Ruth Handler
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| Ruth Handler | |
| Born | Ruth Mosko Handler November 4, 1916 Denver, Colorado, USA |
|---|---|
| Died | April 27, 2002 (age 85) Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Cause of death | Complications of surgery for colon cancer |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, inventor, President of Mattel, Inc. |
| Employers | Mattel, Inc. |
| Successor | Robert A. Eckert |
| Spouse | Elliott Handler (1938 - 2002) |
| Children | Barbara, Kenneth |
Ruth Handler (November 4, 1916 - April 27, 2002) was an American businesswoman, the president of the toy manufacturer Mattel, Inc., and is remembered primarily for her role in marketing the Barbie doll.
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[edit] The formation of Mattel
Her husband, Elliott 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 "Uka-a-doodle", a toy ukulele.
[edit] Barbie: the beginning
Ruth Handler had noted that her daughter Barbara, who was becoming a pre-teen, preferred playing with her infant paper dolls and giving them adult roles. She wanted to produce a plastic doll with an adult body but her husband and Mr. Matson thought it wouldn't sell. But when the Handlers were on a European trip, Ruth Handler saw the German Bild Lilli doll (which was not meant for children at all; rather a gag gift for adults) in a Swiss shop and bought it.
Back home she reworked the design of the doll and re-named her Barbie after her daughter. Barbie debuted at the New York toy fair on March 9, 1959. Barbie became an instant success, rocketing the Handlers and their toy company toward fame, if not fortune as well. Later, they would add a boyfriend for Barbie named Ken, after Handler's son as well any many more other "friends and family" for Barbie's world.
[edit] The "adult" doll Barbie
Ruth Handler says that when she bought "Bild Lilli" she was ignorant of its adult nature. Handler said that she thought it "was important to a girl's esteem that she play with a doll with breasts," and Barbie was certainly qualified to be that doll. If the doll originally marketed were human-sized, her measurements would have been 39"-18"-33". Critics claimed measurements were based on male fantasy rather than actual human metrics, and the ostensibly unrealistic size of Barbie has been controversial, with many suggesting that playing with Barbie decreases rather than enhances a girl's self-esteem. In response to criticism, Mattel adjusted the chest measurement down, and the waist measurement up, though the proportions are still uncharacteristic of most women.
[edit] The growth and decline of Mattel
Mattel continued to diversify its toy line, which grew to include Chatty Cathy, See 'n' Say, Hot Wheels, Creepy Crawlers and Incredible Edibles. Ruth Handler became president of Mattel in 1967.
In the 1970s, attel experienced political & social instability along with the rest of the country, causing two consecutive quarters where Mattel's stocks fell - a first for the rising young company. The losses led to shareholder lawsuits and an U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry that revealed accounting irregularities. The Handlers were accused of falsifying financial documents to raise stock prices and in turn get loans for the company. These mounting problems led to Handler and her husband's resignations at Mattel in 1975.
In 1978, Handler was indicted for mail fraud and false reporting to the SEC, with the commission. She and Elliott had repeatedly denied any knowledge of wrongdoing, so Handler pled no contest. She was fined and sentenced to community service.[1] Disappointing as the business upheaval was though, it paled against the parallel challenges facing her.
[edit] Fighting the good fight
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. Handler went on to found a company, Ruthton Corp., formed by her and Peyton Massey, which manufactured a more realistic version of a woman's breast, called "Nearly Me".
Though the Handlers took a more hands-off approach to their company's business practice after resigning, they still kept creating more ideas. One project Handler took on 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.
In 2002, at the age of 85, she died while in surgery for her colon cancer. She was buried next to her son, Ken (who died from a tumor in June 1994), in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.
[edit] References
[edit] External Links
Ruth Handler Papers.Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
