The Mattel Scandal: How Barbie’s Creator Lost Her Own Toy Empire
Old Money Documentaries
11,070 views
In this video, we explore Ruth Handler, the daughter of Polish-Jewish immigrants who co-founded Mattel, created Barbie and built one of the biggest toy companies in the world, only to be forced out of her own empire in a financial scandal that ended with a federal indictment.
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Gain FREE access to secret full-length documentaries on wealthy families "too scandalous for YouTube" by joining our newsletter: https://www.substack.com/@oldmoneyluxury
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Ruth Marianna Mosko was born on November 4, 1916, in Denver, Colorado, the youngest of ten children of Polish-Jewish immigrants. When she was just six months old, she went to live with her older sister Sarah, and she stayed with her until she was 19.
In 1932 she met an art student named Izzy Handler. While still at the University of Denver, Ruth spent a summer in Los Angeles and found work at Paramount Studios. The couple married in 1938, and she encouraged him to use his middle name, Elliot.
Elliot began making furniture and decorative pieces from new plastics like Lucite and Plexiglas. At Ruth's urging, they turned it into a business, with Ruth handling sales and landing contracts that included work for Douglas Aircraft.
In 1945 they joined with the businessman Harold "Matt" Matson. The company's name, Mattel, combined Matson and Elliot. Elliot later admitted they could not find a way to fit Ruth's name in, even though she would become its president and driving force.
When wartime sales fell, Mattel began making doll furniture, and its success led the company fully into toys. Its first big hit was the Uke-A-Doodle, a plastic ukulele for children, in 1947. In 1955 the Handlers took a huge gamble, committing $500,000 to sponsor Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Club, a sum said to be about equal to the company's entire net worth at the time.
The gamble paid off, giving Mattel national exposure on television. But Ruth's greatest idea came from watching her daughter, Barbara, play with paper dolls and imagine adult lives.
Ruth believed girls wanted a doll that looked like a grown woman. In 1956, on a trip to Europe with Barbara and her son Kenneth, she came across Bild Lilli, a German doll. With the help of designer Jack Ryan, Mattel reworked the concept and named it Barbie, after her daughter.
Barbie made her debut on March 9, 1959, at the American International Toy Fair in New York, priced at $3. About 300,000 dolls sold in the first year. Barbie's boyfriend, Ken, was named after the Handlers' son.
Barbie turned Mattel into a giant. The company kept expanding with new hits, including Hot Wheels. Ruth served as president from 1945 to 1975 and became one of the most powerful women in American business.
Then, in 1970, Ruth was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a modified radical mastectomy. At the same time, Mattel was struggling with slowing sales, the loss of a factory in Mexico to fire and a shipping strike in Asia that disrupted supplies.
To keep the company looking strong, Mattel reported orders as sales, even though many had been cancelled or never shipped. For two years in the early 1970s, it issued false and misleading financial reports, and in 1974 it acknowledged that it had overstated revenue and income.
The Securities and Exchange Commission investigated. Ruth and Elliot were removed as co-chairs of the board, and in October 1975 they resigned as directors of the company they had founded. That November, Mattel agreed to pay $30 million to settle five shareholder class-action lawsuits.
In February 1978 a federal grand jury indicted Ruth Handler, three other former Mattel officers and a supervisor on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and making false statements to the SEC. Ruth insisted she was innocent, but she pleaded no contest.
She was fined $57,000 and sentenced to 2,500 hours of community service. She later said her illness had left her unfocused on the business during the crucial years.
Ruth rebuilt her life with a second company. Frustrated by the poor breast prostheses available after her surgery, she created Nearly Me, a realistic prosthesis for women who had had mastectomies, and travelled the country fitting customers and speaking about early detection.
Ruth Handler died on April 27, 2002, at the age of 85. Barbie went on to become one of the most famous toys ever made, and Mattel remains one of the largest toy companies in the world.
The central question is whether Ruth Handler was a visionary pushed aside by a scandal she did not fully control, or a founder whose drive to keep Mattel growing helped destroy her place in the company she built.
This is the story of Ruth Handler, the woman who created Barbie, and how she lost the toy empire that made her famous.
