Scamfluencers - Barbie's Schemehouse

Episode Date: July 15, 2024

Ruth Handler is a mom and small business owner when a sex doll gives her inspiration for a toy that will change everything: Barbie. She becomes the proto-Girl Boss who’s willing to lie, cheat and steal to make Mattel the biggest toy company in the world. And she’s having a good day every day, until shareholders and the SEC catch her making pretend with business documents.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Scamfluencers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or Apple podcasts. A heads up to our listeners, this episode includes a brief reference to thoughts of self-harm. Please listen with care. [♪ Music playing. Wondery Plus theme song playing. Sachi, do you have a favorite childhood toy that you still remember loving so much? Yes, I had a Barbie that had a yo-yo attachment and she would yo-yo. And she had different types of yo-yos you could get.

And I had a Barbie caravan that like pulled out into a whole barbecue set. I loved it so much. I remember I was trying very hard to impress my older brother, and I begged my parents to get me a Tonka truck, which I really did love, but also, like, Barbies were the thing. Which, as you know, they had a very big moment last year. I do recall hearing some whispers of that, for sure.

Well, Barbies were the dominant toy when we were girls, but the story of how they got so popular is actually a little scammy, which of course was not covered in the billion-dollar blockbuster. Get ready, Sachi. It's 1979, and beloved TV host Merv Griffin It's 1979, and beloved TV host Merv Griffin

is on the set of his long-running talk show. He's in his 50s, tanned with short white hair and oozing confidence and charm. He's an Emmy-winning host who's interviewed icons like Vincent Price, Joan Crawford, and Salvador Dali. Today's guest is just as iconic, but not as well-known. Her name's Ruth Handler. Merv's audience might not recognize her, but he knows her familiar with her most famous creation. Here's how he introduces Ruth.

She is responsible for the creation of the Barbie doll, which became the biggest selling toy in history. Would you welcome Ruth Handler? Ruth is 62 years old with short, curly white hair and perfectly manicured nails. She has incredible posture, and she's a natural in front of the cameras. She tells Merv she'll share the real story

of her toy company, Mattel. She says she founded the company because she was home with two kids and bored as hell. Mattel rocketed to success all because of one of her ideas, the Barbie doll. She smiles and the audience claps. Everyone loves Barbie. Ruth explains that Mattel was doing hundreds of millions

in sales by the time she left four years ago. Merv asks why she decided to leave. Was she just ready to cash out? That's when Ruth's practice smile slips. Here's what she says. We had some very severe business reverses and I left somewhat unwillingly. I've never heard the term business reverses.

It sounds like getting in trouble poetically. Yeah, I definitely would have a few follow-up questions. But this is just a talk show, not 60 minutes. So Merv quickly pivots to Ruth's new company, Nearly Me. They make special bra inserts designed for women like Ruth who have had mastectomies. Ruth's actually wearing a Nearly Me insert in her bra and she invites Merv to give it a squeeze. It looks like he's copping a feel and the audience roars with laughter. Like her most famous creation, Ruth does her best

to look perfect. And on Merv's show, she pretty much succeeds. But the truth is that the same drive and determination that led Ruth to be a pioneer in a male-dominated business also led to her so-called business reverses, which are serious federal crimes. I'm Mike Bubbins. I'm Ellis James. And I'm Steph Guerrero. And we're convinced that our podcast, The Socially Distanced Sports Bar, is going to be your new favorite comedy podcast with just a little bit of sport thrown in.

You don't have to love sport, like sport, or even know anything about sport to listen. Because nobody has conversations which stay on topic and it's the same on our podcast. We might start off talking about ice hockey but end up discussing, I don't know, 1980s British sitcom Alo Alo instead. Let's use the word nuance in your pitch for Alo Alo. He's not cheating on his wife, he's French. It's a different culture. If you like me and mammoth or you like

Alison, fantasy football league, then you'll love our podcast. Follow the Socially Distant Sports Bar wherever you get your podcasts. The Socially Distant Sports Bar, it's not about asymmetrical overlords. James podcasting from his study. And you have to say that's magnificent.

Wanderys new podcast, Even the Royals And you have to say that's magnificent. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Listen to even the Royals early and ad free on Wondery+. From Wondery, I'm Sarah Hagge. And I'm Slatchy Cole. And this is Scamfluencers. Everyone knows Barbie, but only a few people know the story of her creator, Ruth Handler. Ruth wasn't just the visionary behind the world's most famous doll. She was also a cutthroat businesswoman and proto-girlboss. She was willing to do anything to reach the top, even if she had to lie, cheat, and steal to get there. This is Barbie's Scheme House. Long before she was a golden girl gone bad, Ruth grows up in Denver, the youngest of ten

