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
Clear toy candy by the Brock Candy Company (later Brach's). Clear toy candy maker Albert Dudrear of York, Pennsylvania was an avid mold collector and candy historian. He was succeeded in selling Original Clear Toy Candy by his son-in-law Donald Culp. Clear toy candy is also found in Atlantic Canada, where it appeared as early as the 1880s. Robertson's Candy, founded in Truro, Nova Scotia by William C. Robertson in 1928, continues to make traditional clear toy candy at Christmas time. Molds for making clear toy candy have traditionally been made from an alloy of tin and zinc called "composition", iron, aluminum, lead,