Ruth Handler: Bringing Barbie to Life

By Linda Harris Sittig

I know, I know. You might be thinking, “Barbie? Seriously?” But, yes, I am.

With the popular Barbie movie out and the Barbie doll still number one of the top ten best-selling toys of all time, I asked myself – “Who was this Ruth Handler who created Barbie?”

IN THE BEGINNING

Born the youngest of 10 children in 1916, Ruth Mosko Handler grew up in an immigrant Jewish family in Denver, Colorado, where perhaps she learned the pattern of a solid work ethic that would stay with her throughout her life.

Ruth married her high school sweetheart, Elliot Handler, in 1938, and they left for Los Angeles, California, where Elliot could study industrial design. Within a year, Elliot was manufacturing novelty goods made of the new plastic called Lucite. Ruth became the bookkeeper and office manager. In 1944, they branched out and designed costume jewelry made from Lucite.

THE BEGINNING OF MATTEL

One year later, in 1945, they joined forces with a good friend, Harold Matson, to form a new company to manufacture toys. Combining letters from Matson and Handler, the new company was named Mattel.

At first, they manufactured doll furniture and then musical toys. All products were assembled in the Mattel plant in Hawthorne, California.

Then the 1950s came along, and as the Mattel company grew, Ruth, now executive vice-president in charge of sales and management, began hiring more and more women. And the women she chose were from all races and various nationalities.

In 1955 Ruth convinced Elliott that they should take out a significant loan for mega-advertising. She chose the wildly popular Disney television show, the Mickey Mouse Club as the sole advertiser. With nationwide exposure, Mattel’s sales went from $5 to $14 million.

And this was all before Barbie.

THE INVENTION OF BARBIE

In early 1959, Ruth remembered how much their daughter Barbara had loved playing with paper dolls when she was young. Ruth conjured up images of Barbara cutting out the fashionable paper outfits and dressing the dolls up to interact with each other.

At this point, most American dolls were either baby dolls or made from soft materials. Very few, if any, were presented as teenage dolls with fashionable outfits you could buy and assemble a wardrobe.

And Ruth began to wonder…..what if?

She designed the new Mattel doll, named Barbie after her daughter, to be a doll girls would want to dress. Debuting at the March 1959 American Toy Fair in New York City, the original Barbie doll sold 351,000 copies in the first year of production.

Remember Disney? Barbie then became advertised on The Mickey Mouse Club show.

Two years later, Mattel invented the Ken doll, and Barbie and Ken soon accounted for a major proportion of the company’s sales.

AND LIFE WAS SWELL, UNTIL IT WASN’T

In 1970 Ruth was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a total mastectomy. Then in 1973, the SEC charged Mattel with issuing false financial statements. Ruth and Elliot resigned from Mattel in 1975, while the company sued the accounting firm Arthur Anderson for mismanagement.

Out of work for the first time since 1939, Ruth went into business with George Peyton to develop silicon breast prostheses for women like herself whose bodies had experienced the trauma of a mastectomy. Ruth stayed with the new company, Ruthton, until 1991. She campaigned in the media, made appearances in department stores, and shortly after starting the company, helped First Lady Betty Ford get fitted for a breast prosthesis.

In her lifetime Ruth Handler was the recipient of many awards.

And if you think back in time, Barbie was created in 1959, nine years after the first credit card was invented (the Diners Club Card). But it would take until 1974 before women in America could own a credit card in their name. Yes, twenty-four years after credit cards were established for men.

But what of Barbie?

THE LEGACY OF BARBIE

Don’t think of Barbie as only a pretty face… the Barbie doll of today is available in 176 different versions, representing 200 careers, nine body types, 35 skin tones, and 94 different hairstyles.

Ruth always said she wanted Barbie to be able to change with the times. And she did. By the 1960s, Barbie’s friend, Christy, was an African-American doll. By 2015 Barbie had given up wearing her signature high heels and now sports fashionable flats. In 2020 Barbie in a wheelchair, representing physically challenged women, premiered. And in 2023, the first Barbie with Downs Syndrome became available.

And what about Ken? He was initially designed as Barbie’s boyfriend and named after Ruth’s son. But the movie uses all the Kens to brilliantly showcase the absurdity of a society where one sex gets to make all the rules.

Like Strong Women everywhere – Barbie and the rest of us come in all skin tones, ethnic backgrounds, races, and religions. But what drives us is the passion to follow our dreams, even when obstacles are thrown in our path.

See the movie and enjoy the spirit of Ruth Handler. Thank you to Jennie Blumenthal and Eddy Delgado who both taught me about Ruth.

~ Linda

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In the meantime, you can catch up with me on www.lindasittig.com to see my newest book, OPENING CLOSED DOORS: THE STORY OF JOSIE C. MURRAY and learn the story of the woman whose courage led to the desegregation of public libraries in Virginia back in the 1950s.