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
Richter (toy company) Richter (toy company) F. Ad. Richter & Cie was founded and owned by Friedrich Adolf Richter. This German manufacturer produced many products, including pharmaceuticals, music boxes, gramophones, and Anchor Stone building sets. He established his main factory in Rudolstadt, Germany. In addition the company had factories in Vienna Austria, Nuremberg Germany, New York City USA, and St. Petersburg, Russia. In addition the company had operations for internal supply in Konstein, Germany (glass bottles) and Leipzig, Germany (publishing - printing was done in Rudolstadt). Friedrich Adolf Richter was born 1847 in Herford, North Rhine-Westphalia and died 1910 in Jena. The Anker