Ruth Handler Club children's television show, Mattel invested heavily in television advertising. The TV commercials for the Barbie doll paid off and Barbie rocketed Mattel and the Handlers to fame and fortune. Subsequently, they would add a boyfriend for Barbie named Ken, after the Handlers' son, and many other "friends and family" to Barbie's world. Handler was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1970. She had a modified radical mastectomy, which was often used at the time to combat the disease, and because of difficulties in finding a good breast prosthesis, she decided to make her own. Handler went on to found a
Clover (toy company) Clover (toy company) Clover was a Japanese toy company founded in 1973. It closed in 1983. Today it is mainly known as the sponsor of the original Gundam TV-series in 1979. As such, it was responsible for canceling the show early because it didn't sell enough toys. The show was mainly popular among older kids and young adults who didn't buy toys, and sales suffered as a result. Also Clovers designs were not based on the finished version of the show and thus were not very accurate. Gundam ended up being very popular after it was re-edited into a movie-trilogy