You may wonder where Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie who created one of the world’s most famous dolls, is today.
Barbie is directed by Greta Gerwig and stars Margot Robert as Barbie (also known as Stereotypical Barbie) as she leaves Barbieland to learn about the harsh, cruel and sexist reality of the real life. Ryan Gosling plays Ken, or “Beach Ken”, Barbie’s lover. I think the film is humanist before anything else. Gerwig, in 2023, told Rolling Stone that Barbie is completely integrated with her environment in Barbieland. Even the houses don’t have walls because you can never hide, as there is nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of. “And suddenly, finding yourself in real life and wishing that you could hide is the essence of human being.”
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Barbie and Ruth
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She added, “But when we actually shot on Venice Beach with Margot in neon rollerblading attire, it was fascinating because this was happening right in front of us. They would walk by Ryan and high-five him. They’d say things like, “Awesome Ryan, you look fantastic!” But they never said anything to Margot. They would just stare at her. It was surreal. She did feel self-conscious in that moment. As a director, I was trying to protect her. But I knew the scene that we were filming had to be one where she felt vulnerable. She was exposed as both a woman and a celebrity. Ryan did say, “I wish I was not wearing this vest. But it was another kind of discomfort.”
Barbie concludes with a scene where Ruth Handler introduces herself to the audience as Barbie’s inventor. Who is Ruth Handler from Barbie, and where has she gone? What do you know about Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie?
Ruth Handler is a Barbie character.
BARBIE, Margot Robbie as Barbie, 2023
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES.JAAP BUITENDIJK /WARNER BROS. /COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION
Ruth Handler is the creator of Barbie. Ruth Handler, played by RheaPerlman, was the original creator of Barbie. Ruth first appears when Barbie is trying to escape Mattel’s headquarters. She comes across a kitchen set where Ruth is, but Barbie does not know who she was at the time. Ruth leads Barbie to an escape route, which is how she flees the Mattel CEO’s employees. Ruth is revealed to be the Mattel co-founder who created Barbie at the end of this movie.
Who is Ruth Handler, exactly? Ruth Marianna Handler (full name Ruth Marianna Handler) founded Mattel Creations, a toy manufacturer, in January 1945 in Los Angeles with her husband Elliot Handler and Harold “Matt” Matson. Mattel is a combination of Matson and Elliot. The company began by selling scraps of picture frames, and then dollhouse furniture made from these frames. Matson sold the Handlers his stake in the company a year after Mattel’s founding. Ruth took over Matson’s stake. Mattel’s first toy was a ukulele named “Uke-A-Doodle”, which it launched in 1947.
Mattel released its first Barbie doll in March 1959. Ruth is credited with the invention of Barbie, Mattel’s best-selling toy. The doll was named Barbara after Ruth and Elliot’s daughter. Ruth’s inspiration for Barbie can be attributed to two different stories. Ruth is said to have found a doll in Europe that resembled an adult woman. This was a contrast to the popular baby dolls of that time. Ruth reportedly found a German Bild Lilli adult-gag gift and transformed it into Barbie. Ruth was inspired to make a toy three-dimensional version of paper dolls after seeing her daughter Barbara play with them. Barbie became an instant hit, with more than 350,000 dolls sold in its first year. In 1961, Mattel introduced a Barbie doll companion named Ken (named for Ruth and Elliott’s son).
Handler said in an interview in 1994 with Lillith that Barbie and Ken are named after her children and that the dolls were inspired in part by the paper dolls that her daughter used play with. The dolls were named after my children. “Barbie and Ken,” she told me at the time. Barbie used to love playing with paper dolls. I remember going to the dime shop with her every Saturday. She always bought teenage dolls and never babies or children’s dolls. She and her friends would play with them for hours. I listened as they projected their futures with their dolls.”
She said that Barbie’s more adult features (and the idea of having her wear different outfits), were inspired by her trip to Europe with her children. “Finally when Barbara was old enough to play with dolls — 12 or 13 years old — we took the kids to Europe. “We were walking along a street in Lucerne when we saw a window display of dolls that looked like women with adult bodies,” said the woman. They were dressed in ski clothes and called Lilly from an European cartoon. There were four or five different styles of ski suits. Barbara was having a difficult time choosing one of the ski outfits to decorate her room. “I asked if I could buy them separately, and got the ‘crazy American reaction’.”
Ruth went on to say, “In Vienna the story was the same with the Lilly dolly–with an all-new ski outfit that we had not seen in Switzerland. I decided to buy it myself. Barbara never got the dolls. I used them as models to demonstrate to our people what I meant when I said an adult teenaged doll. The idea of having a doll with breasts wasn’t well received. The majority of buyers [for the stores] were male, and many didn’t believe that women would want a doll with breasts for their daughters! They didn’t even want such a doll for their daughters! When we first sent out the doll, it flew off the shelves.”
