15 Facts About The Real Ruth Handler, The Woman Who Invented Barbie, That You Probably Don't Know

There are obviously BIG spoilers ahead for Barbie!

As you've probably heard, Barbie is the biggest movie of 2023. As of right now, the film has grossed a whopping $400 million at the global box office and became the biggest debut ever for a film directed by a woman.

Dale Robinette / Warner Bros

Directed by Greta Gerwig and co-written by Greta and Noah Baumbach, Barbie tells the story of Barbie (Margot Robbie), who takes a trip to the Real World after she experiences some strange occurrences in Barbie Land.

What ensues is a hilarious trip to California, where Barbie and Ken (Ryan Gosling) learn what the Real World is actually like — Ken learns about patriarchy (and horses) while Barbie escapes the Mattel headquarters and joins forces with Gloria (America Ferrera) and her daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt).

Barbie is not only being praised for some of its comedic moments, like Ken's mojo dojo casa house, but also for the commentary it makes on womanhood and the relationship between mothers and daughters, especially towards the end of the film.

So because Ruth was a real person and the creator of Barbie, here are 15 facts about her (and Mattel) that you might not know:

1. First, Ruth and her husband Elliot Handler formed Mattel Toys alongside their partner Harold Matson in 1947. The name "Mattel" is a combination of Elliot's first name and Harold's last name.

2. In 1955, Ruth pushed a deal with Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Club, where Mattel would be a main sponsor for the show. This marked the first national TV campaign for a toy manufacturer. With the deal costing $500,000, the Mattel ads were geared towards the children watching, not the parents, which revolutionized how the US toy industry markets toys.

3. While Mattel first found success making toys "for boys," namely toy guns, Ruth saw a market for making toys for girls after she realized her daughter Barbara, whom Barbie is named after, had limited choices.

4. Ruth found inspiration for Barbie in the form of Lilli, a German doll and character from a comic strip in the tabloid Bild-Zeitung, a sex worker who went on adventures with wealthy men.

5. When Ruth and Barbie's co-creator Jack Ryan originally pitched Barbie to the rest of Mattel, they rejected the idea. There was reportedly "a lot of pushback" from Mattel, but Ruth eventually convinced them to bring the new toy to the Toy Fair in NYC in 1959.

6. However, at the 1959 Toy Fair, Barbie reportedly "fell flat" with the mostly male executives and investors attending. Namely, they were confused by this overtly sexual doll.

8. When Barbie was eventually released, thanks to the persistence of Ruth who saw potential in the doll, Mattel sold 351,000 dolls at $3 per doll in 1959. Demand for the doll was so high that Mattel had to add factory capacity and warehouse space to keep up with demand.

9. Alongside the actual doll, the fashion became an important aspect of Barbie. Speaking about why Barbie's clothing was so important, Ruth said that the whole concept of Barbie was that her clothing would permit the child to pretend they were in a certain kind of activity.

10. In 1972, Mattel reported a $29.9 million loss on sales of over $200 million. This caught the eye of Wall Street when conflicting reports of the company's earnings were released. Eventually, Ruth and a few others were indicted by a Federal Grand Jury for conspiracy, mail fraud, and making false financial statements to the SEC.

11. Netflix's documentary series The Toys That Made Us claimed that during this time Ruth had trucks full of Hot Wheels toys driven out of the factory, then they would dump them, and go get more. The minute they left Mattel, they reportedly went on the books as "accounts receivable."

12. In 1975, Ruth and Elliot resigned from Mattel, a mere month before the committee of outside directors filed a report accusing the founders and senior management of issuing financial statements that were "deliberately false and misleading."

13. Ruth was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy in 1970. After she left Mattel, she notably went on to create a first-of-its-kind breast prosthetic for women who undergo mastectomies.

14. When Jill Barad became Mattel's CEO in 1997, the first of the company's two female CEOs, she invited Ruth back to Mattel for the first time since she departed the company 22 years prior.

15. And finally, Ruth died at age 85 in 2002 from complications following colon surgery. At the time, she was survived by her husband Elliot, who later died at age 95 in 2011.