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When did Ruth Handler die?
April 27, 2002Ruth Handler / Date of deathShe 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. Her husband Elliot died nine years later at the age of 95.
What happened to Ruth Handler after she left Mattel?
Handler helped run Mattel for 30 years, until she and her husband, then co-chair of the company, resigned in 1975. She survived breast cancer and embarked on a second career, starting a company that made prosthetic breasts for cancer survivors. She died in 2002.
Is the creator of Barbie still alive?
Ruth Handler (November 4, 1916–April 27, 2002) was an American inventor who created the iconic Barbie doll in 1959 (the doll was named after Handler's daughter Barbara).
What are three interesting facts about Ruth Handler?
She was named the Women of the Year in Business in Los Angeles Times and was included in the Toy Industry Hall of Fame by Toy Manufacturers of America. She also received the 'Volunteer Achievement Award' by the America Cancer Society. She was the first ever 'Woman of Distinction' of the United Jewish Appeal.
What was Barbie's original name?
Barbara Millicent RobertsBarbie, in full Barbara Millicent Roberts, an 11-inch- (29-cm-) tall plastic doll with the figure of an adult woman that was introduced on March 9, 1959, by Mattel, Inc., a southern California toy company.
What is Barbie's full name?
Barbara Millicent RobertsIn March 1959, a doll named "Barbie" launched onto the American toy market, sporting a black-and-white striped bathing suit, pouty red lips and a sassy blonde pony tail. The leggy, 11-inch plastic figure—full name: Barbara Millicent Roberts—was the first mass-produced toy doll in the U.S. with adult features.
Did Barbie and Ken break up?
Barbie broke up with Ken on Valentine's Day in 2004. To impress Barbie, Ken got a makeover from stylist Phillip Bloch in 2006. Barbie and Ken got back together in 2011. In 2010, Ken starred in Toy Story 3.
Is Barbie 85 years old?
Barbie –also known as Barbara Millicent Roberts– was created by Ruth Handler who named her after her daughter. She was first manufactured in March 1959, which makes her 56-years old!
How old is Barbie now?
Barbie age Barbie is frozen at 19, according to Mattel Toys, and appears as a young adult in her movies and series. Of course, the fashion doll itself is much, MUCH older than that.
When did Barbie get bendable legs?
Between 1967 and 1972 Barbie dolls entered into Mod era: 1967-1968 (Barbie Twist 'n Turn) – First Barbie model that started Mod Barbie era. It featured rooted eyelashes, bendable legs, and waist that can be twisted and turned.
What does the name Barbie mean?
1. a plastic doll made in the image of a conventionally attractive, slim, and shapely young woman or girl, specif., such a woman or girl with blond hair, blue eyes, fair skin, etc. noun. 2. Informal.
How did Barbie get her name?
Barbie was named after Ruth Handler's daughter, Barbara, and Ken after her son, Kenneth. She is from (fictional) Willows, Wisconsin, where she attended high school. Barbie's official birthday is March 9, 1959, the day she was unveiled to the toy industry during New York Toy Fair.
Is Ruth Handler alive?
April 27, 2002Ruth Handler / Date of death
Did Ruth Handler get any awards?
AWARDS, HONORS: Outstanding Businesswoman, National Association of Accountants, 1961; (with husband Elliot Handler) Couple of the Year, City Hope, 1963; Woman of the Year in Business, Los Angeles Times, 1968; Outstanding Woman, Ladies' Home Journal, 1971; Advertising Woman of the Year, Western States Advertising ...
What was Ruth handlers early life like?
The first part of Ruth Handler's life is a succession of challenges. Born Ruth Moskowicz in Denver, Colorado, in 1916, she and her family were Polish Jews who had earlier immigrated to the United States. The youngest of 10 children, she could not attend university and initially found work as a secretary.
Did Ruth Handler have children?
Barbara HandlerKenneth HandlerRuth Handler/Children
Who was Ruth Mosko?
Born Ruth Mosko, she was the youngest of 10 children of Polish immigrants who settled in Denver. Her father was a blacksmith who deserted the Russian army. Her mother, who was illiterate, arrived in the United States in the steerage section of a steamship. Her mother’s health was so frail that Handler was raised by an older sister.
What did Ruth make for Elliot?
When Elliot made some simple housewares to furnish their apartment, Ruth persuaded him to produce more for sale. They bought some workshop equipment from Sears and launched a giftware business in their garage, making items such as bowls, mirrors and clocks out of plastic. With Ruth showing the product line to local stores, sales reached $2 million within a few years.
How much of the toy market did Mattel control?
By 1966, Handler was 50 and Mattel ruled the highly competitive toy world: It controlled 12% of the $2-billion toy market in the United States. “I had my career, my husband, my children, Barbie and Ken, and I was on top of the world,” Handler recalled.
Why did Betty Ford fit her blouse?
