He suggested they start making the toy at Wham-O, the San Gabriel-based company he had started with his childhood friend, Richard Knerr. 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. 1957: WHAM-O acquires the rights to the Pluto Platter from Fred Morrison and renames it Frisbee. Love, Spud., An hour later, she sees Dad and another man from work walking up her driveway, Knerr says.Then this fake delivery truck arrives, Suzy couldn't see what it was. With only network channels to choose from, the odds kids would see ads for the Super Ball were substantial. During an African safari in the early 1960s, Melin discovered a species of fish that laid eggs in the mud during Africa's dry season. Unlike their contemporaries at Mattel or Hasbro, Melin and Knerr didnt have to navigate a corporate obstacle course. The California native was a teenager when he befriended Arthur Spud Melin outside a Pasadena movie theater. Their inspiration came from a slingshot they had made while hunting with falcons, which was used to shoot meat up to the birds. It was like a new medium, says Tim Walsh, a Wham-O historian and author of The Wham-O Super Book. Costa Mesa, Orange County, California, USA. The Original Hula-Hoop Girl, Now 94, Is Still At It - Vogue Ed Sullivan (2 Add to your scrapbook. Then, in 1958, Wham-O toy company founders Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin saw the potential in the humble hoop and began to mass-market a 40-in. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Current one is: March 5. 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. Search above to list available cemeteries. Overview. 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. Wham-O's most famous contribution to silliness, the Hula-Hoop, was born in 1957. The domestic size sold 20 million. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. But Wham-O continued to make other novelties, like Silly String and the Slip 'n' Slide. cemeteries found in Corona del Mar, Orange County, California, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. And for every Super Ball they successfully marketed, there were a dozen or more imitators shaving away at market share. 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. For many years, the company's strategy was to maintain eight to twelve simple, inexpensive products such as Frisbees, Super Balls, and Hula Hoops. [6][7] 25 million were sold in four months, and in two years sales reached more than 100 million. 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. After selling more than 100 million Hula Hoops in 16 months, Arthur Spud Melin and Rich Knerr took a look at their books. 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. or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out. If they liked an idea, it could be implemented immediately. Head to one of these 8 L.A. spots for the perfect spring paddle. There was an error deleting this problem. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. "Then their barber recommended they put an ad in a magazine and try mail order," he says. 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. When Hasbro tried to buy Wham-O in 1982, Melin and Knerr were responsive. 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. We didnt want it used as a toy, Melin told the Pasadena Star-News in 1998. When the rains came, the eggs hatched. In 1958, they renamed it the Frisbee, either because that was the phoneticisation of the trade name as heard by Knerr on a college tour, or after Mr Frisbie, a US comic strip. Try again later. The deal fell apart: That same year, they wound up selling their fun factory for $12 million to Kransco, an outfit that would later market Big Wheels. A toy maker from Australia gave Mr. Mullin and Mr. Knerr a wooden exercise hoop used in gymnastics classes. Wham-O introduced the Hula Hoop in 1958 and was soon producing 20,000 a day. 2015: StallionSport Ltd. and InterSport Corp. acquire global rights to Wham-O Inc. 2018: Wham-O partners with Smacircle LMT ltd. to introduce Smacircle S1, an e-bike. But I think this country gave us more than we gave it. He was born in Los Angeles Nov. 16, 1922, to Della Kelso Melin and Charles Raymond Melin., and was the elder brother to Arthur Spud Melin. However, his most famous offspring happens to work in the football industry. Co-Creator of Frisbee and Hula Hoop Dies at 82 : NPR Melin retired when Wham-O was sold to Kransco Group Cos. in 1982. He reportedly has a net worth of $5.6 billion. Youd never see a company making both toys and weapons now. 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. Born in Los Angeles on December 30th, 1924, he and his boyhood pal, later business partner, Richard (Rich) Knerr, studied at the University of South California. The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional. Instead of counting a fortune, Wham-O was sitting on inventory they wouldnt clear for years. 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 Frisbee and Hula Hoop created fads. See more:12 Wacky Products from Wham-O You Have to See to Believe., That wouldnt fly in todays toy world. Hula Hoop - History's Best Toys: All-TIME 100 Greatest Toys - TIME One hundred million platters have been sold, and as Spud Melin hoped, they became a sport - the basis of the team game Ultimate, with world championships, and disc golf on 500 courses worldwide. 