#RuthHandler #Barbie #OldMoneyDocumentaries
8 Comments
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The Mattel Scandal: How Barbie’s Creator Lost Her Own Toy Empire
Old Money Documentaries
11,070 views
In this video, we explore Ruth Handler, the daughter of Polish-Jewish immigrants who co-founded Mattel, created Barbie and built one of the biggest toy companies in the world, only to be forced out of her own empire in a financial scandal that ended with a federal indictment.
-------------------
Gain FREE access to secret full-length documentaries on wealthy families "too scandalous for YouTube" by joining our newsletter: https://www.substack.com/@oldmoneyluxury
-------------------
Ruth Marianna Mosko was born on November 4, 1916, in Denver, Colorado, the youngest of ten children of Polish-Jewish immigrants. When she was just six months old, she went to live with her older sister Sarah, and she stayed with her until she was 19.
In 1932 she met an art student named Izzy Handler. While still at the University of Denver, Ruth spent a summer in Los Angeles and found work at Paramount Studios. The couple married in 1938, and she encouraged him to use his middle name, Elliot.
Elliot began making furniture and decorative pieces from new plastics like Lucite and Plexiglas. At Ruth's urging, they turned it into a business, with Ruth handling sales and landing contracts that included work for Douglas Aircraft.
In 1945 they joined with the businessman Harold "Matt" Matson. The company's name, Mattel, combined Matson and Elliot. Elliot later admitted they could not find a way to fit Ruth's name in, even though she would become its president and driving force.
When wartime sales fell, Mattel began making doll furniture, and its success led the company fully into toys. Its first big hit was the Uke-A-Doodle, a plastic ukulele for children, in 1947. In 1955 the Handlers took a huge gamble, committing $500,000 to sponsor Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Club, a sum said to be about equal to the company's entire net worth at the time.
The gamble paid off, giving Mattel national exposure on television. But Ruth's greatest idea came from watching her daughter, Barbara, play with paper dolls and imagine adult lives.
Ruth believed girls wanted a doll that looked like a grown woman. In 1956, on a trip to Europe with Barbara and her son Kenneth, she came across Bild Lilli, a German doll. With the help of designer Jack Ryan, Mattel reworked the concept and named it Barbie, after her daughter.
Barbie made her debut on March 9, 1959, at the American International Toy Fair in New York, priced at $3. About 300,000 dolls sold in the first year. Barbie's boyfriend, Ken, was named after the Handlers' son.
Barbie turned Mattel into a giant. The company kept expanding with new hits, including Hot Wheels. Ruth served as president from 1945 to 1975 and became one of the most powerful women in American business.
Then, in 1970, Ruth was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a modified radical mastectomy. At the same time, Mattel was struggling with slowing sales, the loss of a factory in Mexico to fire and a shipping strike in Asia that disrupted supplies.
To keep the company looking strong, Mattel reported orders as sales, even though many had been cancelled or never shipped. For two years in the early 1970s, it issued false and misleading financial reports, and in 1974 it acknowledged that it had overstated revenue and income.
The Securities and Exchange Commission investigated. Ruth and Elliot were removed as co-chairs of the board, and in October 1975 they resigned as directors of the company they had founded. That November, Mattel agreed to pay $30 million to settle five shareholder class-action lawsuits.
In February 1978 a federal grand jury indicted Ruth Handler, three other former Mattel officers and a supervisor on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and making false statements to the SEC. Ruth insisted she was innocent, but she pleaded no contest.
She was fined $57,000 and sentenced to 2,500 hours of community service. She later said her illness had left her unfocused on the business during the crucial years.
Ruth rebuilt her life with a second company. Frustrated by the poor breast prostheses available after her surgery, she created Nearly Me, a realistic prosthesis for women who had had mastectomies, and travelled the country fitting customers and speaking about early detection.
Ruth Handler died on April 27, 2002, at the age of 85. Barbie went on to become one of the most famous toys ever made, and Mattel remains one of the largest toy companies in the world.
The central question is whether Ruth Handler was a visionary pushed aside by a scandal she did not fully control, or a founder whose drive to keep Mattel growing helped destroy her place in the company she built.
This is the story of Ruth Handler, the woman who created Barbie, and how she lost the toy empire that made her famous.
#RuthHandler #Barbie #OldMoneyDocumentaries
Gain FREE access to secret full-length documentaries on wealthy families "too scandalous for YouTube" by joining our newsletter: https://www.substack.com/@oldmoneyluxury