"actress Ann Smyrner. Several toy companies (mainly in Hong Kong) produced dolls resembling Bild Lilli, some from purchased original moulds. Also in Spain, Muñecas FEJ (Guillen y Vicedo) copied the moulds and made a very similar doll, but with darker skin, white earrings and articulated waist. However, Spanish society was extremely conservative then and was not ready for such ""sexy"" dolls. Mothers were not buying them for their daughters and the manufacturer had to retire them from the market. Mattel's Barbie doll, which appeared in March 1959, was based on Bild Lilli dolls that co-founder Ruth Handler had acquired in"
"manufacturing. The company's first big-seller was the ""Uke-a-doodle"", a toy ukulele. Ruth Handler claimed her daughter Barbara, who was becoming a pre-teen, played with paper dolls by pretending they were adults. Handler noticed that in such play, children would act out future events, rather than the present. Handler noted the limitations of the paper dolls, including how the paper clothing failed to attach well. She wanted to produce a three-dimensional plastic ""paper doll"" with an adult body and a wardrobe of fabric clothing, but her husband and Mr. Matson thought parents would not buy their children a doll with a"
"doll, Chatty Cathy, using a pull string talking mechanism, revolutionizing the toy industry. Mattel continued to develop a number of talking toys, including Chatty Baby, Tiny Chatty Baby, and Charmin' Chatty. Toys were made for cartoon favorites such as Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig, and for television characters such as Herman Munster and Mr. Ed. Handler was primarily responsible for two additional Mattel product lines. In 1966, Mattel introduced smaller dolls called Liddle Kiddles. Handler claimed he wanted them to resemble little children in neighborhoods across America. They were sculpted by doll artist Martha Armstrong-Hand. Kiddles were a great success"
"play with paper dolls, and noticed that she often enjoyed giving them adult roles. At the time, most children's toy dolls were representations of infants. Realizing that there could be a gap in the market, Handler suggested the idea of an adult-bodied doll to her husband Elliot, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company. He was unenthusiastic about the idea, as were Mattel's directors. During a trip to Europe in 1956 with her children Barbara and Kenneth, Ruth Handler came across a German toy doll called Bild Lilli. The adult-figured doll was exactly what Handler had in mind, so she"
"Liddle Kiddles Kiddles were dolls originally produced by toymakers Mattel Inc. in 1965. They were introduced at the 1966 New York Toy Fair and put on the market soon after. Initially about 3 inches tall, they were tiny by doll standards. The sensation they created in the toy world caused other toy companies to produce their own tiny dolls. Mattel founder Elliot Handler oversaw the project. He told engineers and sculptors that he wanted the dolls to resemble little children in neighborhoods across America. Martha Armstrong-Hand, the famous doll sculptor at Mattel, made the first Kiddles in 1965. She explained"
"United States, Handler redesigned the doll (with help from engineer Jack Ryan) and the doll was given a new name, ""Barbie"", after Handler's daughter Barbara. The doll made its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959. This date is also used as Barbie's official birthday. The first Barbie doll wore a black and white zebra striped swimsuit and signature topknot ponytail, and was available as either a blonde or brunette. The doll was marketed as a ""Teen-age Fashion Model,"" with her clothes created by Mattel fashion designer Charlotte Johnson. The first Barbie dolls"
"are now part of John Adams"". Fuzzy Felt Fuzzy-Felt is a simple fabric toy intended for young children. It was created in 1950 by Lois Allan of the United Kingdom. The toys consist of a flocked backing board onto which a number of felt shapes are placed to create different pictures. Felt pieces can be simple silhouettes or more detailed printed shapes. For a farmyard scene, for example, auxiliary pieces would typically be cows, sheep, chickens, horses, cats, dogs, a farmer, and a tractor. Other scenes might include hospital, pets, vehicles. Fuzzy-Felt is for children over the age of three"
"Grocery Store Dolls. They were an inexpensive alternative to department store dolls, although of similar quality. Another successful toy for girls was the ""Dream Kitchen"" (circa 1961) which consisted of four 12-inch-tall colorful kitchen appliances, a kitchen table and four chairs. This toy was unique in that the sink worked with water, the oven contained batteries which revolved a plastic turkey on a spit inside the oven, the refrigerator had pull-out shelves, and the dishwasher also worked with water. Also included were scores of food boxes, cleaning supplies, food replica items, plates, utensils and more. The box proclaimed that it"