kids in a family of Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Ruth is raised by her oldest sister, Sarah. We don't know exactly why, but their father's gambling problem probably didn't help. Sarah's ambitious and owns a drug store with her husband. Through her, Ruth learns to go after what she wants. Like when she's 10, Ruth begs her sister to let her work at the drug store. Soon, she's running the cash register and pouring sodas from the soda fountain. One day in the early 1930s, when Ruth is 16, she's driving home in her Ford coupe when

she sees a cute guy on the sidewalk. He's about her age and tall with a thick head of curly dark hair. Ruth can't take her eyes off him. She wants to get a better look. So she honks the horn trying to get his attention. It doesn't work, so she circles a block and tries again. This time, she honks and waves, but the guy still doesn't notice. A couple of weeks later, she sees him at a local Jewish community fundraiser. They lock eyes, and he asks her to dance.

Ruth feels like she's floating on air. She learns that his name is Elliot Handler. He's also the child of Jewish immigrants, although he's from a rougher part of town. Pretty soon, the two start dating, but Ruth's sister, Sarah, doesn't approve. Elliot's an aspiring cartoonist, but his drawings keep getting rejected from the newspaper.

Sarah worries that, like their father, a struggling artist might be unreliable. You know, it's a tough stereotype, but they might be unreliable. You know, it's a tough stereotype, but they might be unreliable. Yeah, I do get it from like an older sister perspective. Yeah. After about a year of dating, Ruth takes Sarah's concerns to heart.

She convinces Elliot they should break up. They're on again, off again for about three years until Ruth breaks things off for good. She's ready for a new challenge, so she packs up her bags and travels a thousand miles away from home, all the way to Hollywood. In 1936, 19-year-old Ruth walks onto the Paramount Pictures studio a lot. Before Ruth left home, one of her sisters gave her the number of a friend who works at Paramount, and now she's

meeting her for lunch at the studio commissary. Ruth is starstruck. She loves being around the magic of filmmaking. So on a whim, she asks her sister's friend how to get a job there. The woman tells her it's not easy, but Ruth likes a challenge. She gets her friend to take her to the personnel office, and not long after,

she lands a highly coveted stenographer job. I love this version of the world where a stenographer job is highly coveted. And where you can get one just because you're in the right place. Yeah, I mean, she's a woman in the 30s. She's making $25 a week, which is more than she's ever earned before. She gets to deliver messages from Lucille Ball and sneak on to film sets. Plus, she's learning a lot about running a big company. She thinks Paramount is run poorly, they're inefficient and waste tons of money, and the employees have terrible work habits.

If she were in charge, she'd run things differently. Ruth is killing it at her first big girl job, but still, there's something missing in her life. True love. Just weeks after Ruth started at Paramount, she's in her apartment in central LA when there's a knock at the door. She answers and sees it's Elliot. He tells her he just couldn't stay away. Ruth is shocked to see him, but she's also thrilled.

She welcomes him with open arms and they start dating again. Elliot starts working in design for lighting companies and taking classes at the prestigious Art Center College of Design. And about two years later, they get married with the reluctant support of Ruth's family. Two years after that, they mark an even more important milestone in their relationship. They start a business together.

With Elliot's background in industrial design and Ruth's experience as a manager, they decide to start a company that makes plastic furniture and accessories. Elliot creates the designs in their garage while Ruth handles sales. And she's a natural. Before long, they open a new shop, hire employees, and start landing huge accounts like Douglas Aircraft. But her life as a working woman stalls in 1941 when Ruth gives birth to a daughter named Barbara.

Three years later, she has a son. His name is Ken. About a year after Ken's birth, Ruth and Elliot visit a former employee named Harold Matson. Everyone calls him Matt. Matt mentions he'd like to build some of Elliot's old designs, and the light goes off for Ruth. This could be the start of a new business.

Matt's on board, and they decide to start making and selling picture frames out of Matt's garage. Elliot designs, Matt builds, and Ruth sells. They need something to call this new venture, so they try out different combinations of their names. The group likes how Matt and Elliot sound together, so they land on the name Mattel, even though it means Ruth's name is left out of the equation. Eventually, Elliot has the prophetic idea

to use the leftover wood scraps to make doll furniture. Their first year in business, Mattel makes $100,000. But the following year, Matt sells a stake in the company. He's too stressed and can't hang with Ruth's hard driving management style. Now, Mattel is just her and Elliot. And they decide to go all in on kids' toys. In 1947, they debut their first major product, a toy ukulele they call the Ukadoodle. they debut their first major product, a toy ukulele they call the Ukadoodle. I like the way you said Ukadoodle. There's only one way to say it, and it's enthusiastically. Yeah, that was very cute.

