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http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_18532776Elliot Handler, co-founder of Mattel, dies at 95
By Kristin S. Agostoni Staff Writer
Posted: 07/22/2011 06:47:39 PM PDT
Updated: 07/22/2011 07:48:48 PM PDT
Elliot Handler, a founder of the El Segundo-based toymaker Mattel who created the iconic Barbie doll with his wife, has died. He was 95.
Handler, who had been ill for some time, suffered a heart attack at his Century City home on Thursday evening, said his daughter, Barbara Segal.
"He was just a very kind, soft-spoken man. Very creative," said Segal of Century City, after whom the Barbie doll is named. "I don't think anyone could say anything bad about him."
A statement from the company the Handlers founded with a partner in 1945 said Elliot Handler "not only inspired and delighted the employees of Mattel but generations of children around the world."
In addition to Barbie and her boyfriend doll Ken - named for the Handlers' son - his other hit toy creations include the Hot Wheels brand of miniature cars that came out in the late 1960s and the Uke-A-Doodle, a child-size ukulele.
"The 30,000 employees of Mattel are proud to continue his legacy and love of play for generations to come," said the company, headquartered on Continental Boulevard in El Segundo.
Handler was born in April 9, 1916, the second of four sons in his family, and grew up in Denver, Colo. He met his future wife, Ruth Mosko, at a charity dance in 1932, and the couple married about five years later.
After relocating to Los Angeles, Ruth Handler found a job as a stenographer at Paramount Pictures, and her husband worked part-time at a lighting fixture company while attending art school.
In a taped interview posted on YouTube, the couple talk about how Elliot Handler began creating giftware items with a few pieces of equipment they bought on credit from Sears.
He worked with plastics in a garage in their apartment building, but they were forced to rent a small storefront after people complained about dust on their cars.
One of Handler's plexiglass designs was shaped like a small hand that could be pinned to a shirt and hold a flower.
In 1945, the Handlers partnered with his friend, Harold Matson, and blended their names to form Mattel Creations, making wooden picture frames and dollhouse furniture with both wood scraps and plastic.
The Uke-A-Doodle, the first in a line of musical toys, was an early success, as the company was able to turn a profit its first year, according to Mattel. After the ukulele came out in 1947, Matson sold his share of the business.
The Barbie doll that came later was Ruth Handler's inspiration. She said in the interview that she'd often see her daughter playing with adult paper dolls on the floor with friends.
She tried to convince her husband to make a three-dimensional adult doll, but he was reluctant because another company at the time had been producing a line of small dolls that was losing popularity.
But after three years of work, they introduced their Barbie doll in 1959 at a toy show. They recalled being disappointed at the response.
"Half of our customers didn't want to buy the thing, and I was telling Ruth, `See, I told you,"' Handler said. "But as soon as it got on the counter, I was wrong and she was right."
Mothers and daughters were drawn to the dolls with the hourglass figures and stylish clothes, his wife said: "The consumer made the Barbie doll an instant success."
In a company biography, Mattel describes the Handlers as "the whiz kids of the toy industry," who were "renowned for inventing some of the world's best-known toy brands."
The company said Mattel's name recognition grew in the 1950s after the company put up $500,000 - nearly its entire net worth - to sponsor segments of the Walt Disney Co.'s "Mickey Mouse Club" for a season.
"The campaign was an unabashed success, and Mattel instantly revolutionized the toy industry by turning a `mom-and-pop' business with a seasonal focus on Christmas into a large-scale business enterprise that garnered impressive sales year-round."
Handler was named Mattel board chairman in 1973 and shared the position with his wife until they left in 1975. They became the first living inductees to the Toy Industry Hall of Fame in 1989.
Segal said her father continued to pursue his artistic talents in the years after he retired.
"He had an art studio. Very professional painter," she said. "He loved doing that in his retirement."
Ruth Handler died in 2002 at the age of 85, and son Ken died in 1994 of a brain tumor.
In addition to Segal, Handler is survived by a brother, Sidney, five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
kristin.agostoni@dailybreeze.com
http://www.canada.com/Barbie+toymaker+father+dies+aged/5147043/story.htmlBarbie's U.S. toymaker father dies, aged 95
LOS ANGELES - Elliot Handler, the co-founder of U.S. toy giant Mattel who gave the world the Barbie doll, has died aged 95, the company said Friday.
