Contents Growing Up Into the World Mattel Creations Is Born 4 6 8 Bye-Bye Baby Dolls 10 Barbie’s Relative Success Barbie Reflects Culture 12 14 16 Work Play 18 Life of a Barbie Doll 20 The Barbie Business Real Life Handler’s Legacy 22 24 26 Timeline 28 Glossary 30 Websites 31 Index 32
UpUp Chapter 1 Growing Growing Growing Growing Growing On November 4 1916 in Denver Colorado Ruth Marianna Mosko was born She was the youngest in a family of ten children This baby grew up to be Ruth Handler She would invent the Barbie doll the most famous and popular doll in the world Ruth’s parents were Jewish immigrants Her father Jacob came to the United States from Poland in 1907 His wife Ida arrived with their children in 1909 They were eager to come to a new country where there was no war When they reached Denver they knew they had found a place to call home Like so 4 Ruth Handler learned many important business skills as a child that would help her develop and sell her world-famous invention the Barbie doll
Mrs Ida Mosko stands with four of her children left to right Aaron Ruth Maurice and Joseph many other immigrants they hoped to live the American dream Reaching for the American dream required a lot of hard work Jacob and Ida were very busy working and raising Ruth’s siblings They sent Ruth to live with their eldest child Sarah Sarah’s husband Louie owned a drugstore When Ruth was ten years old she began working in the store The job introduced Ruth to the idea of merchandising The skills she learned in the drugstore would later help her sell millions of Barbie dolls Ruth 5
