https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0 By Obin Gerber en-us 2022-02-04 17:25:44 UTC 2022-04-02 06:57:14 UTC hello@padlet.com perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2077410078 Ruth Handler arrived in New York in 1959. She has been told for 7 years that the doll she created (Barbie) was a terrible idea. Before the toy fair started, the media ignored Ruth's doll. Handler used her daughter as an idea for the doll. She made barbie an adult woman doll. Handler used her kids names, Barbara (barbie) and Ken, for her dolls. 

"Ruth Handler could sell anything. in 1959 she arrived in New York for the nation's Toy Fair, confident that she would sell a new doll she had created" (Pg. 1).]]> 2022-03-04 06:17:03 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2077410078 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2083456734 The doll was taken to Japan. Manufacturers said the doll looked mean and had sharp eyebrows. In the 1950's, Goodrich discovered a form of powered PVC which worked well in rotation molding. PVC = Polyvinyl Chloride. Japanese and American standards were quite different, especially with the dolls. 

"'We were so pumped by Ruth's enthusiasm, we became believers,' said one of the sales representatives who was at the 1959 Toy Fair" (Pg. 17).]]> 2022-03-08 07:29:47 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2083456734 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2091363155 Untapped New York, et al. “The Barbie Doll Was Released at a Toy Fair in New York 62 Years Ago.” Untapped New York, 7 May 2021, https://untappedcities.com/2021/03/08/barbie-doll-toy-fair-new-york-city-1959/. 

The Barbie doll was released in 1959 and is still in production.]]> 2022-03-12 04:26:24 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2091363155 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2097315716 The quote discusses Judaism being a big part of the side Elliot grew up on.

"Nicholas I started the draft of Jews in 1827 in a scheme to force assimilation and stamp out Judaism, a campaign augmented in the next century by vicious attacks on Jewish communities" (Pg. 21).


]]> 2022-03-16 04:45:41 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2097315716 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2106846571 Ruth received a Ford coupe for her 16th birthday.

"Her great rendezvous with love happened on Welton Street in 1932 during an unusually warm November. Just turned sixteen, Ruth was cruising downtown Denver behind the wheel of her birthday present from Sarah and Louie: a brand-new three-window Ford coupe" (Pg. 29).]]> 2022-03-22 06:06:30 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2106846571 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2108939054 Ruth and Elliot got married in 1938. Elliot was Ruth's high school boyfriend.

"The young man who had caught Ruth's eye was Isadore Elliot Handler, though friends called him Izzy. He came from the Jewish neighborhood on the west side of town, an area less affluent and considered rougher than the east side, where Ruth lived. Elliot belonged to a gang of sorts called the Gigolos, mostly Jewish friends and a few Italians" (Pg 31).

]]> 2022-03-23 04:19:01 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2108939054 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2108942318 Ruth enrolled at the University of Denver. Unconventionally planned to work as a lawyer. She left Sarah and Louie and worked in the chancellor's office as a stenographer.

"After her high school graduation in 1934, Ruth enrolled at the University of Denver, announcing her unconventional plan to become a lawyer. She continued to work for Sarah and Louie, but when President Franklin Roosevelt signed the National Youth Administration Act in 1935, providing money to employ young people, she got a job in the chancellor's office as a stenographer" (Pg. 35).]]> 2022-03-23 04:22:02 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2108942318 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2120969246 The toy fair is like a competition between all the toy-producing companies. All producers want to grab attention to their product and outsell all other items. The Barbie doll has doubts.

"After the success of 1945, a company that had more detailed furniture at a cheaper price had overtaken Mattel. Shifting from dollhouse furniture, Mattel rushed a Birdy Bank and a Make-Believe Makeup Set to market. Working 1946 with a profit" (Pg. 43)]]> 2022-03-30 07:37:19 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2120969246 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2120972042 Ruth took samples of the Uke-A-Doodle to Butler Brothers'. Butler Brothers' franchised the chain of many Ben Franklin retail variety stores. 

"Three months before the March 1947 Toy Fair, without consulting her new distributors, Ruth took samples of the Uke-A-Doodle to Butler Brothers' Los Angeles office. The wholesale giant, based in Chicago, franchised the chain of nearly three thousand Ben Franklin retail variety stores. They also acted as jobbers, or middlemen, buying in large quantities of toys and then supplying different stores around the country" (Pg. 73)]]> 2022-03-30 07:39:06 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2120972042 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2120974025 Butler Brothers' department store in LA. Ruth took samples of the Uke-A-Doodle to one of the Butler Brothers' establishments.
https://tessa.lapl.org/cdm/ref/collection/photos/id/43471]]> 2022-03-30 07:40:24 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2120974025 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2120978277 Competitors make it hard to advertise and bring Barbie forward. Ruth announced $125,000 would be devoted to Barbie's launch.