Handler, who with his wife Ruth named the doll after their daughter Barbara in 1959 — and two years later created Ken, after their son — died on Thursday from heart failure, according to the TMZ celebrity news website.
"We were very saddened to learn about the passing of Elliot Handler, the Mattel founder who created some of the world's most beloved toys," Mattel said in a statement.
"He not only inspired and delighted the employees of Mattel but generations of children around the world. The 30,000 employees of Mattel are proud to continue his legacy and love of play for generations to come."
Mattel was founded in 1945 by Handler and his business partner Harold "Matt" Matson, who combined their names to create the world-beating brand. Matson was later bought out by the Handlers.
Barbie, the toy doll owned by generations of girls, wowed the world when she made her debut at a New York toy fair in 1959, leading to sales of 300,000 that same year.
With her long legs, love of pink-tinged glamor, and hair made for combing, she was a world away from the baby-like creatures cradled by girls of previous generations.
She is at the center of the Mattel company empire, and has inspired dozens of fashion designers, become a presence on Facebook and MySpace, and revolutionized playtime for young children.
Mattel, the world's biggest toymaker, also owns megabrands including Hot Wheels, Fisher Price and American Girl and is based in Segundo, just west of Los Angeles, California
The Handlers' daughter Barbara is still alive. Their son Ken died of a brain tumor in 1994. Ruth Handler died in 2002 aged 85.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X74R36qMJUM&feature=player_embeddedMattel Co-Founder and Hot Wheels Inventor Elliot Handler Dead at 95
In addition to all of those milestones, his wife, Ruth, was responsible for an iconic toy: Barbie. Barbie was named after their daughter, Barbara Segal (nee Handler), who announced Elliot Handler's death, as a result of heart failure.
It was in 1945 when Handler, his wife, Ruth, and their friend Harold "Matt" Matson founded Mattel Creations out of a garage workshop in Los Angeles. with their friend Harold "Matt" Matson. They called it Mattel for a reason obvious by looking at the last names involved. Mattel was an amalgam of the names Matson and Elliot.
It wasn't as though Mattel decided toys were the way to go from the beginning. In fact, the first Mattel products were picture frames, but Handler developed a side business making dollhouse furniture out of picture frame scraps. Later, the Handlers bought out Matson, and they turned Mattel's focus to toys.
They had some early successes, such as the Uke-A-Doodle, which is a child-size ukulele, and a cap gun called the Burp gun. As well, the Handlers revolutionized things by using that new advertising medium: television.
It was Barbie which was the first real big hit for Mattel. That said, Elliot Handler has his doubts. It was Ruth's idea, and her reportedly told her, "Ruth, no mother is ever going to buy her daughter a doll with breasts." He was so wrong.
That said, the narrow-waisted doll with the large bosum has not been without its critics. Many have said that the doll creates a false sense of appropriate body image to young girls. After all, the Barbie doll's dimensions are 39-21-33, hardly attainable by anyone without some form of cosmetic enhancement.
Mattel became wildly successful, becoming the world's largest toy maker (where it remains today), and joining the Fortune 500. In the late 1960s, Mattel was wanted a toy that would appeal to boys, just as Barbie had for girls. Elliot Handler came up with Hot Wheels. Despite the long time since those cars were designed, there's even now a Cartoon Network series that is basically tied in, somewhat, to the cars, called Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5.
Barbie was named after Barbara Handler, but her boyfriend Ken was named after her brother Kenneth. Unfortunately for the pair, that led to much teasing (kids can be so cruel). In Ken's case, it was very cruel, because the Ken doll lacked male genitals.
Handler is survived by his daughter, Barbara Segal of Los Angeles; a brother, Sidney Handler of Woodland Hills in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley; five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Ruth died in 2002, and Ken died in 1994.
You can watch an interview with Ruth and Elliot, below. May they both R.I.P.
[youtube]X74R36qMJUM&feature[/youtube]
Sad.
May he rest in peace. :angel: Barbie has always been and will always be my favorite doll. :wild:
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