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 first tried to sell the disk as the Pluto Platter, an attempt to cash in on the country's fascination with unidentified flying objects. This Is How Rich Youd Be If You Invented These Iconic Products Commercials were shot in their own backyards. Fewpeople in the history of fun can have had such success as Arthur (Spud) Melin, who died on June 28th aged 77, the co-inventor of the Hula-Hoop and manufacturer of the Frisbee, the Superball, the Hacky Sack and a long inventory of wheezes. More than $1 million accepted in orders by Wham-O had to be refunded and the project was abandoned. In the summer of 1958, the craze hit the US, selling 40 million $1.98 hoops and producing $45 million in profits. The cause was Alzheimer's disease, his wife, Suzy, said. It gave us the opportunity to do it."[29]. When a ball dreams, it dreams it's a Frisbee," they said. His battles with the church arent over, How Palm Springs ran out Black and Latino families to build a fantasy for rich, white people, Decades of failures leave L.A. County facing up to $3 billion in sex abuse claims, China to scrap PCR test requirement for inbound travelers starting Saturday, Down to our final hill: Ski season (finally) winding down at Big Bear resorts, If Its a Small World isnt the best ride at Disneyland, what is? Their research and development team consisted of their kids. Soon, crowds of teenagers rotating their hula hoops were featured in Life magazine and on the Dinah Shore Show. All Rights Reserved. Arthur Spud MelinAmerican Role Model - Corsini Consulting 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. Then, in 1958, Wham-O toy company founders Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin saw the potential in the humble hoop and began to mass-market a 40-in. Melin was right, though. Failed to delete memorial. Wham-O co-founders Arthur Melin (left) and Richard Knerr try out their toy company's Hula Hoop, a plastic version of a rattan hoop popular in Australia. 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. With Dorothy Kilgallen, John Payne, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf. 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. They were all about fun," recalls Richard's son, Chuck. Litigation, changing tastes, and corporate shrinkage would eventually undo Wham-O. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. Today, Wham-O is owned by the Aguilar Group, a private investment company, and still markets their trademark products. The Hula had been Of their new releases, only Magic Window, which displayed psychedelic patterns in grains of sand, was a bonafide hit., People were gravitating towards stuff like Simon and Pong, Walsh says. Arthur Spud MelinAmerican Role Model | Marc Corsini All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. Both the Hula Hoop and Instant Fish sprang from Melins interest in other parts of the world. Failed to delete flower. RELATED: Sherlock Holmes: 5 Similarities Between The Films Reboots & The BBC Series (& 5 Differences) They may By 1957, the company had sold several million of the disks. In a testament to his marketing aptitude, the stunt was picked up by local press. 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.Besides his wife, he is survived five daughters, Linda Melin, Sally Melin, June Macy-Melin, Carol Denham and Della Peterson; a brother, Tom Melin; and 11 grandchildren. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. Other companies began making their own versions, and within four months Americans were spinning 20 million of the hoops and organizing national competitions. Knerr once had a baby elephant delivered to Melins wife, Suzy, after Melin went on an African safari without him. The kinetic energy in the material was substantial: it could bounce over a two-story home. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. When the rains came, the eggs hatched and fish emerged overnight. Richard Knerr - Wikipedia Arthur Spud Melin, co-founder of Wham-O Inc., which gave the world such leisure icons as the Frisbee, the Hula Hoop and the Superball--along with such duds as Wham-O rebounded a few years later with the unusual spring of the SuperBall, made of a compressed plastic known as Zectron. He gave company officials an impromptu lesson in how to use a rattan hoop imported from Australia. After selling more than 100 million Hula Hoops in 16 months, Arthur Spud Melin and Rich Knerr took a look at their books. Please enter your email and password to sign in. Shortly thereafter, the company had another huge success with the Frisbee. Wham-Os Pluto Platter, meant to capitalize on the 1950s obsession with space and flying saucers, had a wobbly motion to it. They bought a saw at Sears, Roebuck & Company on a monthly payment plan, set it up in a garage and began making and selling slingshots. A system error has occurred. 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. They had no corporate ego, willing and happy to allow inventors like Springley and Morrison to pose with their creations. 