I would buy a Ukadoodle. Well, in her enthusiasm to sell the new toy, Ruth starts pitching it to stores a couple of months before a huge industry trade show in New York. But that gives other toy companies just enough time to copy the design and bring their own, cheaper version of the Yuka Doodle to the show. Mattel's forced to lower their prices, which cuts into their bottom line. It's a big stumble. But Ruth just takes it as a learning opportunity. To get ahead in the cutthroat toy industry, you need to ignore one of the first lessons for kids.

No stealing. Over the next decade, Mattel starts to stand out from the competition. They release more hit toys, like the Magic 8-Ball, and start advertising their toys on the Mickey Mouse Club. It's a first TV show to directly target kids. And while most companies only advertise around Christmas, Mattel makes a deal to advertise year round. Sales skyrocket. And soon kids all over the country, including

President Eisenhower's grandson are begging for Mattel's new releases. Ruth and Elliot are enjoying their success. So in 1956, they take a well deserved family vacation in Switzerland. And sure, Ruth could just enjoy strolling down cobblestone streets, taking in the sights of a picturesque mountain town. But the thing about Ruth is, she can't stop thinking about work. Out of curiosity, she finds a local toy store, and she's immediately drawn in by their window display. Here she is describing it years later to the BBC.

We passed a toy store and there in the window was a beautiful display of an adult figured doll, about 11 and a half, 12 inches tall. And this doll was sitting on a rope swing dressed in very European ski clothes. Well, Barb and I thought the dolls were just gorgeous. We just flipped. Ruth is excited.

Seeing these dolls confirms for her that she's onto something. A few years ago, Ruth had an idea. She thought Mattel should make a 3D dressable doll that has the shape of an adult woman. She was inspired after watching her daughter and her friends play with paper dolls. Here she is talking about it on the Merv Griffin show.

She was role playing her dream of her teenage years, and she was also with her friends projecting her vision of the adult world around her. And I used to think, my goodness, if you could three-dimensionalize that play pattern, you'd have something. At the time, Elliot and most others at Mattel thought it would be too expensive to make a 3D doll like that. Plus, an adult female doll with boobs?

They doubt any parent will buy a toy that's that sexual. At this point, pretty much every doll for little girls is a baby. To be fair, the doll Ruth sees in Switzerland is a sex doll. She's based on a seductive German comic strip character named Bill Lilly, and the dolls are mostly raunchy gag gifts for bachelor parties.

But Ruth thinks the doll is beautiful, and in her mind, it has potential to be a great children's toy. So she buys a Bill Lilly and brings it back to Mattel's head of research and design, a guy named Jack Ryan. She tells him to find a manufacturer who can make something similar but less suggestive. Jack comes back with something that still looks way too sexual.

He has to literally file the nipples off of the prototype. But eventually they settle on a version that looks acceptable for kids. Sachi, here's what they come up with. Can you describe it? It looks like a Barbie if she got very drunk. And like, she was like more of a Vegas party girl. Her proportions are crazy, and she's wearing a tiny outfit and her head is just snatched. She looks like she got a facelift.

This looks like a doll from Showgirls more than it does a Barbie to me. But Mattel keeps working on the doll and they give her a name, Barbie. Ruth says she named Barbie after her daughter, Barbara, but years later Jack's daughter says Jack named it after his wife, who actually went by the nickname Barbie. While we can't say for sure who's telling the truth, it wouldn't be the first time Ruth borrowed someone else's work in the creation of Barbie. Either way, Ruth's doll is about to hit the market. Ruth believes she can sell anything, and that confidence is about to be put to the test. It's March 1959 and Ruth is anxiously pacing around a hotel room in Manhattan yelling at

her employees. They're in town for the North American International Toy Fair. It's a huge industry event where toy companies show off their new products and retail buyers decide which ones to stock. Ruth's chained smoking and barking orders at everyone, desperate to make everything perfect. Mattel's reserved this entire hotel room for Barbie's big debut. All the beds, chairs, and desks have been taken out,

and in their place are beautiful scenes that show off Barbie dolls in their element. There's Barbie dressed in a bridal gown, descending a grand staircase. Another scene shows Barbie wearing a plantation bell, striped sundress and matching hat. Ruth believes in her creation so much that she's already placed an order to make 20,000 Barbies a week for the next six months. It's a risky bet and if they don't get

any buyers at the toy fair, Barbie could be the end of the company. But Ruth is confident she can sell these toys. Mattel hired a marketing psychologist who conducted some lengthy interviews with kids and parents. He told Ruth that moms hated Barbie. They thought she was too sexy. But young girls were obsessed, just like Ruth thought they would be. And the marketing whiz says that one of the moms basically handed them a strategy to sell the dolls.

