Tottenham Nightclubs 1980s, Articles A

The next year it was refined and reintroduced as the Frisbee. There was a problem getting your location. 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. His net worth is estimated at $200 million, per Celebrity Net Worth, though its not clear how much of that is due to his creation of the Snuggie. Their hobby was breeding falcons, and training them to dive by lobbing meatballs at them on the wing. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. 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. 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. Wham-O - Wikipedia 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 Old ones were retired, for a few years or permanently, as their popularity waned. 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. Anyone can read what you share. Hula Hoop mania took off from there. Copyright 2023 Deseret News Publishing Company. While visiting that continent he saw a little fish that buried its eggs in mud during the dry season. A series of equally ingenious toys including Slip 'N Slide, Silly String, the Hula Hoop and the insanely bouncy Superball would soon follow. 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. "[My mother] and Spud's wife would demonstrate hula hoops in parks and recreation centers around the country," Chuck says. Soon, crowds of teenagers rotating their hula hoops were featured in Life magazine and on the Dinah Shore Show. Its first hit toy, a flying plastic disc known as the Frisbee, debuted in 1957. You can always change this later in your Account settings. By 1957, the company had sold several million of the disks. 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. The kinetic energy in the material was substantial: it could bounce over a two-story home. They were buddies to the end.. Please enter your email and password to sign in. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? Nevertheless, the public of all ages also adopted them, buying more than 100 million Frisbees in 30 years. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Failed to delete flower. However, when the weather cooled and the kids went back to school, the fad was over, and Wham-O had millions of unsold hoops. There was a sense they had passed their heyday., Melin and Knerr were also faced with an unfortunate consequence of people trying to have a little too much fun: the Slip 'N Slide, intended for children, proved catastrophic to adults and teens who were too large to use it properly. Knerr once had a baby elephant delivered to Melins wife, Suzy, after Melin went on an African safari without him. Melin retired from the company when it was sold to Kransco Group Cos. in 1982. Indeed, throughout their careersMelinandKnerrrefused to becomecorporate suits, forever hunting for things that made them smile. He was 77 and had lived in Irvine, Calif. GREAT NEWS! By 1994, when Mattel purchased Wham-O, the San Gabriel factory was down to a skeleton crew keeping up production of only a handful of products. After all, the ball was unharmed. [28] If Spud and I had to say what we contributed, Knerr said, it was fun. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. (It was also 1958, before the advent of more sophisticated distractions.) Before the elephant arrived, he sent a telegram posing as his partner: Am sending live animal home, please feed it and take care of it until I get home. This Is How Rich Youd Be If You Invented These Iconic Products 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. "(It) remains the standard against which all national crazes are measured.". ", Ben Martin/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images. Melin is survived by his wife, Suzy; five daughters; a brother; and 11 grandchildren. Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. Their bowling set consisted of a ball and pins that were sold empty and filled with water to add weight (the innovation also helped reduce shipping costs to retailers); a Wham-O game of catch involved a Pluto Platter, the disc-shaped saucer later re-named Frisbee that some people thought ran along strings; a cap gun that shot peas and beans at pretend cowboys. 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. 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! Along with his wife, Melin is survived by five daughters, Linda, Sally, June, Carol and Della; one brother, Tom; and 11 grandchildren. 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. 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. 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? Shortly thereafter, the company had another huge success with the Frisbee. Five dozen were ordered by the White House. 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. Try again later. Over the years, Wham-O churned out 25 million Hula Hoops. In 1958, as Frisbee sales took off, an Australian toy manufacturer visited Wham-O's factory in the Los Angeles suburb of San Gabriel. Ed Headrick looked over the leftover plastic from the Hula implosion and had an idea. By various estimates, 20 million to 40 million were sold that year worldwide. The name "Wham-O" was inspired by the sound of the slingshot's shot hitting the target. A group of investors then bought Wham-O back from Mattel in 1997 for about $20 million and relaunched many of its best-known toys, including the Slip 'N Slide. When a ball dreams, it dreams it's a Frisbee," they said. 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. Bookbinding! The enterprise ended with the oysters being dumped into a nearby bay because they could not get the venture off the ground. 