"At every Toy Fair since 1955, when the Burp Gun launched, Mattel built on its successful entry into television. 'Remember the Burp Gun' was the rallying cry in 1956. By 1959 Mattel had announced a million dollar annual budget for advertising. In the weeks leading up to the Toy Fair, Ruth announced that an extra $125,000 would be devoted to Barbie's launch" (Pg. 108).]]> 2022-03-30 07:43:09 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2120978277 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2122141139 Barbie's launch failed in the spring of 1950. Ruth named the Barbie doll after her daughter, Barbara. Barbara announced she would marry Allen M. Segal after she graduated from high school.

"For Ruth, the spring of 1950 was grim. The Barbie doll had failed to catch on the way Ruth had hoped, and the doll's names-sake, her daughter, Barbara, was determined to leave home prematurely Only eighteen years old, Barbara announced her plans to marry Allen M. Segal after she graduated from high school" (Pg. 109).]]> 2022-03-30 18:59:43 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2122141139 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2122145120 Another competitor Ruth had to look out for was were the Hassenfeld brothers. 

"Just before the 1964 Toy Fair, Mattel executives squeezed into a small company conference room to look over the toy a rival company hoped would compete with the Barbie doll. The Hassenfeld brothers, whose toy company would later be renamed Hasbro was riding on the muscular physique of an eleven-and a half-inch toy that executives swore never to call a doll" (Pg. 119).]]> 2022-03-30 19:02:41 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2122145120 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2122148372 Boyd Browne describes what working at Mattel was like. The higher you went, the better the conditions and working environment were. 

"Ruth was willing to let her team try new thing. Boyd Browne, who started in 1959 as a manager for safety and security, had ten jobs in sixteen years at Mattel. 'I came from RCA, where everything was by the book. At one level you had one pen, one desk. At another level you got a shared office, then an office with a half wall. At the top you got an enclosed room. Mattel was the opposite. Whatever had to be done, you did it' " (Pg. 125).]]> 2022-03-30 19:04:43 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2122148372 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2126103261 Gerber, Robin. Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her. Harper, 2010. ]]> 2022-04-01 23:17:30 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2126103261 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2126105432 Prices/advertisement for the 1964 Toy Fair. 'Barbie Dream House' was the lowest-priced toy on the list. Hosted in Delaware Plaza, Delmar USA.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Falbanygroup%2F13315597555&psig=AOvVaw3oUcDYzHPLkLeOhJVyYMzP&ust=1648941545375000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCLif0IuA9PYCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD (Website blocked)]]> 2022-04-01 23:21:59 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2126105432 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2126248682 https://ourcommunitynow.com/local-culture/our-coloradans-then-elliot-and-ruth-handler-the-creators-of-your-childhood

Photo of Elliot and Ruth Handler


]]> 2022-04-02 04:15:40 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2126248682 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2126283250 In New York City in 1968, a large ballroom in a hotel was prepared for Mattel's marketing department. They hosted a private show for toy dealers, wholesalers, jobbers and retailers. 50% of the sales for toy companies came from toys that didn't exist the year before. Every company struggled to make their toys stand out in the market. ]]> 2022-04-02 06:05:42 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2126283250 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2126287882 Ruth became the president of Mattel in 1967. Though she was still injured, she was eager to work and expand Mattel.

"In the early months of 1970, Ruth was expansive about her role as president. She toured factories around the world, hobbling on crutches from a minor accident but still thrilled at Mattel's worldwide reach" (Pg. 161)]]> 2022-04-02 06:19:03 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2126287882 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2126289886 Ruth considered growing Mattel. Ruth announced a new TV program for kids.

"Ruth began expanding Mattel in new directions. She announced new educational television programming for CBS, called In the News, consisting of mini-documentaries for school-age children, and a show on NBC called Hot Dog, which would explain the 'who, what, when, where and why of things'" (Pg. 162). ]]> 2022-04-02 06:24:49 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2126289886 perryjoh0011 https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2126289957 The video is an episode from the show "Hot Dog" which was created by Ruth/Mattel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onhhZIPplIY]]> 2022-04-02 06:25:05 UTC https://padlet.com/perryjoh0011/jh8hu6pqsit6h6b0/wish/2126289957