She fit former First Lady Betty Ford after her mastectomy. Her aggressive tactics included talk-show appearances and handwritten invitations to breast cancer patients. She also had what she called her “strip act”: She would remove her blouse to demonstrate that no one could feel or see the difference between her real and prosthetic breast. She was pictured in People magazine yanking open her blouse to flaunt her bosom.
When did the actress tell USA Today she was never able to get back in?
The experience was so unnerving, she told USA Today in 1994, that “I was never able to get back in and grab hold of things as I should have.”
Did Barbie bother artists?
Even artists’ tortured interpretations of Barbie didn’t bother her. “More power to them,” said Handler, who kept a gold-plated Barbie in her Century City high-rise.
How did Ruth Handler die?
She died of complications from colon surgery she had undergone three months ago.
When did Elliot Handler marry?
Her high school boyfriend, Elliot Handler, followed her west, and they married in 1938.
Who was Ruth Mosko?
Born Ruth Mosko, she was the youngest of 10 children of Polish immigrants who settled in Denver. Her father was a blacksmith who deserted the Russian army. Her mother was an illiterate woman who arrived in the United States in the steerage section of a steamship. Her mother's health was so frail that Mrs. Handler was raised by an older sister.
How many women did Betty Ford fit into department stores?
She led a sales team of eight middle-aged women, most of whom had had breast cancer, into department stores, where they fitted women and trained sales staffs. She fit former first lady Betty Ford after her mastectomy. Her marketing tactics included talk-show appearances and handwritten invitations to breast cancer patients.
Ruth Handler Death
Ruth passed away on April 27, 2002 at the age of 85 in Los Angeles, CA. Ruth's cause of death was complications from surgery.
Ruth Handler Birthday and Date of Death
Ruth Handler was born on November 4, 1916 and died on April 27, 2002. Ruth was 85 years old at the time of death.
Ruth Handler - Biography
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., and is best remembered for inventing the Barbie doll.
Who is Ruth Handler?
Ruth Handler (November 4, 1916–April 27, 2002) was an American inventor who created the iconic Barbie doll in 1959 (the doll was named after Handler's daughter Barbara).
Who are the founders of Mattel?
Mattell founders Ruth and Elliot Handler with a Barbie doll. Courtesy of Mattel
What was Mattel's first product?
Matson soon sold his share of the company, so the Handlers, Ruth and Elliot, took full control. Mattel's first products were picture frames. However, Elliot eventually started making dollhouse furniture from picture frame scraps. That proved to be such a success that Mattel switched to making nothing but toys. Mattel's first big-seller was the "Uke-a-doodle," a toy ukulele. It was the first in the line of musical toys.
What was Ruth Handler's company name?
She was successfully treated for it, and after her recovery, formed a company by the name of “Ruthton Corp” to manufacture realistic looking breast implants named “Nearly Me”. Ruth Handler died during surgery for colon cancer in 2002 at the age of 85.
What doll did Ruth make?
Ruth suggested making a plastic doll with a realistic body but her suggestion was shot down. Elliot and other company executives were concerned that parents would be unwilling to let their daughters play with a doll that had a “voluptuous” figure. However, while on vacation in Europe, Ruth saw an adult German doll named Lilli with the same features that she had been hoping to introduce in her doll. She came home and redesigned her doll, including some of the features she had seen in Lilli. She named this doll “Barbie” after her daughter Barbara’s nickname.
What doll did Ruth see in Lilli?
However, while on vacation in Europe, Ruth saw an adult German doll named Lilli with the same features that she had been hoping to introduce in her doll. She came home and redesigned her doll, including some of the features she had seen in Lilli. She named this doll “Barbie” after her daughter Barbara’s nickname.
When did Ruth's son die?
Ruth's son Ken died in 1994. She is survived by her husband and daughter.
What is Ruth's prosthetic?
Ruth's product, the Nearly Me prosthetic, was liquid silicone in polyurethane with a foam backing; it came in lefts and rights ("there has never been a shoemaker who made one shoe and forced you to put both your right and your left foot in it") and normal bra sizes, so real that "a woman could wear a regular brassiere, stick her chest out and be proud".
What was Ruth's Barbie's motto?
On the official Barbie website on the day of Ruth's death, the motto on the parents' page was "Today's play, tomorrow's career", beside pictures of both black and white Doctor Barbies, and a note that medicine would be better when there was "gender parity in the profession". Everybody could vote for "Barbie's new career - librarian, architect or policewoman?" As culture commentator Michelle Erica Green wrote of Barbie: "what other woman has come so close to having it all?"
What were the dolls called in the 1940s?
They called their toy company Mattel; Matt as in Mattson and El as in Elliot. Mattel was in harmony with the new US kiddie culture with the Uke-A-Doodle, a child-sized ukulele, and the Burp gun, detonating caps, the first toy to be marketed on television beyond the Christmas season.
