It is known for creating and marketing many popular toys for nearly 70 years, including the Hula hoop, Frisbee, Slip 'N Slide, Super Ball, Trac-Ball, Silly String, Hacky sack, Wham-O Bird Ornithopter and Boogie Board,[1] many of which have become genericized trademarks. Dad was the extrovert, a more sociable people person, so he was the one who did most interviews and the PR in the later years. 1948: WHAM-O founded. By 2006 Wham-O's product line included several groups of related items using licensed brand names. Just why Melin and Knerr changed the disks name to Frisbee in 1958 remains debatable. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. Wham-O was also responsible for a few ideas that did not etch themselves into popular history as indelibly as the Frisbee, the Hula Hoop or the Superball. Youd never see a company making both toys and weapons now. Richard Knerr, co-founder of the company responsible for turning the Hula Hoop, Frisbee and many other ingenious creations into iconic toys died Monday at age 82. Resend Activation Email. With some of their biggest successes selling for under a dollar, no one was priced out of enjoying them. Knerr and his partner, Wham-O co-founder Arthur "Spud" Melin, specialized in fun, with the Hula Hoop, Slip 'N Slide, Silly String and Super Ball, entertaining countless Both the Hula Hoop and Instant Fish sprang from Melins interest in other parts of the world. We wanted it to be a sport.. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. Andersons husband consulted Arthur Melin, a business acquaintance, about partnering with Melins company, Wham-O, one of the biggest toy manufacturers at the Whatever the truth, in 1948 two ex-army pilots adapted the principle, and, in 1951, one Fred Morrison used war surplus plastic to produce the Rotary Fingernail Clipper, later known as the Flyin' Saucer. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. ''. (It was also 1958, before the advent of more sophisticated distractions.) Long story short, after much effort and rejection, Spud finally got financing for his Hula Hoop, and Wham-O went on to sell some 25 million hoops the first year, making Spudwas the quiet, kind of brainy idea man and more introverted, says Lori Knerr, Richs daughter. Melin and his wife, Suzy, became aware of children in Australia and elsewhere around the South Pacific playing with a bamboo or rattan ring by swinging it around their hips. Wham-Os Pluto Platter, meant to capitalize on the 1950s obsession with space and flying saucers, had a wobbly motion to it. A system error has occurred. Head to one of these 8 L.A. spots for the perfect spring paddle. 5 March 1963 The Hula Hoop is patented - PressReader They did not know what to make of it until another friend from Australia showed them how to gyrate their hips, thus spinning the hoop. Hula Hoop - History's Best Toys: All-TIME 100 Greatest Toys - TIME (Stingley got a penny per ball.) About 600,000 were made. Wham-O was resold to Mattel Inc. in 1994 and to a group of investors in 1997. When the rains came, the eggs hatched and fish emerged overnight. Since then, he has been involved in several experimental treatments, Mrs. Melin said, and he has willed his brain to the University of California at Irvine, where he was treated. Knerr once had a baby elephant delivered to Melins wife, Suzy, after Melin went on an African safari without him. It was inexplicable. ''He said it would be huge. An hour later, Knerr had the elephant returned to the circus. Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. Wham-O headquarters in Carson, California, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Richard Knerr, 82; co-founded Wham-O, maker of the Hula Hoop and Frisbee", "Super Bowl Owes Its Name to a Bouncy Ball History in the Headlines", "12 Lesser-Known Wham-O Products You Have to See to Believe", "Airgun makers that spawned firearms | Air gun blog Pyramyd Air Report", "Monster Super Gorilla Giant Horseshoe Magnet by Wham-o", "Super Sneaky Squirtin Stick Trademark #73131837, Owner: WHAM-O", "RETRO REVIEW: Wham-O Giant Comics #1 (April 1967)", "MTU Physics Alumni Department History Exhibits BS Degrees", "Get Yourself a Magic Window, just like the popular 70's toy for all ages! Tilted flip curves. [6][7] 25 million were sold in four months, and in two years sales reached more than 100 million. There was no one like Melin or Knerr sitting over a drawing board and trying to come up with an outlandish product. "Then their barber recommended they put an ad in a magazine and try mail order," he says. You may request to transfer up to 250,000 memorials managed by Find a Grave. Other companies began making their own versions, and within four months Americans were spinning 20 million of the hoops and organizing national competitions. The panel were stumped by the chief painter at the White House. Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request? While visiting that continent he saw a little fish that buried its eggs in mud during the dry season. Melin and Knerr were boyhood friends, mugging for cameras and dreaming up ideaslike a mink button that could cover a womans naveltoo ridiculous for larger companies to ever consider. This is a carousel with slides. "They really liked enjoying life and enjoying their toys, and they really wanted to share that sense of fun," he says. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? In 1957, an Australian visiting California told them, quite casually, that in his home country, children twirled bamboo hoops around their waists in gym class. Smith has 10 children, including a daughter who works as a film producer. Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. [4] The powerful slingshot was adopted by clubs for competitive target shooting and small game hunting. Include gps location with grave photos where possible. The childhood friends formed WHAM-O in 1948, as college students, when they began making and selling slingshots in a garage. GREAT NEWS! In the 1960's, the company says, it sold 20 million SuperBalls until it dropped the product. Enter a date in the format M/D (e.g., 1/1), https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hula-hoop-patented, Marvin Miller elected first full-time MLB Players Association executive director, Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler hits #1 with Ballad of the Green Berets, Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson begins, Jim Morrison is charged with lewd behavior at a Miami concert. A local barber suggested they sell the contraption. An estimated 25 million Hula-Hoops were sold in its first four months of production alone. They had her sign for it first. It was like a new medium, says Tim Walsh, a Wham-O historian and author of The Wham-O Super Book. In 1957, Toltoys of Australia brought the concept of the Hula Hoop to Knerr and Melin. In 1982, Spud Melin and Knerr sold Wham-O to the Kransco Group for $12 million, but Spud Melin kept up his interest in gadgets - at one point, he patented a two-handed tennis racket with an adjustable handle. But they wanted to see what they could do with it.. Introduced Hula-Hoop and Frisbee The Irish Times If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. This browser does not support getting your location. According to Ripleys Believe It or Not, in April 2004, a performer at the Big Apple Circus in Boston simultaneously spun 100 hoops around her body. However, the Hula Hoop never faded away completely and still has its fans today. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved, 12 Wacky Products from Wham-O You Have to See to Believe, 12 WackyProducts from Wham-O You Have to See to Believe. Were it not for a chemist and a former World War II spy, things might have stopped being fun. Knerr and childhood buddy Arthur "Spud" Melin started a slingshot-selling business in 1948 in Pasadena and called their company Wham-O after what they said was the sound a slingshot made when it hit something. They just banned Elvis Presley's hips from the Ed Sullivan show.' Knerr and Melin marketed their products directly to kids, including demonstrating their toys at playgrounds. Ben Martin/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images Ten years ago, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. The bosses explained that they patented the mechanical principle behind it, the ratio of waist to diameter: "Small hoops or big waists just won't work.". They were buddies to the end.. His great success story was the Hula Hoop. Arthur Spud Melin - Crunchbase Person Profile When a ball dreams, it dreams it's a Frisbee," they said. An estimated 25 million Hula Hoops were sold in its first four months of production alone. In 1957, an Australian visiting California told them offhand that in his home country, children Please enter your email and password to sign in. Save . Richard Knerr, co-founder of Wham-O - Santa Rosa Press Democrat version made of colorful plastic tubing. A series of equally ingenious toys including Slip 'N Slide, Silly String, the Hula Hoop and the insanely bouncy Superball would soon follow. Magic Window (1971), two 30 by 30 centimetres (12in 12in) oval plates of heavy clear plastic, with a narrow channel between them containing "microdium" (glass) crystal sands of varying colors that created complex patterns when shifted. Failed to delete flower. The ball became so popular that football's biggest game, the Super Bowl, was a pun on it.. WebRichard Knerr and Arthur Spud Melin, founders of the Wham-O Company, are the architects of the biggest fad of all time the hula hoop! Neon bending! Travel broadens one, it is often said, and it certainly gave Melin ideas. While the hula hoop never went away, it has had a bit of a revival in the past five years with popular hoop fitness classes. The oft-told story behind the origin of the Hulu-Hoop is the tale of two childhood buddies named Richard Knerr and Arthur Spud Melin, the founders of Wham-O, who first heard of kids gyrating hoops around theirs waists for fun when a visiting Australian mentioned its popularity back home. Increasingly, kids were turning less to outdoor play and more toward higher-priced electronic offerings, which meant bigger profit margins for companies. The next year it was refined and reintroduced as the Frisbee.For years, college students, especially at Yale, had played a game of catch with pie tins (or in some versions of the story, lids of cookie jars) made by the Frisbie Pie Company of Bridgeport, Conn. Mr. Knerr said in an interview yesterday that the similarity of the name of Wham-O's disk to the name of the student game was a coincidence. All Rights Reserved, Hula Hoop promoter Arthur Spud Melin dies. Knerr was also quoted in 1997 as saying the name came from a comic strip called Mr. Wham-O, Melin and Knerrs California-based amusements company, had set up so many factories and rolled out so many Hulas that the surplus of inventory robbed them of profits. Verify and try again. They had no corporate ego, willing and happy to allow inventors like Springley and Morrison to pose with their creations. Greatest toy invention in years! ad copy blared. He sold the design to Wham-O in 1957. This inspired Melin to create the .mw-parser-output .vanchor>:target~.vanchor-text{background-color:#b1d2ff}Instant Fish product, an aquarium kit consisting of some of the fish eggs, and some mud in which to hatch them. Art (Spud) Melin and Richard (Rich) Knerr had a knack for fun, and an open door for outside inventor ideas. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! Rather, he said, the name came from a comic strip of the era called Mr. Frisbie. You can navigate days by using left and right arrows. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Wham-O was the comic book sound effect they assigned to their ball bearings hitting a target, and a good name for a company that specialized in launching projectiles: blowguns, throwing knives, and tomahawks followed. By various estimates, 20 million to 40 million were sold that year worldwide. Try again. 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. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. The History of the Frisbee Learn more about managing a memorial . There is a problem with your email/password. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. The cause was Alzheimer's disease, his wife, Suzy, said.Born in Los Angeles, Mr. Melin, known by his childhood nickname Spud, formed Wham-O with a friend, Richard Knerr, in 1948, while they were working for their fathers and attending the University of Southern California.Their inspiration came from a slingshot they had made while hunting with falcons, which was used to shoot meat up to the birds.
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