The Mattel Toy Factory 1955

Businessman Harold "Matt" Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Elliot and Ruth Handler founded Mattel as Mattel Creations in January 1945 in a garage in Los Angeles The company name chosen is a portmanteau of the surname of Matson and first name of Elliot, with former chairman and CEO Bob Eckert revealing at a 2013 Christmas Day Peninsula Seniors lecture that the founders, according to Elliot, couldn't fit Ruth's name into that of their company. The company began selling picture frames and later dollhouse furniture out of the scraps from those frames. Matson sold his share and stake to the Handlers due to poor health the following year, with Handler's wife, Ruth, taking over his stake. In 1947, the company had its first successful toy, a ukulele called "Uke-A-Doodle". The company was incorporated in Hawthorne, California in 1948.[18] In 1950, the Magic 8-Ball, currently owned by Mattel themselves, was invented by Albert C. Carter and Abe Bookman. Mattel started television advertisement when it became the first sponsor of the Mickey Mouse Club TV series. The Fisher-Price Corn Popper, and the Xylophone was released in 1957. Mattel would ultimately acquire Fisher-Price on August 20, 1993. The Barbie doll debuted on March 9, 1959, going on to become the company's best-selling toy in history. In 1960, Mattel introduced Chatty Cathy, a talking doll that was voiced by June Foray and revolutionized the toy industry, leading to pull-string talking dolls and toys flooding the market throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In 1961, Mattel introduced the Ken doll. The company went public in 1960 and became listed on the New York Stock Exchange 3 years later. Mattel also acquired a number of like-minded companies during the 1960s.