Ruth defended herself as well against parents who initially criticized Barbie for her adult-like body. She said that “Parental politics did not influence their decisions.” “A mother recognized the potential of the doll to provide a play pattern for her daughter. It gives millions and millions little girls a valuable play experience. A little girl can dream about the future. This doll can be used to help a girl understand the world of adults around her.
Ruth responded at the same time to criticism that Barbie’s physique was idealized and not suitable for women. “When I first introduced Barbie, I was against her being too beautiful or having a distinct personality. “I understood that little girls wanted to imagine themselves in their dreams,” said she. “I don’t respond to feminist criticism. “The fact that Barbie is so beloved speaks for itself.”
Ruth Handler: Where are you now?
Ruth Handler
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
Where is Ruth Handler? Ruth Handler resigned in 1974 from Mattel after several investigations of fraudulent financial reports. Ruth and several other Mattel executives were indicted in 1978 by a federal Grand Jury and charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with fraud and false reports. She was fined $57,000 for pleading no contestant and sentenced to perform 2,500 hours community service.
In an interview in 2023 with USA Today, Robin Gerber (author of Barbie and Ruth: the Story of the World’s Most Famous Doll and The Woman Who Created Her) explained that Ruth designed Barbie to be a more sophisticated doll for girls. Gerber explained that Ruth saw little girls wanting to pretend to be big girls. She described it as a doll that allowed girls to pretend to be anything they wanted.
Is Ruth Handler still alive?
Ruth Handler
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
Is Ruth Handler still alive? No. Ruth died on April 27, 2002, due to surgical complications caused by her colon cancer. She was 85. Elliot passed away nine years later, in 2011. He was 95.
Ruth died more than 30 year after being diagnosed with breast carcinoma in 1970. She had undergone a modified radical mastectomy. Ruth made her own breast prosthesis after struggling to find one. Ruthton Corp. later produced a more realistic breast prosthesis called “Nearly Me”. It was so popular, that Betty Ford, the First Lady, who had a mastectomy performed in 1974, received a personal fitting for one. In 1994, she told Lillith that her life was a series going from breast-to-breast after developing “Nearly Me”, the first doll with breasts for adults. When the women who bought Nearly Me learned that I created Barbie, they were ecstatic. It surprised me. Barbie was a major influence in the growing-up years of many girls.
Gerber said in 2023 to USA Today that Handler hired almost exclusively women who underwent mastectomies. She also used silicone and foam when designing “Nearly Me”, so the design was both comfortable and confident-boosting. In the early 1970s, breast cancer was a stigma that made women feel guilty. Gerber explained that it was kept a secret from friends. She went to big companies such as Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales and told them to create a special salon for women with mastectomies. They would be fitted and treated with respect. “In the early 1970s, breast cancer patients were treated as criminals. The truth was kept from friends. She approached major companies such as Neiman Marcus or Bloomingdales and told them, “You must set up a separate spa for women who have had mastectomies. They will be fitted and treated with respect.”
She went on to say, “She was very clear about wanting not only to give women a good product, but also give them their dignity back.”
Greta Gerwig who directed Barbie 2023 called Handler’s “Nearly Me”, Handler’s invention, “poetic” as well as “beautiful”, in an interview in 2023 with USA Today. Gerwig stated that Handler invented inserts for bras you can wear after a double mastectomy to feel like you. “That was beautiful and poetic.” Barbie is often held up as a kind of unrealistic ideal, impossible to attain for mortals. “I thought that was so interesting, because the woman who made her went through such a physical transformation.
Gerwig noted that “Nearly Me”, a song from the movie “Barbie”, is a reminder to “Barbie was something invented.” (Handler is not Barbie. Margot is not Barbie. Nobody’s Barbie.”
How much money was Ruth Handler worth?
Ruth Handler
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Ruth Handler had a net worth of $100 million when she died.
Photo: Courtesy of H
Barbie and Ruth: the Story of the World’s Most Famous Doll, and the Woman who Created It
Barbie and Ruth
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Robin Gerber’s book Barbie and Ruth, The Story of the World’s Most Famous Doll and the Women Who Created It, published in 2010, will give you more information about Barbie. Publisher’s Weekly called the book a “stirring biographie” and a fine study of success, resilience and Ruth Handler’s true story. It follows the true story of Mattel founder Ruth Handler who invented Barbie. The publisher describes the book as “a fascinating account about how one visionary women and her product changed an entire industry and ignited a debate on women’s role.”
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