At first, she didn't want to buy Barbie for her daughter, but changed her mind when her eight-year-old commented that the doll was well-groomed. So the marketing report recommends pitching the doll as something that will teach girls how to look good and attract men. It's such a bummer to think about us and every other little girl who just plays with this doll

because they like it. And it's just another tool of the drudgery of patriarchal thinking. It's so bleak. It's kind of like everything marketed towards young girls is like about men somehow. But that pitch doesn't seem to work. The toy buyers start rolling through the showroom and they're not interested. A rep from Sears won't even take a sample back to headquarters. Ruth starts panicking. The toy fair is a complete bust.

With no other choice, Mattel presses on. They release Barbie to the consumer market, and it's a flop. They become a laughing stock in the toy industry. Ruth is devastated. But a few months after Barbie's release, school lets out for summer. Kids are at home watching TV and they start paying attention to Barbie's dream-like commercials. Sachi, check out this ad. Barbie's small and so petite Her clothes and figure look so neat

Her dancing outfit rings a bell a party she will cast a smell. This is so camp. It is a little uncanny valley. It looks like the Twilight Zone a bit, but I like it. It makes me want to play with the Barbie. Well, the ad is a massive hit and Barbie's start flying off the shelves. There's enough demand that within months, Mattel produces 22 different versions

of her. Despite the slow start, in the first year alone, Mattel sells around $350,000. By the next year, the company is logging nearly $14 million in revenue and has 1,200 employees. The year after that, Mattel goes public. Suddenly, Ruth's creation is recognizable worldwide. But things are a bit tense. The company is experiencing growth pains, and Ruth is gaining a reputation for being a real hard ass. She's constantly bickering with Jack, and former employees later claim she has a habit

of throwing things and yelling when she hears bad news. One employee recalls Ruth telling underperforming workers that she'd cut their balls off. Ruth might be acting out because Mattel's being sued for copyright infringement. In 1961, the German company behind Bildlili and another company that owns the U.S. rights to the German doll file a joint lawsuit

arguing that Barbie is a Lilly ripoff. In response, Mattel claims that Barbie wasn't inspired ripoff. In response, Mattel claims that Barbie wasn't inspired by Bill Lily, she was actually inspired by 19th century American wooden dolls. But behind closed doors, everyone at Mattel knows that's bullshit. Around this time, an employee happens to find a Lily doll in the company archives. It's the same one that Jack took on his trip to Japan, and it definitely predates Barbie. This employee brings his trip to Japan, and it definitely predates Barbie. This employee brings his findings to Jack, and Sachi, want to read what he says?

Jack says, so? Plagiarize plagiarize. That's why God made your eyes. Now put it back. Iconic. I can't be mad at that. You know what? He's right.

You have eyeballs so you can rip people off. That's why you can see. It's a good argument. It's pretty much the only argument you can make for plagiarism. And two years later, in 1963, Mattel settles the lawsuit. They enter into a licensing deal with Billed Lily. The following year, Mattel buys the Bill Lily design outright along with the German and US patents for around $21,000. This is practically nothing for Mattel,

considering that by now, their stock is inching towards $50 a share. Ruth and Mattel have gotten off easy, but the next time Ruth has a run in with the law, it's gonna be for something that could get her into a lot more trouble. A little birdie tells me, Colin, that you and your youth are quite a promising distance runner.

Middle distance on Till Cider. Which is something that Mo Farah managed to avoid. And really, that's the only difference between the two of us. Everything to play for is back with a two parter to celebrate Olympic summer, Paris 2024, on Mo Farah. Of all of the athletes we could have chosen, why Mo Farah? Well, he's a distance running icon. He did the double, double, 5,000 and 10,000 metre gold at two Olympics.

One of those gold medals formed part of Super Saturday, maybe the most famous day in British Olympic history. It's fantastic to see Sir Mo Farah, but what a career Brendan or Steve. Follow everything to play for on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge seasons early and ad free right now on Wondry+. your podcasts you can binge seasons early and ad free right now on One Tree Plus.

Em, what do you look for in a globally massive pop star? Oh, I want sensationally inappropriate outfits, incredible glamour and an almost unapproachable cool. Well, for the latest series of Terribly Famous, would you settle for some plaid shirts, ginger hair and an acoustic guitar? Er, no. No, I won't. What if there's a loop pedal? Alright, keep talking. That is actually it. It just sounds a bit ordinary. Emily, this is Ed Sheeran. You really won't believe the twists and turns his story takes. Okay fine, sell me Ed. Addiction, shame spirals, family interventions, grief, massive court cases,

obsession. Okay, okay, I'm listening. Ed mapped out his whole career when he was just a teenager, and he has followed that path to some very strange places. How strange? Jennifer Aniston's son, Langer. Just an ordinary guy. Follow Terribly Famous wherever you listen to podcasts, or listen early and ad-free on Wandery Plus on Apple Podcasts or the Wandery app.

