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| death_place = [[Los Angeles]], California, U.S.
| death_place = [[Los Angeles]], California, U.S.
| occupation = President of [[Mattel]] (1945–1974)
| occupation = President of [[Mattel]] (1945–1974)
| notable_works = [[Barbie]]
| notable_works = [[Barbie]]
| successor = [[Robert A. Eckert]]
| successor = [[Robert A. Eckert]]
}}
}}


'''Ruth Marianna Handler’''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/8/resources/5122|url-status=live|title=Collection: Papers of Ruth Handler, 1931-2002|work=HOLLIS Archives|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|access-date=23 July 2015}}</ref><ref name="FWI">{{cite web|website=Famous Women Inventors|access-date=23 January 2017|url=http://www.women-inventors.com/Ruth-Handler.asp|title=Ruth Handler, Barbie Doll Invention|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="JWA">{{cite web|last=Altman|first=Julie|url=http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/handler-ruth-mosko|title=Ruth Mosko Handler|date=20 March 2009|website=Jewish Women's Archive|access-date=7 January 2015}}</ref> ({{née}} '''Mosko'''; November 4, 1916 – April 27, 2002) was an American businesswoman and inventor. She is best known for inventing [[Barbie|the Barbie doll]] in 1959,<ref name="FWI" /> and being co-founder of toy manufacturer [[Mattel]] with her husband [[Elliot Handler|Elliot]], as well as serving as the company's first president from 1945 to 1975.<ref name="JWA" />
'''Ruth Marianna Handler'''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/8/resources/5122|url-status=live|title=Collection: Papers of Ruth Handler, 1931-2002|work=HOLLIS Archives|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|access-date=23 July 2015}}</ref><ref name="FWI">{{cite web|website=Famous Women Inventors|access-date=23 January 2017|url=http://www.women-inventors.com/Ruth-Handler.asp|title=Ruth Handler, Barbie Doll Invention|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="JWA">{{cite web|last=Altman|first=Julie|url=http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/handler-ruth-mosko|title=Ruth Mosko Handler|date=20 March 2009|website=Jewish Women's Archive|access-date=7 January 2015}}</ref> ({{née}} '''Mosko'''; November 4, 1916 – April 27, 2002) was an American businesswoman and inventor. She is best known for inventing [[Barbie|the Barbie doll]] in 1959,<ref name="FWI" /> and being co-founder of toy manufacturer [[Mattel]] with her husband [[Elliot Handler|Elliot]], as well as serving as the company's first president from 1945 to 1975.<ref name="JWA" />


The Handlers were fired from Mattel in 1975 after the [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission|Securities and Exchange Commission]] investigated the company for falsifying financial documents and various other illegal activities, including using potentially hazardous substances in some doll products.<ref name="JWA" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Castellitto |first=Linda M. |date=February 22, 2009 |title=Scandal tainted long career of Barbie's creator |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=6934823&page=1 |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref>
The Handlers were forced to resign from Mattel in 1975 after the [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission|Securities and Exchange Commission]] investigated the company for falsifying financial documents.<ref name="JWA" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Castellitto |first=Linda M. |date=February 22, 2009 |title=Scandal tainted long career of Barbie's creator |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=6934823&page=1 |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref>


==Early life==
==Early life==

Revision as of 21:56, 28 July 2023

Ruth Handler
Ruth Handler in 1961.jpg
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 (1945–1974)
Notable workBarbie
SuccessorRobert A. Eckert
Spouse
​
(m. 1938)​
Children2; Barbara Handler and Kenneth Handler

Ruth Marianna Handler[2][3][4] (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,[3] 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.[4]

The Handlers were forced to resign from Mattel in 1975 after the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated the company for falsifying financial documents.[4][5]

Early life

Handler was born Ruth Marianna Mosko 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

There are conflicting accounts as to how Handler came up with the Barbie doll. In one account, Handler came across a doll during a trip to Europe that looked like an adult woman, in contrast to the infant dolls common at the time. In another, Ruth witnessed her daughter Barbara playing with paper dolls, prompting her to create a more realistic, three-dimensional toy that represented what girls "wanted to be". Ruth pushed Mattel for the release of what was to be known as the Barbie doll, named after her daughter.

Premiering at the American Toy Fair in New York City on March 9, 1959, Barbie was an instant success, with Mattel selling 351,000 dolls within a year. Ruth even negotiated a deal for the dolls to be advertised as the sole sponsors of the Mickey Mouse Club, and Barbie was the first toy to successfully be advertised directly to children.

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.

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 1974. 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 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.[9] Her husband Elliot died nine years later at the age of 95.

Handler was portrayed by Rhea Perlman in the 2023 film Barbie,[10] 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.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ "Collection: Papers of Ruth Handler, 1931-2002". HOLLIS Archives. Harvard University Press. Retrieved July 23, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ a b "Ruth Handler, Barbie Doll Invention". Famous Women Inventors. Retrieved January 23, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ a b c Altman, Julie (March 20, 2009). "Ruth Mosko Handler". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  5. ^ Castellitto, Linda M. (February 22, 2009). "Scandal tainted long career of Barbie's creator". ABC News. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  6. ^ Cross, Mary (2013). 100 People Who Changed 20th-Century America, Volume 1. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. p. 337. ISBN 9781610690867.
  7. ^ a b "Who Made America?: Ruth Handler". PBS. Retrieved January 20, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ "History of Mattel by Robert Eckert". Youtube. September 9, 2012.
  9. ^ "Creator of Barbie dies at 85". USA Today. Associated Press. April 28, 2002. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
  10. ^ 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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