Barbie Developer: Ruth Handler

Barbie Developer: Ruth Handler — page 1 — 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

Barbie Developer: Ruth Handler — page 2 — 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

Barbie Developer: Ruth Handler — page 3 — Chapter 2 Into the WorldWorldWorldWorldWorld Into the During the 1930s people loved going to the movies Hollywood California was famous for being the movie-making capital of the United States Actors and actresses were major celebrities and many girls dreamed of becoming movie stars 6 Ruth loved all the glamour and style of Hollywood

Barbie Developer: Ruth Handler — page 4 — fun fact The Handlers named one of their dolls after their son Kenneth The Ken doll’s full name is Ken Carson When she was 19 years old Ruth moved to Hollywood She worked as a stenographer at Paramount one of Hollywood’s most famous movie studios She even saw movie stars every now and then Hollywood was a very exciting place to live in the 1930s Ruth’s high school boyfriend Elliot Handler came to visit her in Hollywood He ended up staying in California for a year Ruth and Elliot then returned to Denver Ruth worked as a secretary for her brother Joe After Ruth and Elliot married in 1938 they moved back to California Elliot studied industrial design at The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena California Handler went back to work at Paramount Before their daughter Barbara was born in 1941 Handler left her job at the movie studio She and Elliot started a business making products such as jewelry and candleholders out of plastic By the time their son Kenneth was born in 1944 the Handlers had a successful business 7

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