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! Guest panelist John Payne identified the inventor and manufacture of the Hula Hoop. In the toy business, we aspire to create fun for people. By the summer of 1958, the Hula-Hoop, and its many imitators, took the nation by storm. Richard Knerr, co-founder of Wham-O - Santa Rosa Press Democrat You need a Find a Grave account to continue. 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]. Thanks for your help! New products were developed for tryout periods. Increasingly, kids were turning less to outdoor play and more toward higher-priced electronic offerings, which meant bigger profit margins for companies. The panel were stumped by the chief painter at the White House. His great success story was the Hula Hoop. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. They had her sign for it first. The ball became so popular that football's biggest game, the Super Bowl, was a pun on it.. Headrick was in charge of sifting through ideas, of which one in a thousand might be viable enough to pursue. Learn more about merges. Over the years, Wham-O churned out 25 million Hula Hoops. After two years of development, its tendency to fly apart was overcome and its 92 per cent recovery rate realised for the springy Superball. Please try again later. Melin and Knerr showed entrepreneurial spirit early on. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. 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. With some of their biggest successes selling for under a dollar, no one was priced out of enjoying them. The name Wham-O was meant to evoke the noise a slingshot made.At first, they focused on sporting goods, rather than toys, but they kept an eye out for unusual items like boomerangs and crossbows.Early on, they tried some other, ill-fated endeavors. They also offered mail-order sporting goods, such as pellet guns, crossbows and daggers. But Wham-O continued to make other novelties, like Silly String and the Slip 'n' Slide.Tiring of business, Mr. Melin persuaded Mr. Knerr to sell the company in 1982 to the Kransco Group Companies for $12 million. 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. The name "Wham-O" was inspired by the sound of the slingshot's shot hitting the target. Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print. Ten years ago, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Early on, they tried some other, ill-fated endeavors. The enterprise ended with the oysters being dumped into a nearby bay because they could not get the venture off the ground. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? Number of Founded Organizations 1. "They really liked enjoying life and enjoying their toys, and they really wanted to share that sense of fun," he says. [8] "Hula Hoop mania" continued through the end of 1959, and netted Wham-O $45million (equivalent to $418million in 2023[9]). In 1959 Wham-O marketed a slightly modified version, which they had renamed the "Frisbee" two years earlier in 1957 - and once again a Wham-O toy became a common part of life through the 1960s. You can even hire a personal hula hoop trainer. Melin thought he could sell chunks of egg-embedded mud, instruct buyers to add water, and provide fish to delight the millions. Its origins are disputed, but seem to have been in empty pie tins from the Frisbie Baking Company, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, tossed around the ivy-league campus of Yale - or Princeton, Dartmouth, Amherst and Middlebury, each of which claims to be its home. 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 By 2006 Wham-O's product line included several groups of related items using licensed brand names. Tiring of business, Mr. Melin persuaded Mr. Knerr to sell the company in 1982 to the Kransco Group Companies for $12 million. Indeed, throughout their careersMelinandKnerrrefused to becomecorporate suits, forever hunting for things that made them smile. The pair, who would remain lifelong pals and business partners, attended the University of 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. The adolescent appetite for dangerous weapons and sporting goods was so large that the two were soon grossing $100,000 in annual revenue. But when the products hit, it made up for the lean years. A local barber suggested they sell the contraption. But they wanted to see what they could do with it.. ''Spud brought it home and showed it to me,'' Mrs. Melin recalled yesterday. Melin and Knerr started with slingshots and named their mail-order company after the sound a slingshot made when its projectile struck a target. Within four months, 25 million hoops had been sold, according to Wham-O, and hooping was an integral part of American youth culture. 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. 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. To use this feature, use a newer browser. 