Ruth Handler

Let me tell you that America's film industry was shaped by Jewish immigrants.

Barbie, created by Jewish creator Ruth Handler, the daughter of Jewish immigrants.

Teddy Bear, created by Morris and Rose Mectum, Russian Jewish immigrants.

Shopping Cart, invented by Sylvan Goodman, Jewish businessman from Oklahoma.

Not just the car commercial component.

One of the weirder things in this movie that felt corporate mandated and very strange was where while she's escaping Mattel headquarters, Barbie meets the ghost of Ruth Handler, the creative Barbie and co-founder of Mattel.

Yeah.

who is this benevolent mother figure slash ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi who gives her vague say.

It's very weird to do this with a real person, I felt.

Yeah, there's also this, speaking of a specter of capitalism over this movie and how much Mattel iconography there is in it, there's this running precociousness about female leadership and female power.

uh, inevitably leading us to sort of the mythification that is clearly not a word, but what the fuck at her, uh, or just romanticization of Ruth Handler, the found co-founder of Mattel, the woman who invented or, you know, invented in scare quotes because the woman who went to Germany and saw a doll, um, you know, a, a, a woman, they also like at numerous places, points towards the end poke fun of because she had like tax evasion issues at the end where she's like, I had problems with the IRS.

They make like two jokes.

That's really cool.

What amazed me, though, was, and a lot of people don't know this, that Mattel was actually started by a woman, Ruth Handler, who wanted to build dolls for her daughter, Barbara.

And that's where Barbie came from.

And so her husband, Elliot, who had a background in business and knew how to run a business, decided that he wanted to help her make this dream come true.

In case somebody doesn't know or care, America's film industry was shaped by Jewish immigrants.

Barbie, Her creator was a Jewish lady named Ruth Handler, the daughter of Jewish immigrants.

The teddy bear, created by Morris and Rose Mictum, Russian Jewish immigrants.

Shopping cart, invented by Sylvan Goldman, a Jewish businessman from Oklahoma.

We already covered The Gumby Show, Noggin' the Nog, and Mr. Ed in previous episodes, so since you're keeping up with the podcast, you already know all about them.

The Barbie is a fashion doll franchise created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, introduced on March 9th, 1959 by Mattel.

The toy was based on the German-billed Lily doll which Handler had purchased while in Europe, the figurehead of an eponymous brand that includes a range of fashion dolls and accessories.

Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market since its launch.

The category is fun inventions and toys.

Question one: What stretchy, bouncy, colorful putty was created by accident during World War II while scientists were trying to invent a synthetic rubber substitute? Question two: What iconic 3D combination puzzle invented in 1974 by a Hungarian architecture professor features 54 colorful squares across six faces? Question three: What foam blaster toy line gets its name from an acronym standing for Non Expanding Recreational Foam? Question four: What simple handheld toy consists of two disks connected by an axle with a string wound around it dating back to ancient Greece? Question five: What famous doll line was named after creator Ruth Handler's daughter, Barbara, when it launched in 1959? Question six: What toy company uses the slogan, Play Well, derived from the Danish phrase, Leg Godt? Question seven: What colorful water-filled outdoor slide toy was introduced by Wham-O in 1961 to help kids cool off in the summer? Parent challenge: In 1943, naval engineer Richard James was working with tension springs to stabilize sensitive equipment on ships when one fell off the shelf and walked down a stack of books, leading to what famous toy? And now the answers to round two.

Dan, I couldn't let you miss out on this random AI fun.

Okay.

[laughs] Those are some of the names of, like tricks to do with a yo-yo.

I can't even go like up and down three [laughs] consecutive times.

Question five, what famous doll line was named after creator Ruth Handler's daughter Barbara when it launched in 1959?

Barbie.

And the two met, as I said, in Denver.

Ruth's mother, and this was really something that really shaped Ruth Handler, her mother, having had either eight or 10 children, was exhausted by the time Ruth came along.

And she gave her daughter to her eldest daughter, Sarah, to raise.

Even though Ruth sort of glosses over it in her memoir, like, oh, it was fine.