Mattel’s name joins Harold “Matt” Matson and Elliot Handler and leaves out Ruth Handler, who ran the business. The three started Mattel Creations in a Los Angeles garage in January 1945 making picture frames from Lucite and scrap wood, and Ruth turned the scraps into dollhouse furniture that soon outsold the frames. When Matson’s health failed in 1946, the Handlers bought his share and Ruth took charge of the business side. The Uke-A-Doodle followed in 1947, the company incorporated in Hawthorne, California, in 1948, and it later signed a $500,000 contract to sponsor The Mickey Mouse Club before the show aired, marketing toys directly to children.

Barbie, inspired by Ruth watching her daughter Barbara play with paper dolls, met skeptical male buyers at the 1959 Toy Fair but sold through TV ads that framed her as a teenage fashion model; Ken arrived in 1961. In the early 1970s the Handlers formed a film company and bought the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus for $40 million. A 1974 investigation found Mattel had issued false and misleading financial reports, including channel stuffing, and the Handlers were ousted; Ruth sold her last Mattel stock in 1980. After Mattel Electronics lost $394 million in 1983, the company refocused on its core brands and later on films, Netflix series and games such as Roblox and Fortnite.

• Chatty Cathy in 1960 used a tiny pull-string phonograph and the voice of June Foray.
• For Hot Wheels in 1968, Elliot hired Raytheon missile designer Jack Ryan, who used piano wire suspension and low-friction Delrin bearings.
• Christie, introduced in 1968, was Mattel’s first African-American doll.
• The We Girls Can Do Anything campaign arrived in 1985 and the first President Barbie in 1992.
• In 2007 Mattel recalled over 18 million products worldwide over lead paint and detachable magnets.