"wheels and teddy bear shapes. Several companies manufacture similar toys, not all of them compatible. Names for these toys include ""Nopper"", ""Bristle Blocks"", ""Fun Bricks"", ""Clipo"", ""Krinkles"", ""Multi-Fit"", and ""Thistle Blocks"". Stickle Bricks Stickle Bricks are a construction toy primarily intended for toddlers invented by Denys Fisher in 1969. The brand is owned by Hasbro, and as of 2016 is sub-licensed to Flair Leisure Products plc. An individual stickle brick is a colourful plastic shape a few centimeters long which has a ""brush"" of small plastic ""fingers"" on one or more surfaces. The fingers of adjacent stickle bricks can interlock,"
"Handler's son. In the 1960s Random House books, his surname is Carson. According to Mattel, his middle name is Sean. Ken (doll) Ken is a fashion doll introduced by Mattel in 1961 as the fictional counterpart of Barbie, who was introduced two years earlier. Similar to his female counterpart, Ken has a fashionable line of clothing and accessories. In the Barbie mythos, Ken met Barbie on the set of a TV commercial in 1961, although Mattel has never specified the precise nature of their relationship. Since his debut, Ken has held at least 40 occupations. He was invented by Elliot"
"Chatter Telephone The Chatter Telephone is a pull toy for toddlers 12 to 36 months of age. Introduced in 1962 by the Fisher-Price company as the ""Talk Back Phone"" for infants and children, the Chatter Telephone is a roll along pull toy. It has a smiling face, and when the toy is pulled, it makes a chattering sound and the eyes move up and down. The toy has a rotary dial that rings a bell, and was conceived as a way to teach children how to dial a phone. The original version was made of wood, with a polyethylene receiver"
"Fuzzy Felt Fuzzy-Felt is a simple fabric toy intended for young children. It was created in 1950 by Lois Allan of the United Kingdom. The toys consist of a flocked backing board onto which a number of felt shapes are placed to create different pictures. Felt pieces can be simple silhouettes or more detailed printed shapes. For a farmyard scene, for example, auxiliary pieces would typically be cows, sheep, chickens, horses, cats, dogs, a farmer, and a tractor. Other scenes might include hospital, pets, vehicles. Fuzzy-Felt is for children over the age of three years, as the pieces may present"
"Stickle Bricks Stickle Bricks are a construction toy primarily intended for toddlers invented by Denys Fisher in 1969. The brand is owned by Hasbro, and as of 2016 is sub-licensed to Flair Leisure Products plc. An individual stickle brick is a colourful plastic shape a few centimeters long which has a ""brush"" of small plastic ""fingers"" on one or more surfaces. The fingers of adjacent stickle bricks can interlock, allowing them to be joined in various ways. Standard sets of stickle bricks contain triangular, square and rectangular pieces. Many recent sets also include other types of pieces such as heads,"
"lipstick tubes and change purses. Sweet Secrets Sweet Secrets was a toy introduced by Galoob in 1984 which transformed from jewelry, makeup and other girl-oriented objects to animals, girls with hair, and playsets. This was done by opening the object and unfolding the head, arms, and legs. The playsets included a jewelry box which transformed into a dollhouse, a play phone which transformed into a nursery, a comb which transformed into a bed, and a photo frame which transformed into a pool. In Fall 2007, Play Along Toys re-released the Sweet Secrets series; but instead of charms, they were tiny"
"lighted pistols. Girls wanted Ohio Art Company's tin lithographed tea sets and Little Chefs Stoves, Ideal Toy Company's diaper-wetting Betsy Wetsy, and Mattel's 1959 adult-bodied fashion doll Barbie first produced on March 9, 1959. Boys wanted Daisy BB guns, Lincoln Logs, and miniature Matchbox vehicles. In 1955, Walt Disney's ""Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier"" saw the production of 'coonskin caps' and other frontier-themed toys. View-Masters, Silly Putty, and Slinky were bestsellers. Mr. Potato Head, a toy of plastic face parts that could be stuck into a potato, was the first toy to be advertised on network television, and"
"years before the rise in popularity of fidget spinners. Catherine Hettinger Catherine Hettinger is an American engineer. She is the inventor of a predecessor to the fidget spinner. Hettinger originally invented a spinning gadget that rests on one finger as a toy for her daughter in the early 1990s, and began to sell it at local arts and crafts fairs in Florida. She filed a patent application for her design in 1993 and received a patent in 1997. Hettinger attempted to sell the toy to Hasbro, but at the time they rejected the spinners. Hettinger's patent expired in 2005 after"
"Chatty Cathy Chatty Cathy was a pull string ""talking"" doll manufactured by the Mattel toy company from 1959 to 1965. The doll was first released in stores and appeared in television commercials beginning in 1960. Chatty Cathy was on the market for six years and was the second most popular doll of the 1960s after Barbie (also made by Mattel). After the success of Chatty Cathy, Mattel introduced Chatty Baby in 1962 and Tiny Chatty Baby, Tiny Chatty Brother and Charmin' Chatty in 1963. The last doll to have the word ""chatty"" in its name in the 1960s was Singin'"
