On this day in 1963, the Hula-Hoop is patented by Wham-O’s co-founder, Arthur "Spud" Melin. An estimated 25 million Hula-Hoops were sold in its first four months of production alone.
The Hula Hoop may be a fad of the 1950’s, but people have been entertaining themselves with large circular hoops made of grape vines and stiff grasses all over the ancient world. More than 3000 years ago, Egyptian children played with large hoops made of dried grape vines. The hoop was either rolled along the ground or swung around the waist. During the 1500’s a “hooping” craze was a popular past time for adults as well as children, and doctors blamed numerous back injuries and heart attacks to “hooping.”
In 1948, friends Arthur Melin and Richard Knerr founded a company in California to sell a slingshot they created to shoot meat up to falcons they used for hunting. The company’s name, Wham-O, came from the sound the slingshots supposedly made. Wham-O eventually branched out from slingshots, selling boomerangs and other sporting goods. Its first hit toy, a flying plastic disc known as the Frisbee, debuted in 1957. The Frisbee was originally marketed under a different name, the Pluto Platter, in an effort to capitalize on America's fascination with UFOs.
Melina and Knerr were inspired to develop the Hula-Hoop after they saw a wooden hoop that Australian children twirled around their waists during gym class. Wham-O began producing a plastic version of the hoop, dubbed "Hula" after the hip-gyrating Hawaiian dance of the same name, and demonstrating it on Southern California playgrounds. Hula-Hoop mania took off from there.
The enormous popularity of the Hula-Hoop was short-lived and within a matter of months, the masses were on to the next big thing. However, the Hula-Hoop never faded away completely and still has its fans today.
I don’t know if Melina and Knerr had more in mind than a simple hoop with which to entertain ourselves, but check out the You Tube link below and see what Cirque du Soleil performer, Elena Lev, can do with a hula hoop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztXmzMvSXZ0
No comments:
Post a Comment