Litigation, changing tastes, and corporate shrinkage would eventually undo Wham-O. And when the novelty products missedlike the "Mr. Hootie" egg rake, meant to help users pluck out bits of egg shell from a cracked eggat least Melin and Knerr managed to amuse themselves. When the rains came, the eggs hatched. Hula Hoop mania took off from there. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. Mr. Melin became active in conservative causes like immigration reform, but continued to pursue inventions. With plastic molding so inexpensive, hoop hobbyists didnt necessarily have any brand loyaltyparticularly if the generic was cheaper. When the two became interested in falconry in their early 20s, they crafted a slingshot to shoot food into the air to train their birds. Anyone can read what you share. One of the best relationships on Merlin was between the series' eponymous protagonist and Camelot's king. Every toy company has a submission policy, says Walsh, who also designs games. Today, Wham-O is owned by the Aguilar Group, a private investment company, and still markets their trademark products. In the 1960's, the company says, it sold 20 million SuperBalls until it dropped the product. With his business partner, Richard Rich Knerr, he successfully marketed the Frisbee, as well as several other joyful additions to human silliness, such as the Hula Hoop, the Slip N Slide and Silly Putty. Wham-O took a fair share of wild swings in the marketplace. The enterprise ended with the oysters being dumped into a nearby bay because they could not get the venture off the ground.Wham-O's first incursion into the mainstream came in 1955, when it bought the idea for a plastic flying disk from a building inspector named Walter Frederick Morrison. In 1965, while Hula Hoops were still rolling out the door, Melin and Knerr introduced the Superball, a small rubber ball with an exceptionally high bounce invented and patented by chemist Norman H. Stingley. They showed little regret. They began demonstrating the toy in parks and on television, and the fad quickly went viral. He was 77 and had Alzheimer's disease. Knerr, Walsh says, had sellers remorse right away. ''Spud brought it home and showed it to me,'' Mrs. Melin recalled yesterday. As Wham-O changed ownership, its new management adjusted this formula to accommodate the changing toy industry, which had increasingly complex toys and fewer distribution channels. 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. Melin became active in conservative causes like immigration reform, but continued to pursue inventions. Water Wiggle (1962), a plastic-enclosed curved nozzle that, when powered by a garden hose, became airborne. "No sensation has ever swept the country like the Hula Hoop," author Richard Johnson wrote in his book "American Fads." Wham-O first tried to sell the disk as the Pluto Platter, an attempt to cash in on the country's fascination with unidentified flying objects. An estimated 25 million Hula-Hoops were sold in its first four months of production alone. But the imported fish produced no hatchable eggs. Neon bending! Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! Indeed, throughout their careersMelinandKnerrrefused to becomecorporate suits, forever hunting for things that made them smile. 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. The enterprise ended with the oysters being dumped into a nearby bay because they could not get the venture off the ground. Arthur Melin, 77, a Promoter of the Hula-Hoop, Is Dead, https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/01/business/arthur-melin-77-a-promoter-of-the-hula-hoop-is-dead.html. But nothing could compare to the whirlwind force of the Hula-Hoop, which Wham-O introduced the next year. "(It) remains the standard against which all national crazes are measured.". In 1982, Melin and Knerr sold Wham-O to the Kransco Group for $12m, but Melin kept up his interest in gadgets - at one point, he They expanded their Wham-O company to the corner of a failed grocery store, then to a factory, and went into pellet guns, throwing knives and boomerangs. Wham-O introduced the Hula Hoop in 1958 and was soon producing 20,000 a day. The two stayed on as consultants for several years, but it wasnt the same. More importantly, they were actually having as much fun as people thought they were. After selling more than 100 million Hula Hoops in 16 months, Arthur Spud Melin and Rich Knerr took a look at their books. ", Ben Martin/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images. He left behind a legacy of fun. All Rights Reserved, Hula Hoop promoter Arthur Spud Melin dies. Try again. Promoting the creations was a family affair. WebEd Sullivan (2): Directed by Franklin Heller. Melin is survived by his wife, Suzy; five daughters; a brother; and 11 grandchildren. 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. There is a problem with your email/password. Search above to list available cemeteries. Wham-O began selling the Hula Hoop a short time later and eventually would sell 25 million of them. The domestic size sold 20 million. Sales skyrocketed, reaching 100 million before Mattel eventually bought out Wham-O. This is a carousel with slides. Spud Melin's genius saw the potential, and, after prototype trials with Pasadena children, manufactured, with Knerr, a hollow cylinder in light, durable polyurethane. 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. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing it? Family members linked to this person will appear here. 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. Weve updated the security on the site. [6][7] 25 million were sold in four months, and in two years sales reached more than 100 million. Ed Headrick looked over the leftover plastic from the Hula implosion and had an idea. Old ones were retired, for a few years or permanently, as their popularity waned. Both born in 1925, Knerr made rubber band guns out of apple crates and peddled them at the age of 9; Melin caught and sold halibut door to door. Today, Woodmans net worth is estimated at $800 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, which is actually much lower than his peak valuation of $4.5 billion. He was a good player in his own right, earning the nickname Steady Ed for his even throws. When a ball dreams, it dreams it's a Frisbee," they said. 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. Pottery! The Hula had been nothing less than an international sensation, hypnotizing adults and children into rhythmically twisting just to keep a plastic ring from falling to the floor. Anyone, anywhere, could submit an idea to them and potentially get a royalty deal. Richard Knerr (19252008[2]) and Arthur "Spud" Melin (19242002[3]), two University of Southern California graduates who were friends since their teens, were unhappy with their jobs and decided to start their own business. Melin passed away in 2002; Knerr, in 2008. All rights reserved. Overview. Made of aluminum spars, wood, steel wire and mylar, it was brightly painted to resemble a hawk or owl. The companys name, Wham-O, came from the sound the slingshots supposedly made. Edit Jobs Section. All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. He patented a design for a two-handed tennis racket with an adjustable handle.Ten years ago, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. For about a year in the 1950s, the company markets their sporting goods under the name WAMO. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. He was 77. 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. 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He patented a design for a two-handed tennis racket with an adjustable handle. He sold the design to Wham-O in 1957. Wham-O's most famous contribution to silliness, the Hula-Hoop, was born in 1957. By 1948, they had moved into Knerr's Los Angeles garage, where Spud Melin cut slingshots with a handsaw, Knerr sanded, and both sold, personally first, then by mail-order and through dealers all over the United States. Headricka veteran who spied on Nazi movements during World War IIpaid college kids to toss the disc on campuses. An estimated 25 million Hula Hoops were sold in its first four months of production alone. Arthur Melin, the co-founder of Wham-O, which introduced fads like the Hula-Hoop and lasting diversions like the Frisbee, died on Friday at a care center in Costa Mesa, Calif.He was 77 and had lived in Irvine, Calif. Failed to delete memorial. Humans have been hula hooping for hundreds of years. Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan and Matt Mullen. Their first major development was a buy-in - the Frisbee. Were it not for a chemist and a former World War II spy, things might have stopped being fun. The email does not appear to be a valid email address. Ads claimed it could make bubbles "as long as a bus". Save . Melin thought he could sell chunks of egg-embedded mud, instruct buyers to add water, and provide fish to delight the millions. Wham-O Bird Ornithopter (1959) sold in a large cardboard box, ready to fly. Wham-O was also enjoying the creative freedom that came from the plastic injection molding process, a relatively recent innovation in the wooden toy business. His great success story was the Hula Hoop. It did not sell well, but Morrison demonstrated it to Wham-O in 1955, as the pluto platter; Spud Melin and Knerr bought the novelty for $1 million (plus lifetime royalties for Morrison), and marketed the toy as the Fling Saucer. Melin, who had Alzheimers disease, died Friday in Newport Beach. CB Rank (Person) 1,575,211. For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab. Arthur Melin, the co-founder of Wham-O, which introduced fads like the Hula-Hoop and lasting diversions like the Frisbee, died on Friday at a care center in Costa Mesa, Calif. Shortly thereafter, the company had another huge success with the Frisbee. Kids would just throw it on the ground and it would just take off to the ceiling, into lights.". They also offered mail-order sporting goods, such as pellet guns, crossbows and daggers. So they marketed abroad, first in Europe, then everywhere, although Japan banned them as lewd, and the Soviet Union called them "an example of the emptiness of American culture". Melin retired when Wham-O was sold to Kransco Group Cos. in 1982. Their projectile launcher was a home-made version of one of man's oldest weapons, the slingshot. The panel were stumped by the chief painter at the White House. On this day in 1963, the Hula-Hoop, a hip-swiveling toy that became a huge fad across America when it was first marketed by Wham-O in 1958, is patented by the company's co-founder, Arthur "Spud" Melin. This browser does not support getting your location. The Frisbee was originally marketed under a different name, the Pluto Platter, in an effort to capitalize on Americas fascination with UFOs. Earlier that same year, in January, according to the Guinness World Records, two people in Tokyo, Japan, managed to spin the worlds largest hoopat 13 feet, 4 inchesaround their waists at least three times each. You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. 