Jewish immigrants Jacob Moskowicz, a blacksmith, and Ida Moskowicz, née Rubenstein.[6]

She married her high school boyfriend, Elliot Handler, and moved to Los Angeles in 1938, where she found work at Paramount.[7]

Formation of Mattel

Elliot tried his hand at a hobby of furniture making. He decided to make their furniture out of two new types of plastics, Lucite and Plexiglas. Ruth Handler suggested that he start doing this commercially and they began a furniture business. Ruth Handler worked as the sales force for the new business, landing contracts with Douglas Aircraft Company and others.[7]

Origin

Ruth saw the potential for an entrepreneurial endeavor. They went into partnership with Harold "Matt" Matson. They combined Matson's last name with Elliot's first name creating Mattel. According to Elliot, the founders could not fit Ruth's name into the name of the company.[8] During World War II, furniture sales fell so Mattel began to manufacture toy furniture. The success of this business caused Ruth and Elliott to move Mattel fully into toy manufacturing.

Barbie

Ruth watched her daughter Barbara play with paper dolls, and noticed that she often enjoyed giving them adult roles. At the time, most children's toy dolls were representations of infants. Realizing that there could be a gap in the market, she suggested the idea of an adult-bodied doll to her husband Elliot. He was unenthusiastic about the idea, as were Mattel's directors.[9]

During a trip to Europe in 1956 with her children Barbara and Kenneth, Ruth came across a German toy doll called Bild Lilli.[10][11] The adult-figured doll was exactly what Ruth had in mind, so she purchased three of them. She gave one to her daughter and took the others back to Mattel. The Lilli doll was based on a popular character appearing in a satirical comic strip drawn by Reinhard Beuthin for the newspaper Bild. The Lilli doll was first sold in Germany in 1955, and although it was initially sold to adults, it became popular with children who enjoyed dressing her up in outfits that were available separately.[12]

Upon her return to the United States, Ruth redesigned the doll (with help from local inventor-designer Jack Ryan), and the doll was given a new name, Barbie, after Handler's daughter Barbara. Premiering at the American International Toy Fair in New York City on March 9, 1959,[13] Barbie was an instant success, with Mattel selling 351,000 dolls within a year.[14]

Later, the Handlers and Mattel added a boyfriend for Barbie named Ken, after the Handlers' son, and many other characters in the brand’s lineup.[15]

Later years

Handler was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1970. To combat this, she had a modified radical mastectomy, which was often used at the time to combat the disease. Due to difficulties in finding a good breast prosthesis, Handler decided to make her own. With the help of new business partner Peyton Massey, and under her new company Ruthton Corp., Handler manufactured a more realistic version of a woman's breast, called "Nearly Me". This invention became quite popular, and then-first lady Betty Ford was personally fitted for one.

Following several investigations of producing fraudulent financial reports, Handler resigned from Mattel in 1975. Investigations continued after her resignation, and, in 1978, Handler was charged with fraud and false reporting to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. She pleaded no contest, and was fined $57,000 (equivalent to $260,000 in 2022[16]) and sentenced to 2,500 hours of community service. She blamed her illness for making her "unfocused" on her business.

Handler died in California from complications of surgery for colon cancer on April 27, 2002, aged 85.[17] Her husband Elliot died nine years later at the age of 95.

Handler is portrayed by Rhea Perlman in the 2023 film Barbie,[18] where she is depicted in her elder years as a spirit who resides at Mattel headquarters in Los Angeles and helps the protagonist, who is her stereotypical Barbie model (played by Margot Robbie).

References
  1. Kershaw, Sarah (April 29, 2002). "Ruth Handler, Whose Barbie Gave Dolls Curves, Dies at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  2. "Ruth Handler, Barbie Doll Invention". Famous Women Inventors. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  3. Altman, Julie (March 20, 2009). "Ruth Mosko Handler". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  4. Castellitto, Linda M. (February 22, 2009). "Scandal tainted long career of Barbie's creator". ABC News. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  5. "Collection: Papers of Ruth Handler, 1931-2002". HOLLIS Archives. Harvard University Press. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  6. Cross, Mary (2013). 100 People Who Changed 20th-Century America, Volume 1. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. p. 337. ISBN 9781610690867.
  7. "Who Made America?: Ruth Handler". PBS. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  8. "History of Mattel by Robert Eckert". Youtube. September 9, 2012.
  9. Mary G. Lord, Forever Barbie: The unauthorized biography of a real doll (Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2004).
  10. Javaid, Maham (May 25, 2023). "Barbie's 'pornographic' origin story, as told by historians - A new trailer for the Barbie movie shows her visiting the real world. In reality, the doll was based on a German sex toy called Lilli". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 26, 2023. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  11. In an interview with Mary G. Lord, the author of Forever Barbie, Ruth Handler said that she saw the doll in Lucerne, Switzerland. However, the book points out that on other occasions Handler said that she saw the doll in Zurich or Vienna.
  12. "Meet Lilli, the High-end German Call Girl Who Became America's Iconic Barbie Doll". Messy Nessy. January 29, 2016. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  13. "Ruth Mosko Handler unveils Barbie Doll". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  14. "Ruth Handler | Lemelson". lemelson.mit.edu. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  15. "Barbie Through the Ages". HISTORY. July 14, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  16. 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  17. "Creator of Barbie dies at 85". USA Today. Associated Press. April 28, 2002. Archived from the original on October 2, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
  18. Paskin, Willa (July 11, 2023). "Greta Gerwig's 'Barbie' Dream Job". The New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on July 11, 2023. Retrieved July 11, 2023.

Further reading
Further information: Barbie § Further reading
  • Forman-Brunell, Miriam. "Barbie in" LIFE": The Life of Barbie." Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth 2.3 (2009): 303-311. online
  • Gerber, Robin. Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her. Harper/Collins, 2008.
  • Weissman, Kristin Noelle. Barbie: The Icon, the Image, the Ideal: An Analytical Interpretation of the Barbie Doll in Popular Culture (1999).
  • Wepman, Dennis. "Handler, Ruth" American National Biography (2000) online
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