With the build Lily lawsuit behind her, Ruth becomes blazer focused on turning Mattel into the biggest toy company in the world. She's involved in every aspect of the business, from walking the factory lines to overseeing the advertising budget to recruiting and hiring. When she reviews financial reports, she has a superhuman ability to zero in on the tiniest of mistakes.

Like, she can tell if the numbers are off by just a few pennies. She marks these errors with her lipstick. This woman's like Cruella DeVille. I love it. Well, Ruth might be creating a hostile work environment, but her high standards are paying off. In 1965, Mattel's sales soared to $100 million,

and they become a Fortune 500 company. And then, Elliott launches his own enormously successful pet project, Hot Wheels. In their first year on the market, the toy cars bring in $25 million. Soon after that, the company's sales double, hitting $200 million per year. They've grown so much, so fast, that Ruth and Elliot decide to bring in someone who knows a lot more about managing the finances of a big deal company. So in 1967, they hire Seymour Rosenberg. He used to handle acquisitions for a billion-dollar electronics company, and he has a reputation

as a financial genius. When Mattel announces that Seymour's coming on board, their stock ticks up even more. But Ruth quickly regrets this hire because it turns out Seymour hates women. Rumor has it that he likes to crawl under female employees' desks to look up their skirts. And he's straight up nasty to Ruth. She says that after Seymour had been at Mattel

for about a week, she went into his office to explain something. He sat back and didn't take any notes. After she was done, he just said, you won't do. Sachi, can you read from Ruth's account of what he said next? He goes on, you're a woman, you're Jewish, and your style is all wrong.

To carry this company into its next stage of development, you are simply the wrong person. I hope she kills him. Yeah, I think that is grounds for murder. Yeah. Ruth writes that after this meeting, she stumbles back into her office and bursts into tears. She wants to fire Seymour, but Elliot worries that getting rid of him so quickly will impact their stock price.

So Ruth agrees to just put up with him. Seymour stays at Mattel, and in his first year, sales keep going up. He pushes Mattel to start buying other companies like a playground manufacturer. And they even start working with CBS to make educational TV aimed at kids. The strategy catapults Mattel's stock even further. But a life-altering medical diagnosis is about to threaten Ruth's health and the health of her company. In June 1970, Ruth's world is turned upside down when she gets diagnosed with breast cancer.

She undergoes a radical mastectomy where her breast, chest muscles, and lymph nodes are all removed. The procedure is brutal. It's much more invasive than today's treatments. And it leaves Ruth with permanent muscle and nerve damage, which is super painful. But the mental toll might be even worse. Though these procedures were common at the time, women didn't talk about it publicly. Ruth feels disfigured and unattractive.

At times, she feels suicidal. She takes five weeks off to recover, and when she returns to the office, she feels like she's lost control of her company. I'm sure that's like a huge piece of it but also if you're a tyrant as a boss for a long time and then you try to get people to like kind of get back under your wing they might not want to fall in line. Yeah, and when she comes back from medical leave, she sees that many divisions have turned in Christmas sale projections that are way too high.

This could lead the company to make way more toys than they could possibly sell. Under normal circumstances, Ruth's obsession with numbers would be a safeguard against this. But during the time she was on leave, things became unmanageable. She later says she tried to reduce expectations But during the time she was on leave, things became unmanageable. She later says she tried to reduce expectations and bring the numbers more in line with reality.

But we have to remember, she's an unreliable narrator. Whether or not Ruth actually sounded the alarm about the numbers, Mattel's orders begin to slow. And then things go from bad to worse. A few months after Ruth's mastectomy, a fire at one of Mattel's factories destroys a bunch of toys. Millions of dollars in Christmas orders go unfulfilled. Elliot's pet project also hits a snag.

The TV commercials for Hot Wheels suggests that the cars are self-propelled, which isn't true. So the FTC forces Mattel to stop airing them. And this leads to fewer orders and a bunch of toy cars piled up in the company's warehouses. But rather than address these failures, Ruth becomes increasingly focused on a totally separate project.

A few months earlier, Ruth and Elliot had flown out to Houston to have a fancy dinner in the Astrodome baseball stadium. The team's owner also happens to be a major stockholder of the Ringling Brothers Circus. He and the co-owner of the circus invited Ruth and Elliot to sell them on the idea of licensing Ringling-themed toys. But somehow, Ruth convinces them that they should sell the company to Mattel instead.

Okay, so Ruth wants to literally buy the circus next? That's her plan? I mean, Ruth's mesmerized by the circus. She thinks the two companies have great marketing synergy, but at least one Ringling executive objects. He's heard that Mattel isn't doing as well as her numbers would suggest, but the deal is worth more than $40 million in shares of both companies. Mattel submits documents to Ringling Brothers Brothers stating that nothing in their financial disclosures

is untrue or misleading. On January 5, 1971, the two companies officially sign the paperwork. Soon after the deal gets announced, Mattel's stock reaches a new high. But while Ringling Brothers is a circus company, Mattel is the one going through financial acrobatics. Soon, everyone's gonna realize that Ruth has been flying without a net. Not long after the merger,

Mattel has to deal with the fallout from their overly ambitious sales estimates. Stores have been left with extra stock, so they've stopped placing big orders. But Ruth needs to keep the stock price up, or she risks losing the company. So, she and the executives start messing with the accounting. They delay expenses further and further out into the future. They create fake invoices and bills.

