Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her

Ruth Handler was the daughter of Jewish immigrants, the tenth of ten children and one of the few born in the New Country. Raised by a sister old enough to be her mother, Ruth would marry her high school sweetheart, Elliott Handler, and together they would found an empire: Mattel. Their success at Mattel would span some twenty years, but the most famous creation would always be Barbie, named in fact for their daughter, Barbara. And then it all came apart, personally (a cancer diagnosis and mastectomy for Ruth, as well as the terminal illness of their son - Ken, of course!) and professionally (charges of fraud and false reporting brought against Ruth by the SEC, which led both Ruth and Elliott to leave Mattel). In her second career, she throws herself into a personal cause: creating more comfortable and more realistic breast forms for women who have undergone mastectomies.

Barbie and Ruth is a well-research and well-written biography of, honestly, both Ruth Handler and Barbie, one that reads quickly and easily. Robin Gerber depicts Ruth as a brash, brazen, busty broad who used her wits and wiles to get what she wanted, typically regardless of cost or consequence. She is both admirable and hard to like, which I imagine is how she was in person.

Oddly, I had the nagging feeling I'd encountered Ruth Handler before, and then it struck me: Lillian Dunkle (the fictional Jewish immigrant woman at the head of Dunkle's ice cream, who is also laid low by government charges) could have been - had to be? - based on Ruth Handler. Among other similarities, Ruth started a TV show around the Mattel toy lines that is certainly reminiscent of Dunkle's Sundae Morning Funhouse. Yes, The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street could very well be Ruth Handler herself, fixated on sweet treats rather than dolls. And if she was the inspiration for Lillian Dunkle, it would be just one more accomplishment in a long and unlikely career.