The Night Belongs To Ruth Handler

Who was Ruth Handler? Why, the inventor of the Barbie doll, who happened to be born on this day in 1916.

According to Wikipedia, Handler adapted the Barbie doll from the German “Bild Lilli” doll because she believed it “was important to a girl’s esteem that she plays with a doll with breasts.” Barbie may not necessarily have been beneficial to every girl’s self-esteem, but Handler also undertook other cool projects. After having a mastectomy, she was dissatisfied with breast prostheses available at the time and developed her own, which she called the “Nearly Me.” She also helped write the film Barbie and the Rockers: Out of this World.

If, however, you’re not a Barbie fan, you can still raise a Friday glass to Robert Mapplethorpe, Kathy Griffin, or Matthew McConaughey, all born on this date. Or to these adorable owls — I’m not sure when they were born, but I love the noise they make.