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. 1957: WHAM-O acquires the rights to the Pluto Platter from Fred Morrison and renames it Frisbee. WebIn 1948, he co-founded the company Wham-O with Arthur Melin (nicknamed "Spud"). Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? With Dorothy Kilgallen, John Payne, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf. Their inspiration came from a slingshot they had made while hunting with falcons, which was used to shoot meat up to the birds. Learn more about merges. But Headrick wasn't the only mad scientist on staff.Wham-O had a second secret weapon in Norm Stingley, a chemist who brought them a highly volatile compound his company had been working on. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. Resend Activation Email. But they hit the big time when Walter Frederick Morrison walked in with a toy flying disk, marrying the 1950s furor over UFOs and a game played by Yalies tossing empty pie tins from the Frisbie Baking Co. in Hartford, Conn. Wham-O began selling the plastic disks in 1957 as Pluto Platters. All Rights Reserved. Hula hooping teens became an iconic image of the 1950s, and the fad grew when Wham-O began manufacturing a smaller version of the hoop for the younger set. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. In 1957, they purchased the rights to Morrisons toy. Are you sure that you want to delete this flower? 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. In 1958, as Frisbee sales took off, an Australian toy manufacturer visited Wham-O's factory in the Los Angeles suburb of San Gabriel. By Melins estimate, the fad started in January 1958 and ended that October. In 1955, the founders of the Wham-O toy company, Arthur Spud Melin and Richard Knerr, saw Morrisons flying disc. Richard A. Johnson, author of the book American Fads, declared the Hula Hoop the undisputed granddaddy of American fads. No sensation has ever swept the country like the Hula Hoop, he wrote. It became Wham-O's long, slow seller, with its own plant in San Gabriel, California, taking off in the 1960s as a counter-cultural exercise, the toy of hippies and of guys trying to impress their girls with Frisbee flips - "Flat flip flies straight. Melin and Knerr had run a used-car store together in downtown Los Angeles before founding Wham-O. (modern). Along with his wife, Melin is survived by five daughters, Linda, Sally, June, Carol and Della; one brother, Tom; and 11 grandchildren. Failed to report flower. She didn't know what she was going to do with it.. Gender Male; Jobs. TIME reporter Allie Townsend picks the 100 most influential toys from 1923 to the present. version made of colorful plastic tubing. They tried to sell their birds to enthusiasts, but got more interest for the shot, which they named Wham-O, for the sensation felt when it hit the target. Bookbinding! However, his most famous offspring happens to work in the football industry. Richard Rich Knerr co-founded the Wham-O company, which specialised in fun products such as Silly String and the Super Ball. 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. March 5, 1963: the Hula Hoop, a hip-swiveling toy that became a huge fad across America when it was first marketed by Wham-O in 1958, is patented by the companys co-founder, Arthur Spud Melin. Following the Hula Hoop, Wham-O continued to produce a steady stream of wacky and beloved novelty items, including the Superball, Water Wiggle, Silly String, Slip n Slide and the Hacky Sack. "We didn't want it used as a toy, we wanted it to be a sport," Melin said in a 1998 interview with the Pasadena Star-News. He suggested they start making the toy at Wham-O, the San Gabriel-based company he had started with his childhood friend, Richard Knerr. It was a little like excavating for toy gold, but the results were worthwhile: Slip N Slide, invented by an upholsterer, became one of the companys biggest perennial sellers. WebThe hoop has been a popular children's toy for thousands of years, and the introduction of the Hula Hoop in 1958 by the Wham-O toy company has been documented by sociologists as one of the biggest fads ever to take hold in America and one of the most significant events of the time. Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. By the summer of 1958, the Hula-Hoop, and its many imitators, took the nation by storm. They just did it because they thought it was funny.. Wham-O was resold to Mattel Inc. in 1994 and to a group of investors in 1997. The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional. During the first half of the 20th century, the best way to see someone use a hula hoop was to watch Chinese acrobats twirl multiple hoops on their arms, legs and torsos. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. The Americans had trouble duplicating the moves of the Australian kids until a Wham-O executive, Richard Gillespie, finally mastered the art after four straight days of practice. 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. The domestic size sold 20m. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. 