Category:Mattel

Toy Brands and Manufacturers
Mattel

US company Mattel are considered the world's second biggest toy company (after Lego), and are chiefly known for their Barbie and Hot Wheels brands.

History

Mattel were started by the husband-and-wife team of Ruth Handler (1916-2002) and Isadore Elliot Handler (1916-2011). Ruth and Izzy met and became an item in their teens, Ruth had a keen taste for business and got a job at Paramount, and Izzy was an art student (later working as a lighting designer). The couple married in 1938, and Ruth persuaded Izzy to start using his middle name, Elliot, instead.

When Elliot became interested in designing and producing acrylic furniture, Ruth suggested that they set up a furniture business (with her handling sales)

In 1945, the duo teamed up with businessman Harold Matson to found Mattel Creations (from Mat-son Ell-iot) in a Los Angeles garage. With a slowdown in furniture sales, the company started making small plastic items, including dollhouse furniture, and when Matson became unwell, Ruth took over his share (circa 1946).

The company then took an upward trajectory. The Uke-A-Doodle toy ukelele appeared in 1947, and the company incorporated in 1948.

1959: Barbie launch

Children often use dolls to play at what it must be like to be grown-up. Spotting that there was a gap in the market for something other than dolls base don babies or young children, Ruth returned from a European trip with some dolls based on "Bild"'s tiny-waisted German cartoon character Lilli, for which one could buy additional clothing, and set out to design an American counterpart. Named after her daughter Barbara, Barbie was launched in 1959, followed by Chatty Cathy in 1960, and the Ken doll in 1961 (the Handlers' son was called Kenneth).

1968: Hot Wheels

By the late 1960s, Mattel was in a very comfortable position, and acquired Monogram in 1968 along with its hot-rod designs, some of the designs which then became part of the Hot Wheels range.

Mattel brands today

As of 2024, Mattel's corporate brand website list two hundred and fifteen brands. Although many of these brandnames will mean nothing to a UK audience, the list of product ranges that Mattel now own includes Barbie, Bob the Builder, Dinky Toys, Fisher-Price, Hot Wheels, KerPlunk, Masters of the Universe, Matchbox, Mega-Bloks, Rock 'Em Sock'Em Robots, Scrabble, and Viewmaster.

In the Museum

Since Mattell's "in-house" brands like Barbie and Hot Wheels didn't start coming into their own in the UK until the late 'Fifties and early 'Sixties, and the Museum originally had a cut-off date of 1955, they are really a little bit "too late" for us ... although we should probably try to acquire have an early Hot Wheels collection at some point, given that the brand is a historically important part of UK toymaking history, in that its appearance was effectively an "extinction level event" for the UK diecast toy car market, ending the dominance of Dinky Toys, Matchbox Toys, and Corgi Toys (the first two now being owned by Mattel).