"Pratt wished to provide tools for children to expand on this natural activity. Around 1911, she devised a line of toys, Do-With Toys, for children to dramatize their observations and construct their knowledge through play. The toys comprised simple people, animals, and furniture, to be used in open-ended contexts as devised by the child. In 1913, Caroline Pratt enacted a two-month experiment with young children from Greenwich Village. In this setting, the children were free to use materials to construct their knowledge about the world, using Pratt’s unique designs for hand-made unit blocks. This experiment led to her launching the"
"Hopper, Glo Spider, Glo Bopbug, Glo Flutterbug, and Glo Turtle (shell opens to carry Glo Friends). Glo Worm Glo Worm is a stuffed toy for young children, designed by Hasbro's Playskool division, and made in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Introduced in 1982, the plush, pajamaed worm body contained a battery-powered device that when squeezed would light up the toy's vinyl head from within, creating a soft glow. The original toy, upon release, was such a success that Hasbro released a new Musical Glo Worm toy, a series of story books, night lights, videos and other merchandise that continued until the early"
"Sweet Secrets Sweet Secrets was a toy introduced by Galoob in 1984 which transformed from jewelry, makeup and other girl-oriented objects to animals, girls with hair, and playsets. This was done by opening the object and unfolding the head, arms, and legs. The playsets included a jewelry box which transformed into a dollhouse, a play phone which transformed into a nursery, a comb which transformed into a bed, and a photo frame which transformed into a pool. In Fall 2007, Play Along Toys re-released the Sweet Secrets series; but instead of charms, they were tiny dolls that could fit into"
"company, Ruthton Corp., formed by her and Peyton Massey, which manufactured a more realistic version of a woman's breast, called ""Nearly Me"". She personally fitted one for the then first lady, Betty Ford. In 1974, Handler resigned from Mattel after investigations of producing fraudulent financial reports. In 1978, Handler was charged with fraud and false reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission. She pleaded no contest, was fined $57,000 and sentenced to 2,500 hours of community service.She blamed her illness for making her ""unfocused"" on her business. Though the Handlers took a more hands-off approach to their company's business practice"
"been destroyed according to Mattel. Paris Langfords value guide now stands as one of the final records of these lost designs that never made it into production. Though the book is out of print, copies do surface on the secondary market and owning a copy enhances any Kiddle collection. Liddle Kiddles Kiddles were dolls originally produced by toymakers Mattel Inc. in 1965. They were introduced at the 1966 New York Toy Fair and put on the market soon after. Initially about 3 inches tall, they were tiny by doll standards. The sensation they created in the toy world caused other"
"the decade into the early 1960s. A pre-teen plastic doll, she came in a variety of sizes. In 1957, American Character marketed ""Sweet Sue Sophisticate,"" a 14"" or 20"" fashion doll. The ""Toodles"" multi-jointed plastic doll — able to ""kneel, sit, play and assume 1,000 different positions"" — was introduced in 1955 and became a big seller for American Character, including its associated products like ""Toodles Toddler"" (1955-1959), ""Teeny Toodles"" (1959-1960), and ""Tommy Toodles"" (1959-1960). ""Toni,"" released in 1958, was a fashion doll for Toni hair products, sold by Gillette. Toni, also marketed as ""Cha Cha"" or ""High Society,"" was"
"Ken (doll) Ken is a fashion doll introduced by Mattel in 1961 as the fictional counterpart of Barbie, who was introduced two years earlier. Similar to his female counterpart, Ken has a fashionable line of clothing and accessories. In the Barbie mythos, Ken met Barbie on the set of a TV commercial in 1961, although Mattel has never specified the precise nature of their relationship. Since his debut, Ken has held at least 40 occupations. He was invented by Elliot Handler. From 1961 to the debut of ""Superstar Ken"" in 1977, Ken had straight, nonbendable arms and a head that"
"series ""Friends"", Rachel Green (played by Jennifer Aniston) and Ross Geller (played by David Schwimmer) are discussing baby names, almost settling on the name Ruth until Rachel excitedly says ""Yes! We're having a little baby Ruth..."" and they realise the obvious brand recognition joke. Baby Ruth Baby Ruth is an American candy bar made of peanuts, caramel, and chocolate-flavored nougat covered in compound chocolate. Baby Ruth is currently owned by the Italian company Ferrero. In 1920, the Curtiss Candy Company refashioned its Kandy Kake into the Baby Ruth, and it became the best-selling confection in the five-cent confectionery category by"