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! "Superball was such a great one. Once perfected, the berserk Super Ball sold six million units in 1965 alone. You can even hire a personal hula hoop trainer. (It was later sold to Mattel, which then sold it to a group of investors.)Mr. The Frisbee was reintroduced in the late 1950s, this time as an athletic endeavor. On January 31, 2011, Wham-O announced an agreement with ICM, the agency representing Atari video games, to represent Wham-O in movies, television, music, and online content based around its toys.[30]. Melin and Knerr started with slingshots and named their mail-order company after the sound a slingshot made when its projectile struck a target. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. And in answer to a music and dance fad of the era, it also marketed Chubby Checker Limbo sets. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. Wham-O kept an open door to inventors, pro or amateur: 20 nutty ideas arrived daily, including, in the early 1960s, the offer from a chemical engineer of an accidentally compressed plastic, Zectron, which bounced uncontrollably. All rights reserved. See the article in its original context from. Air Blaster (1965), which shot a puff of air that could blow out a candle at 20 feet. ''Spud brought it home and showed it to me,'' Mrs. Melin recalled yesterday. A toy maker from Australia gave Mr. Mullin and Mr. Knerr a wooden exercise hoop used in gymnastics classes. ). The next year it was refined and reintroduced as the Frisbee. But neither Arthur Melin nor Richard Knerr can lay any claim to inventing the thing. Thanks to a savvy marketing campaign, 25 million hoops were sold within a few months of the product's launch; the hula hoop craze was off and looping, with kids all over America spinning hoops around their hips and waists. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. In the toy business, we aspire to create fun for people. Please try again later. Knerr and Melin devised a test of an early version of the hula hoop in 1958 by holding demonstrations at parks. Knerr and Melin left behind a considerable legacy in the toy world. They thrived in a time kids functioned outside, with hits like the Frisbee prompting people to break a sweat. And for every Super Ball they successfully marketed, there were a dozen or more imitators shaving away at market share. 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 Around 20 million Super Balls were sold that decade, and the NFL named the Super Bowl games after it.[10]. For example, Sea-Doo is a brand of personal water craft owned by Bombardier; Wham-O makes a Sea-Doo line of small inflatable rafts designed to be towed behind watercraft. WebArthur Spud Melin . They were more of an old-school company. Their hobby was breeding falcons, and training them to dive by lobbing meatballs at them on the wing. By various estimates, 20 million to 40 million were sold that year worldwide. You tell us, Chaperone policy back at Knotts Berry Farm due to unruly and inappropriate behavior, I asked people at Coachella how much money they make and if their ticket was worth it. 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. Mr. Melin was right, though. The elephant was unloaded and the delivery truck left. Since the toys were simple and inexpensive, they could be sold by a wide range of retailers, from large Department Stores to five and dime stores. COSTA MESA, Calif. Arthur "Spud" Melin, co-founder of the toy company that introduced the world to the Frisbee, Hula Hoop and other faddish gems of American pop culture, has died. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. However, when the weather cooled and the kids went back to school, the fad was over, and Wham-O had millions of unsold hoops. But as quickly as the fad arrived, it ended, when school began, leaving Wham-O with millions of hoops and a $10,000 loss for the year. They had her sign for it first. Changing the day will navigate the page to that given day in history. Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. Frisbie.. Learn more about managing a memorial . Everyone is just too litigious. ''He said it would be huge. But knock-off artists had smelled opportunity. You may not upload any more photos to this memorial, This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has 20 photos, This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 5 photos to this memorial, This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has 30 photos, This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 15 photos to this memorial. Failed to delete flower. By the summer of 1958, the Hula-Hoop, and its many imitators, took the nation by storm. READ MORE: The History of Must-Have Holiday Toys. (It was also 1958, before the advent of more sophisticated distractions.) You can navigate days by using left and right arrows. Both the Hula Hoop and Instant Fish sprang from Melins interest in other parts of the world. But Spud and Rich knew good ideas were out there and were willing to listen.. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager. He is survived by his wife and five daughters. In 1958, the founders of Wham-O toys, Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin, Vintage plastic Mr. By 1957, the company had sold several million of the disks. [5] When they outgrew the garage, Knerr and Melin rented a building on S. Marengo Ave in Alhambra, California; and then, in 1955, moved their manufacturing plant to neighboring San Gabriel, California where they remained until 1987, when they sold the plant to Huy Fong Foods.
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