Ruth Handler

Early Life Ruth Moskowicz (November 4, 1916–April 27, 2002) was an American innovator that created the highly admired Barbie, an iconic American doll. Handler was born into a family of Russian-Jewish immigrants in Denver, Colorado. In her early life, she co-founded a toy furniture business, Mattel, with her husband Elliot Handler. The idea for the business sparked when the couple were making their own furniture out of two new plastics (Lucite and Plexiglas) and Ruth ambitiously proposed to monetize the creative process. By mid-1940s, this young company took in revenue of $2MM selling plastic ukelele fad, sold toy pianos, and a music box. (Who Made America?)

Barbie- The Invention The invention of Barbie (1959) came later in Ruth’s life. After watching her young children playing with paper dolls and seeing how they interacted with the dolls as a way to make believe or imagine themselves as young adult, Ruth aspired creating a doll that could better impersonate human features.(Bellis) The inspiration, however, sparked on a family trip to Switzerland in 1956. Handler saw a Geman-made Bild Lilli doll in a shop there that was showcased as a collectible but not intended for sale. The design of the Barbie doll resembled the basis of the doll at the Swiss shop. Handler named the Barbie after her daughter Barbara and introduce the Ken boyfriend doll named after her son in 1961.(Bellis) The dolls were a symbol of freedom and possibility for young girls and women to make their own choices. Handler created stories for the Barbie as the first one was a teenage fashion model born in Wisconsin. In the later versions, the stories covered over 125 careers, including astronaut to the president of the United States. This made the doll very personal and unique compared to the other dolls on the market. The first Barbie doll was sold for $3 with additional clothing marked for $1 to $5 so it was very lucrative and eventually became a multi-billion dollar business.

Later Years Handler’s innovation did not stop at the toy business. She later was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent mastectomy in 1970. (Inc) After a disappointing search in the industry for a suitable prosthetic breast, she set about designing one that was similar to the natural breast. She patent the Nearly Me prosthesis in 1975. She later also went on to found Ruthton Corp., a breast prosthesis manufacturer. (Gunderson,2009) The venture and Handler’s advocacy supported the movement towards early detection for breast cancer. Hander died in 2002 from colon cancer but her legacy today continued as many Barbie dolls are still sold globally and desired by children all around. Handler’s life story and legacy inspired many women innovators who aspire to be someone who constantly innovated and fought for women freedom and the choice to pursue their passion. (20 That Made History, 2005)

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Ruth Handler
File:Ruth Handler.jpg
Born	Ruth Marianna Mosko (1916-11-04)November 4, 1916 Denver, Colorado, US
Died	April 27, 2002(2002-04-27) (aged 85) Los Angeles, California, US
Occupation	President of Mattel, Inc.
Employer(s)	Mattel, Inc.
Successor	Robert A. Eckert
Spouse(s)	Elliot Handler ​ ​ (m. 1938;  2002)​
Children	2

Ruth Marianna Handler (née Mosko; November 4, 1916 – April 27, 2002) was an American businesswoman and inventor. She served as the president of the toy manufacturer Mattel Inc., In 1959, she invented the Barbie doll, which sold over a billion worldwide. She was the founder and president of the world's largest toy company, which at its peak had 18,000 employees and annual sales of over $300 million. In 1974, the Handlers were forced to resign from Mattel, and in 1978 Ruth Handler was convicted of false reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Early life

Handler was born Ruth Marianna Mosko in Denver, Colorado, to Polish-Jewish immigrants Ida Mosko (née Rubenstein) and Jacob Mosko. She married her high school boyfriend, Elliot Handler, and moved to Los Angeles in 1938. Her husband decided to make their furniture out of two newfound 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.

Formation of Mattel

Innovative Idea

Her husband Elliot Handler and his business partner Harold "Matt" Matson formed a small company to manufacture picture frames, calling it "Mattel" by combining part of their names ("Matt" and "Elliot"). Later, they began using scraps from the manufacturing process to make dollhouse furniture. The furniture was more profitable than the picture frames and it was decided to concentrate on toy manufacturing. The company's first big-seller was the "Uke-a-doodle", a toy ukulele.

Barbie

Ruth Handler claimed her daughter Barbara, who was becoming a pre-teen, played with paper dolls by pretending they were adults. Handler noticed that in such play, children would act out future events, rather than the present. Handler noted the limitations of the paper dolls, including how the paper clothing failed to attach well. She wanted to produce a three-dimensional plastic "paper doll" with an adult body and a wardrobe of fabric clothing, but her husband and Mr. Matson thought parents would not buy their children a doll with a voluptuous figure. While the Handler family was vacationing in Europe, Ruth Handler saw the West German Bild Lilli doll (which was not a children's toy, but rather an adult gag gift) in a Swiss shop and brought it home. The Lilli doll was a representation of the same concept Ruth had been trying to sell to other Mattel executives. This doll was different than the baby-like dolls the girls would play with during this time, and Ruth was inspired.^[3] Up until that point, there was a lack of dolls for girls who were old enough to comprehend the basic concepts of being a teenager and adulthood. Barbie aimed to directly fill that gap in the industry.

Once home, she reworked the design of the doll and named her Barbie after the Handlers' daughter, Barbara. Barbie debuted at the New York toy fair on March 9, 1959, but was not an immediate success. When Disney introduced The Mickey Mouse Club children's television show, Mattel invested heavily in television advertising. The TV commercials for the Barbie doll paid off and Barbie rocketed Mattel and the Handlers to fame and fortune. Subsequently, they would add a boyfriend for Barbie named Ken, after the Handlers' son, and many other "friends and family" to Barbie's world.

Later years

Handler was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1970. She had a modified radical mastectomy, which was often used at the time to combat the disease, and because of difficulties in finding a good breast prosthesis, she decided to make her own. With Peyton Massey, Ruth founded, Ruthton Corp., which manufactured a more realistic version of a woman's breast, called "Nearly Me". She personally fitted one for the then first lady, Betty Ford.

In 1974, Handler resigned from Mattel after investigations of producing fraudulent financial reports. In 1978, Handler was charged with fraud and false reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission. She pleaded no contest, was fined $57,000 and sentenced to 2,500 hours of community service. She blamed her illness for making her "unfocused" on her business.

Though the Handlers took a more hands-off approach to their company's business practice after resigning, they continued to create new ideas. One project Handler took in the 1980s was Barbie and the Rockers. She was credited as a writer of the 1987 film Barbie and the Rockers: Out of this World. Handler was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1997. Barbie is still alive and prominent in today's youth as children around the US adore the set of dolls. Advertisements are still played by channels with a younger audience and the impact Barbie has had is immeasurable.

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

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

External links

• Ruth Handler at IMDb
• Ruth Handler Papers. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
• Ruth Handler, Barbie Doll Invention
• Altman, Julie."Ruth Mosko Handler." Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 20 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive. January 5, 2010