3 1 greengrenades To be the man, you gotta Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. Mr. Melin became active in conservative causes like immigration reform, but continued to pursue inventions. We're Not Toying With You! These Really Are the Most Popular Rare was the tag line that didn't abuse exclamation marks. They balanced and complemented each other.. John Daly asked the gentleman if First Lady, Mamie Eisenhower, oversaw the interior decorating of If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. They just banned Elvis Presley's hips from the Ed Sullivan show.' Are you sure that you want to delete this flower? They bought a saw at Sears, Roebuck & Company on a monthly payment plan, set it up in a garage and began making and selling slingshots. All rights reserved. According to company legend, a visiting Australian casually mentioned to Spud Melin how, back home as a kid, he had rotated a rattan, or bamboo hoop, around his waist in gym class. 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. (They couldnt.) The 76-year-old also built a large family. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. Rather, he said, the name came from a comic strip of the era called Mr. Frisbie. Inventors of Your Favorite Products Didn't Always Get Rich The retail price for the rubber-band-powered toy was $3 (about $24 in 2020 money). Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. One of the best relationships on Merlin was between the series' eponymous protagonist and Camelot's king. Melin became active in conservative causes like immigration reform, but continued to pursue inventions. The Hula Hoop, a hip-swivelling toy that became a huge fad across America when it was first marketed by Wham-O in 1958, is patented by the companys cofounder, Arthur Spud Melin. Wham-O Inc. is an American toy company based in Carson, California, United States. Kids would just throw it on the ground and it would just take off to the ceiling, into lights.". In 1957, Wham-O, still a fledgling company, took the idea of Australian bamboo "exercise hoops", manufactured them in Marlex, and called their new product the Hula Hoop. Who Invented the Hula Hoop? Joan Anderson Did. - The Atlantic Try again later. Many products were not successful. 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. 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. They just did it because they thought it was funny.. The Atlanta Falcons Have Hired the Founder 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. The companys name, Wham-O, came from the sound the slingshots supposedly made. Edit Jobs Section. In 1957, they purchased the rights to Morrisons toy. ). With plastic molding so inexpensive, hoop hobbyists didnt necessarily have any brand loyaltyparticularly if the generic was cheaper. Try again later. based on information from your browser. Please reset your password. The email does not appear to be a valid email address. By the end of the 1970s, Wham-O had settled into a strange sense of complacency. ", "Branding in History:Fad and Brand Wham-O", "EXCLUSIVE: ICM Signs Wham-O Toy Company", "Wham-O co-founder Knerr dies at 82 San Francisco Business Times", "Wham-O CEO sues over post-purchase ouster - 8/24/2009 10:01:00 AM - Playthings", "Nostalgia (and Frisbees) in the air at Wham-O", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wham-O&oldid=1127101140, Manufacturing companies based in Greater Los Angeles, Companies based in Los Angeles County, California, Privately held companies based in California, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from January 2019, All articles needing additional references, Articles needing additional references from February 2012, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. Headricka veteran who spied on Nazi movements during World War IIpaid college kids to toss the disc on campuses. 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. The two never publicly commented on the injuries, but for a company that was built on levity, it had to be sobering. 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. Soon, Wham-O was producing 20,000 hoops a day. 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. But the imported fish produced no hatchable eggs. Melin retired from the company when it was sold to Kransco Group Cos. in 1982. The domestic size sold 20m. Recalled in 1978 after it caused the deaths of two children, having sold approximately 2.5 million units. Try again. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. A toy maker from Australia gave Mr. Mullin and Mr. Knerr a wooden exercise hoop used in gymnastics classes. You have chosen this person to be their own family member. Because of its enduring popularity, the Hula Hoop was inducted into We have set your language to Services are being planned in Newport Beach on Tuesday. Oops, we were unable to send the email. Changing the day will navigate the page to that given day in history. 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. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request, There is an open photo request for this memorial. This browser does not support getting your location. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. Water Wiggle (1962), a plastic-enclosed curved nozzle that, when powered by a garden hose, became airborne. Arthur Melin | | The Guardian Hula Hoop promoter Arthur 'Spud' Melin dies - Deseret News
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