Like, even though some of their buyers haven't paid their bills, Mattel says they got the money anyway. They forge customer signatures and exaggerate the insurance says they got the money anyway. They forged customer signatures and exaggerate the insurance money they got from that factory fire. Later on, Ruth blames Seymour and some other executives for these tactics. She says they hid the truth from her

and that the company had become so big she couldn't keep an eye on everything herself. But she's also the president of Mattel, so it's hard to believe she didn't have a hand in the fraud. Besides, other employees remember things differently. Here's what a former VP says But she's also the president of Mattel, so it's hard to believe she didn't have a hand in the fraud. Besides, other employees remember things differently. Here's what a former VP says in the Netflix documentary series, The Toys That Made Us.

And so she manufactured the orders. She sat with the people in charge of all that stuff at Mattel, and the bottom line is she told them just to lie. That's a very simple scam, Sarah. Sometimes you and I have to untangle really complicated schemes, but just lie is amongst the simplest. Well, not even lying keeps Mattel afloat. In March of 1972, a few months after the Ringling brothers

merger, the stock price falls and Mattel posts its first ever loss. In May, Ruth and Seymour attempt another merger in a last ditch effort to save the company. But Ruth discovers that Seymour's trying to take over as president behind her back. So she kills a deal and forces Seymour out. After that, things really go off the rails.

The next month, one of Mattel's largest investors dumps almost half a million shares, causing the stock to plummet from $20 to $16. Then Ruth and Elliott sell off some of their own stock right before the price drops even more. Ruth says she sold the shares to help her daughter buy a dream house. But some shareholders sue, alleging insider trading. A few months later, Ruth and Elliott escaped to take a cruise through the Caribbean.

Ruth calls her secretary to check in during a stop in St. Thomas. And while the secretary says everything is normal, Ruth feels like something is not right. They cut their trip short and rush back to headquarters. When they get to the office, Ruth learns that Mattel's creditors want her replaced. They don't trust her to run the company. In March 1973, the board demotes her to co-chairman. Then, a group of angry shareholders file five class action lawsuits against Mattel and several of its executives, including Ruth, Elliot, and Seymour. By June, the stock has fallen to just $5 a share.

There's blood in the water and everyone's coming for Ruth. She's always been able to sweet talk her business partners. And now she's caught the attention of people who can see right through her act, the SEC. For the next few years, Ruth keeps showing up to work knowing that no one wants her there. She's been demoted and stripped of most of her responsibilities. And while she insists on attending meetings, people mostly ignore what she has to say.

When employees see her in the hallways, they turn the other way. Eventually, her and Elliot's co-chair positions get eliminated too. They still have their board seats, but they're pretty much ousted from daily operations. Ruth feels like an outcast, and she's depressed and bored. She's lived to work since she was 10, and now she has nothing to do. So she takes after her dad and spends days gambling at casinos on the outskirts of LA.

One time she loses 50 grand at craps. Elliot tries to stop her, but she doesn't quit until she wins it all back. In May, 1975, an SEC investigator visits Ruth in her office. And while law enforcement usually struggles to get suspects to open up, Ruth can't stop monologuing about her version of events.

The investigator barely gets a word in. It's possible that Ruth's trying to get her story straight, but it's also possible she just needs someone to talk to. And sure, Ruth knows literally everything about Mattel, but anytime the investigator asks a question that could implicate her, she says things like, I don't recall, or I'm having trouble separating recent recollections from past memory. So many words to say so little.

Honestly, I'd just be exhausted and be like, sure, that's a normal way to speak. recent recollections from past memory. So many words to say so little. Honestly, I'd just be exhausted and be like, sure, that's a normal way to speak. And later that year, Ruth and Elliot settled to shareholder lawsuits for more than $30 million. They also give up 2 million of their own shares. This is one of those business reverses Ruth's evasive about on the Merv Griffin show.

Then in October, Ruth and Elliot leave Mattel for good. A month later, the SEC report gets released and it's a mixed bag for Ruth. On one hand, they don't think she's guilty of insider trading, but she's still one of the executives blamed for Mattel's failures. Ruth is fired up, so she responds by sending the SEC investigator a 27-page handwritten letter in which she denies all wrongdoing. Ruth's down, but she is not out. While she may be losing one company, she's going to start another.

