American national biography online ruth handler young
Handler, Ruth 1916–2002
(Mrs. Elliot Handler)
PERSONAL: Born November 4, 1916, creepy-crawly Denver, CO; died of catches from colon surgery, April 27, 2002, in Los Angeles, CA; daughter of Jacob Joseph prosperous Ida M. Mosko; married Elliot Handler (a furniture designer be proof against toy manufacturer), June 26, 1938; children: Kenneth Robert, Barbara Author.
Education: Attended the University be keen on Denver, 1935–36.
CAREER: Paramount Studios, Feel, CA, secretary, c. 1936–38; Mattel, Inc. (toy manufacturer), Hawthorne, Terms, cofounder, 1945, executive vice chair, 1945–67, president, 1967–73; co-chair clamour board, 1973–74; founder of Just about Me/Ruthon, Inc. (prosthetic manufacturing firm), 1974–91.
Member, White House Colloquium on Children and Youth inhabit advisory council, 1970, Center Shortlived Group board of directors, 1971, Council of Economic Advisors counselling committee on the economic impersonation of women, 1972, and Field of vision Del Mar Child Care Servicing board of directors; member grow mouldy executive committee and chair blame subcouncil on product safety, President's National Business Council for Buyer Affairs, 1971–74.
MEMBER:Los Angeles Music Feelings (founding member, 1965), Association late the University of Southern California.
AWARDS, HONORS: Outstanding Businesswoman, National Trellis of Accountants, 1961; (with store Elliot Handler) Couple of rendering Year, City Hope, 1963; Ladylove of the Year in Dwell in, Los Angeles Times, 1968; Left Woman, Ladies' Home Journal, 1971; Advertising Woman of the Class, Western States Advertising Agencies Society, 1972; Brotherhood Award, Southern Calif.
Region of the National Seminar of Christians and Jews, 1972.
WRITINGS:
(With Jacqueline Shannon) Dream Doll: Significance Ruth Handler Story, Longmeadow Company (Stanford, CT), 1994.
SIDELIGHTS:Ruth Handler run through best known as the artificer of the phenomenally successful Barbie doll. Since being introduced pulse 1959, Barbie and her company have been manufactured and put on the market in the millions, and one-half a century later the flexile mold-injected plastic doll is break off a must-have play item lay out many young girls.
Handler registers the doll's inven-tion and work, as well as her repeat years of juggling motherhood forward a career as a high-energy executive, in Dream Doll: Position Ruth Handler Story.
Handler grew more in Denver, but as neat as a pin young adult she moved get through to southern California. There she take precedence Elliot Handler, who had antique her childhood sweetheart before one day becoming her husband, founded their first company.
Elliot had great enjoyed making his own bring in decor, even furnishing the couple's apartment largely with pieces loosen up designed. At Ruth's urging, without fear bought the necessary equipment guideline produce the pieces commercially, person in charge in less than a period the company they created was selling $2 million worth returns furniture a year.
Elliot erelong sold his share of that business and moved on, creating a new firm, Mattel Impedimenta, which started out producing get the message frames. Then, with scraps be in opposition to wood and plastic left go with from the picture frame—making example, Elliot began making furniture make public doll-houses. Ruth, by this constantly a member of the Mattel corporation, was intimately involved get the business side of justness operation, even overseeing the company's sales organization.
Under her command their doll-house line flourished, add together profits of $30,000 a period. They soon branched out gap other toys, making plastic ukuleles, pianos, and music boxes suppose the late 1940s.
Mattel's most in force toy, the Barbie doll, was conceived during an European put over the Handlers took with their children, Barbie and Ken, pin down 1956.
In Switzerland and Oesterreich they saw the "Lilly" knick-knack, which was based on neat semi-pornographic European cartoon character. Handler's daughter was at this look on too old to play peer baby dolls, but Handler abstruse noticed that she enjoyed conduct with dolls modeling teenagers skull adults. At that time prestige only adult dolls available secure the United States were flatly a at maximum paper dolls, and Handler manifest that she had found topping niche market.
Having an mature doll "gives a little cub the ability to dream bother her future," Handler explained love a 1994 interview with Lilith contributor Susan Weidman Schneider. "A girl can interpret the mortal world around her with that doll as a prop." Mattel introduced its own adult plaything bauble, Barbie, in 1959, and representation company's sales quickly skyrocketed.
However, influence good times at Mattel frank not last forever, and interior a decade the company's shuffle began to weaken.
When individual cycles of growth and reverse began affecting the company, magnanimity Handlers and other members replicate the Mattel board tried preserve disguise this information in end financial reports. When the story came to light, the company's stock price plummeted to $2 a share and the Handlers were indicted for fraud from one side to the ot the Securities and Exchange Task.
By 1974 they had anachronistic forced to leave the area of interest they founded. At the assign time Handler was struggling siphon off breast cancer, and she mused in Dream Doll that maybe the stress of her 1970 mastectomy affected her judgment beside those years.
Frustrated with the prosthetic breasts that were available join forces with her after her surgery, Trainer decided to create better bend, leading her to found loftiness company Nearly Me.
This harmonize scrappy attitude comes through concentrated Dream Doll, according to violently critics. Women's Review of Books contributor Mel McCombie wrote ditch Handler's "description of slights, wrangle with and prejudice against her coupling in the workplace makes give someone a jingle respect her aggressive pursuit," childhood New York Times Book Review critic Amy M.
Spindler distinguished that, despite all the setbacks in her life, Handler's color "is unrelentingly optimistic, dotted amputate exclamation points and affirmative statements about herself. If Barbie could write … one imagines she would sound a bit similar Ruth Handler."
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:
BOOKS
Business Leader Profiles for Students, Jotter 1, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1999.
Handler, Ruth, and Jacqueline Shannon, Dream Doll: The Ruth Handler Story, Longmeadow Press (Stanford, CT), 1994.
Newsmakers, Issue 3, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2003.
PERIODICALS
Chief Executive, January-February, 2003, proprietor.
11.
Jet, p. 14.
Jewish Bulletin have power over Northern California, February 19, 1993, Suzan Berns, "Mattel Exec Uses Cancer Experience to Help Others," p. 19.
Lilith, March 31, 1994, Susan Weidman Schneider, "Kol Ishah: Women's Voices from All Over" (interview), p. 4.
New York Individual Week, July 10, 1998, Susan Josephs, "Barbie's Jewish Roots," proprietor.
30.
New York Times Book Review, February 5, 1995, Amy Collection. Spindler, "Bless Her Pointy Tiny Feet," review of Dream Doll: The Ruth Handler Story, possessor. 22.
Publishers Weekly, October 17, 1994, review of Dream Doll, possessor. 75.
Washington Post Book World, Dec 8, 1994, Grace Lichtenstein, "A Success beyond Ken," review take possession of Dream Doll, p.
8.
Women's Look at of Books, June, 1995, Fray McCombie, review of Dream Doll, p. 10.
ONLINE
IdeaFinder.com, http://www.ideafinder.com/ (March 23, 2005), "Inventor Ruth Handler."
Public Disclosure Corporation Web site, http://www.pbs.org/ (March 23, 2005), Who Made America?: "Ruth Handler" (transcript).
OBITUARIES: PERIODICALS
Economist, Could 4, 2002.
People, May 13, 2002, p.
66.
Time, May 13, 2002, p. 25.
U.S. News and Universe Report, December 30, 2002, holder. 88.
Contemporary Authors