"Chatty Cathy was referenced in an episode of ""The Loud House"". And ‘’The Nanny’’. Chatty Cathy Chatty Cathy was a pull string ""talking"" doll manufactured by the Mattel toy company from 1959 to 1965. The doll was first released in stores and appeared in television commercials beginning in 1960. Chatty Cathy was on the market for six years and was the second most popular doll of the 1960s after Barbie (also made by Mattel). After the success of Chatty Cathy, Mattel introduced Chatty Baby in 1962 and Tiny Chatty Baby, Tiny Chatty Brother and Charmin' Chatty in 1963. The last"
"Glo Worm Glo Worm is a stuffed toy for young children, designed by Hasbro's Playskool division, and made in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Introduced in 1982, the plush, pajamaed worm body contained a battery-powered device that when squeezed would light up the toy's vinyl head from within, creating a soft glow. The original toy, upon release, was such a success that Hasbro released a new Musical Glo Worm toy, a series of story books, night lights, videos and other merchandise that continued until the early 1990s. However, in late 2005, the product was criticized for harming children; its plastic head was"
"Handler returned from a European vacation with a German-designed Bild Lilli doll. She and Ryan worked on producing a similar fashion doll for the American market (the two later disputed which of them was chiefly responsible for the doll's design). Ryan worked on th V-rroom! X-15 velocipede which was named after the North American X-15 rocket-powered aircraft, and patented the V-RROOM! toy engines that simulated motorcycle engine sounds. He designed the mechanics of the Chatty Cathy dolls. Ryan's relationship with Mattel soured, and in 1980 he sued Mattel for royalties; the company settled out of court. Ryan suffered a debilitating"
"patent rights for the Bild-Lilli doll for $21,600. Ruth Handler believed that it was important for Barbie to have an adult appearance, and early market research showed that some parents were unhappy about the doll's chest, which had distinct breasts. Barbie's appearance has been changed many times, most notably in 1971 when the doll's eyes were adjusted to look forwards rather than having the demure sideways glance of the original model. Barbie was one of the first toys to have a marketing strategy based extensively on television advertising, which has been copied widely by other toys. It is estimated that"
"only enjoying himself, but he was also making sense of the world around him. Pratt discovered for herself the educational value of play. Her ideas about how children learn, combined with her own woodworking skills, led to Pratt's creation of basic wooden toys and blocks, now known as unit blocks, which were designed to stimulate dramatic play. In the spring of 1913, using the materials she designed, in addition to clay, paper, and crayons, Pratt developed a half-day program for six five-year-olds at the Hartley Settlement House. This successful two-month trial flight convinced her that self-generated and self-directed play do"
"Girl Talk (board game) Girl Talk is a board game first sold in 1988. The game was invented by Catherine Rondeau. It was a popular/staple game for teenage girls throughout the 1990s. It was similar to the parlour game Truth or Dare. Girl Talk was one of a rash of ""teenage girl-themed games"" that appeared on the market in the 1980s and 1990s in which boys, talking on the phone, dancing, having parties and sleepovers, and other ""girl-ish"" concerns are central themes. The game comes with an opaque spinner with a hole in it, and multiple exchangeable cardboard circles which"
"billion Barbie dolls, making it the company’s largest and most profitable line. However, sales have declined sharply since 2014. The doll transformed the toy business in affluent communities worldwide by becoming a vehicle for the sale of related merchandise (accessories, clothes, friends of Barbie, etc.). She had a significant impact on social values by conveying characteristics of female independence, and with her multitude of accessories, an idealized upscale life-style that can be shared with affluent friends. Starting in 1987, Barbie has expanded into a media franchise, including animated films, television specials, , and music. Ruth Handler watched her daughter Barbara"
"Wizzzer The Wizzzer or Wiz-z-zer is a gyrostat toy introduced by Mattel Toymakers in 1969, and introduced the spinning top to modern children. The ""twist"" (innovation) was the use of a super-spinning, high-tech bearing, that allowed the top to spin at very high speed and remain standing for a long period of time. This top did not rely on a string to attain high speed so it was easier to master than tops of old. Wizzers are not sold as scientific instruments, but may be used to demonstrate the conservation of angular momentum and gyroscope stability. The Wizzzer first appeared"