By this point, Ruth's in her late 50s and heartbroken to be away from her life's work, but she hasn't given up on her career entirely. As she reflects on her experience as a cancer survivor, she thinks she might be able to pivot into something more positive. After her surgery, Ruth had a terrible experience shopping for a bra. She would visit store after store, looking for something that would look good and feel comfortable. But when she asked the sales clerk about a prosthetic breast, they all talked in whispers.

Eventually, someone gave her a surgical bra with lumpy pads. It looked terrible. Luckily, Ruth had the money and connections to find a sculptor who could make something much more flattering. Now, thinking back on that experience, she thinks there might be something bigger. She could start a new company that would make prosthetic breasts accessible to women who've had mastectomies.

She enlists that same sculptor for help. She hopes a new business will both help women and fight against the stigma of breast cancer and surgery. She calls it Nearly Me. It's such an interesting kind of like pink washing to her legacy here. I think you're right, because Ruth uses Nearly Me to distance herself from the investor lawsuits and potential federal action.

She travels all over the country, lands boutique space in Bloomingdale's, and is featured in People magazine. She also makes a bunch of TV appearances, including on the Today Show. But this new do-gooder persona can't erase her past mistakes. And a judge is about to decide how she's gonna pay for them. Ruth might have built her career on Barbie, but her future looks more like a magic eight-Paul.

Hello, I'm Alice Levine. And I'm Matt Ford, and we're the hosts of Wanderers podcast British Scandal. Where we tell you outrageous tales of how the mighty have fallen on these pleasant pastures. In our latest series, we're donning the tennis whites and downing the Pims for a Wimbledon-themed scandal. Yes, we're telling the story of Boris Becker. How he went from being a tennis child star Wimbledon champion to having a one-night stand in a London bar that turned into a headline grabbing paternity row.

And then tax evasion that saw him behind bars just a couple of miles from Wimbledon Centre Court. So if you need something just a little juicier than the current rolling coverage of aces and juices and people queuing for things, then this might just be for you. To find out the full story, follow British Scandal wherever you listen to podcasts or listen early and ad free on Wondery Plus on Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app. More than two years after Ruth leaves Mattel in February 1978, she's indicted by a federal grand jury on 10 counts. They include mail fraud, falsifying business records, and making false statements to the SEC and banks. Seymour and a few other Mattel executives are named in the indictment too.

The charges against Ruth carry a punishment of a $57,000 fine, about $275,000 in today's money, along with a maximum sentence of 41 years in prison. When she goes to the federal courthouse in downtown LA a couple of weeks later, she enters a not guilty weeks later, she enters a not guilty plea, and she's told to follow an officer into the basement of a courthouse. Ruth figures she's just going to sign some papers and go home, but before she knows it,

the officer is throwing her into a holding cell. Ruth starts screaming. Just before the door slams shut, her lawyer rushes in and explains that she's not supposed to be incarcerated. The officer lets her go. Ruth maintains her innocence, but pleading not guilty is still a huge risk. If she loses her case, she could go to prison for years. So based on advice from her lawyer, Ruth decides to plead no contest. Ruth and Seymour are sentenced on the same day. The judge tells them that their crimes are, quote,

exploitative, parasitic and disgraceful to anything in society. But he doesn't send them to prison. Instead, Ruth and Seymour are ordered to pay the maximum fine and serve five years probation with 500 hours of community service each year. At the time, that's the longest public service sentence ever handed out. Ruth offers to give away hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of nearly-me bras to count towards

those community service hours. But a probation officer points out that would basically be PR for Ruth's company, and the judge does not allow it. I love her attempt to try to turn community service into an advertising vehicle for her new business. It's truly iconic. Instead, she takes on clerical work at her Jewish temple, but she finds a work to be demeaning. Once again, Ruth grows severely depressed. But she finds a work to be demeaning. Once again, Ruth grows severely depressed.

Then, with the guidance of a new probation officer, Ruth helps start a foundation to provide job training for troubled young men. Based on this work, she asks to have her sentence cut short, and it works. Ruth gets released from probation in 1982, about 18 months early. With the Mattel scandal officially behind her, Ruth sets out to rebuild one of the few things she still controls, her personal brand. A lot of people would lie low after getting released from probation,

but not Ruth. She immediately takes center stage. She enters negotiations to turn her life story into a made-for-TV movie. She starts giving talks about what it's like to be a woman in business. She even poses as a model for Nearly Me's new line of swimsuits. Sachi, take a look. Alright, so we have a photo of Ruth on a boat. She's wearing one of her swimsuits and like a very crispy vacation,

you know, like that white long sleeve that you wear after a day at the beach. So dreamy. She's got big sunglasses on. It's very Cruella DeVille in her retirement era. I love it. Yeah, I mean, it's very obvious that Ruth is living it up. And nobody seems to care about Ruth's smirky past. In the 80s, Ruth starts blaming her problems on sexism. She says, quote, a great deal of what went on was colored by the fact that I was a woman.

