They Made America : Gamblers (2004)

Genres - Historical Film  |   Run Time - 60 min.  |   Countries - United States  |  
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Synopsis

The conclusion profiles three "Gamblers": Barbie doll creator Ruth Handler, Pan Am's Juan Trippe and IBM's Thomas Watson Jr. They "explored the future of the possible," says Harold Evans, on whose book this series is based. Handler, who cofounded Mattel with her husband, thought of the idea of an adult doll because she realized that "little girls wanted to be more than mothers," says narrator David Ogden Stiers. "They wanted to be big girls." Trippe began the first international air service in the 1920s, but he's best known for championing jetliners. "The world opened up when the 707 came," says Evans. And Watson built on his father's legacy---and gambled the company future---by spearheading IBM's "360" system computers in the 1960s. The 360, says author Kevin Maney, "defines for many people what a computer is."