She also says that if she hadn't faced so much adversity, she would have never started nearly me. People eat it up. In 1989, she and Elliot, as in love as ever, get inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame. In the 90s, Ruth appears at conventions and autographs Barbies. She releases a memoir called Dream Doll.

Also, Mattel's new female CEO invites her to their headquarters and awards Ruth with a Woman of Distinction Prize. When Ruth takes the stage, the whole company gives her a standing ovation. Ruth dies in 2002 at the age of 85. More than 20 years later, Rhea Pearlman plays a version of her in the 2023 movie Barbie. The script pays lip service to her financial crimes. Baby, I am Mattel.

Until the IRS got to me, but that's another movie. The movie rakes in over a billion dollars at the box office and creates a whole new generation of fans. Now, when the Polly Pocket movie comes out, you'll know who to blame. Sachi, has hearing the story changed the way you think about Barbie? No, I love Barbie. I love Barbie even when she's full of shit. This scam actually reminded me a little bit of Leona Helmsley,

who was like a real estate tycoon in New York. It's so interesting to watch women use their gender in their scam. Like, simultaneously, all these people are underestimating them because they're women. But then also these women are using sexism as an argument for why they got popped. Like it's fascinating. It is so fascinating because it's like, is the point that without sexism,

they could have been as bad as men and gotten away with it? Which isn't really a defense of women's rights. She did something incredible as a woman in that time. It's undeniable that she was probably treated unfairly and dealt with so much shit. But is the end goal just starting a business to be important as a woman? Do you even care about Barbie?

I mean, maybe the story is proof positive that, like, power corrupts anybody. Any amount of power can take anybody from reasonable person to unreasonable person. And it just depends on the individual and it depends on what that power gives them. You know, and for Ruth, it was through these dolls and through this company.

100%. And also I think there's this thing that happens when people do something incredible against the odds. They are just kind of like, I'm actually smarter and everyone should listen to me no matter what, and I will make you listen to me. And you're kind of like, I don't think that's really how it works. And it also makes me change what I perceive to be great.

Like, there was a time many, many moons ago where someone starting something from scratch was very impressive to me. And I'm kind of just like, how many people did you step on? I think I learned, just like I did when I played with Barbies, that girls can do anything. Even bullshit. You know, maybe it would have been a little bit more interesting if they touched on these dubious elements a bit more in the movie.

Who knows? Release the Ruth Handler cut. I also, as much as Ruth kind of sucks, is she the worst? I don't know. No, I mean, listen, we deal with such true monsters on this show that her scam is comparatively quaint. And again, I love Barbie, so I am willing to watch this in the patina of a doll I used to like as a kid. Barbie is just Barbie now. This Barbie scams. This Barbie scams.

Oh, that's great. There should be a scammer Barbie. And she comes with like scam accessories, like a credit card skimmer, false paperwork, several fake phones. She has a lot of wigs that she uses for different identities and lots of different Instagram accounts. Yeah, I really think we're onto something here.

Mattel, call us. We'll help you with the design. She can look like me and Sarah mashed together. If you like Scamplincerz, you can listen to every episode early and ad-free right now by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondry.com slash survey. This is Barbie's Scheme House. I'm Sarah Hagge and I'm Sachi Cole. If you have a tip for us on a story that you think we should cover, please email us at scamfluencers at wendree.com. We use many sources in our research. A few that

were particularly helpful were Barbie and Ruth by Robin Gerber, The Toys That Made Us on Netflix, and the archival documents provided to us by the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Liz Galales wrote this episode. Additional writing by us, Sachi Cole and Sarah Hagge. Eric Thurm is our story editor. Fact checking by Will Tavlin. Sound design by James Morgan. Additional audio assistance provided by Adrian Tapia.

Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Freesound Sync. Our managing producers are Desi Blaylock and Matt Gant. Janine Cornelow and Stephanie Jens are our development producers. Our associate producers are Charlotte Miller and Lexi Peery. Our producers are John Reed, Yasmin Ward and Kate Young. Our senior producers are Sarah Enni and Ginny Bloom. Our executive producers are Jenny Lauer Beckman, Marshall Louie and Erin O'Flaherty for Wondery. Wondery. I'm Alaina, an autopsy technician. And I'm Ash, a hairstylist.

And we just love swapping stories about all of the morbid things that fascinate us. And if you do too, join us on our podcast, Morbid. It's a safe space to let your weirdo flag fly. On Morbid, we cover dark historical events, sinister science, unnerving paranormal events, and sordid high society murders. We also dive deep into the most notorious crimes in history. Our podcast is grounded in rigorous and painstaking research. We're also not afraid to read a f***. times in history.