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. You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. About 600,000 were made. 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. Greatest toy invention in years! ad copy blared. He was 77 and had Alzheimer's disease. It became the biggest toy fad in modern history. Arthur Kelso Spud Melin (1924-2002) - Find a Grave Memorial Every toy company has a submission policy, says Walsh, who also designs games. There would be other fads, trends, and ideas. 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. Rare was the tag line that didn't abuse exclamation marks. The History of the Frisbee 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. 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. He reportedly has a net worth of $5.6 billion. We have set your language to New products were developed for tryout periods. Number of Founded Organizations 1. 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. You can navigate days by using left and right arrows. 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. Knerr was also quoted in 1997 as saying the name came from a comic strip called Mr. Melin passed away in 2002; Knerr, in 2008. Wham-O's initial success was a result of its founders' insight. We didnt want it used as a toy, Melin told the Pasadena Star-News in 1998. By Melins estimate, the fad started in January 1958 and ended that October. And in answer to a music and dance fad of the era, it also marketed Chubby Checker Limbo sets. Bubble Thing (1988), a flexible plastic strip attached to a wand, which was dipped in soap solution and waved through the air to create giant soap bubbles. For about a year in the 1950s, the company markets their sporting goods under the name WAMO. There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery. Ads claimed it could make bubbles "as long as a bus". Humans have been hula hooping for hundreds of years. We wanted it to be a sport.. In 1957, an Australian visiting California told them offhand that in his home country, children 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. Arthur Spud Melin - Crunchbase Person Profile 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. Melin was right, though. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. Oops, something didn't work. Headrick was in charge of sifting through ideas, of which one in a thousand might be viable enough to pursue. Travel broadens one, it is often said, and it certainly gave Melin ideas. Increasingly, kids were turning less to outdoor play and more toward higher-priced electronic offerings, which meant bigger profit margins for companies. He was 82. 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. When lawsuits were brought over serious injuriesincluding one death and two broken necksthe company ceased production.. Family members linked to this person will appear here. [8] "Hula Hoop mania" continued through the end of 1959, and netted Wham-O $45million (equivalent to $418million in 2023[9]). TIME reporter Allie Townsend picks the 100 most influential toys from 1923 to the present. Try again later. (L to R) Rich Knerr, Fred Morrison, and Arthur Melin. Real devotees were dubbed Frisbyterians.. There was an error deleting this problem. But when the products hit, it made up for the lean years. Inventors of Your Favorite Products Didn't Always Get Rich Most wont even look at an idea unless it comes through an agency. Melin and Knerr shrugged. 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 Wham-O began selling the disc they called the "Pluto Platter" two years later before modifying it and renaming it the "Frisbee.". Hula Hoop - History's Best Toys: All-TIME 100 Greatest Toys - TIME Gender Male; Jobs. cemeteries found in Corona del Mar, Orange County, California, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. 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. 0 cemeteries found in Corona del Mar, Orange County, California, USA. 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. Tens of millions of hoops were snapped up, with Wham-O racing to meet demand. 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. 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. Arthur "Spud'' Melin, toy executive who gave world Frisbee He was 77 and had Alzheimer's disease. All Rights Reserved, Hula Hoop promoter Arthur Spud Melin dies. Weve updated the security on the site. The original Hula-Hoop girl is sitting in a caf wearing a leopard-lined jacket, gold-painted nails, and Revlon lipstick in a shade called Orange Flip. By the summer of 1958, the Hula-Hoop, and its many imitators, took the nation by storm. CB Rank (Person) 1,575,211. By the end of the 1970s, Wham-O had settled into a strange sense of complacency. 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. The name Wham-O was meant to evoke the noise a slingshot made. April 25, 2018. The companys name, Wham-O, came from the sound the slingshots supposedly made. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. This page was last edited on 12 December 2022, at 22:20. But not before Melin and Knerr wound up radically reinventing the concept of having fun. All rights reserved. An estimated 25 million Hula Hoops were sold in its first four months of production alone. It gave us the opportunity to do it."[29]. WebArthur Spud Melin . After selling more than 100 million Hula Hoops in 16 months, Arthur Spud Melin and Rich Knerr took a look at their books. 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. Unlike their contemporaries at Mattel or Hasbro, Melin and Knerr didnt have to navigate a corporate obstacle course. Resend Activation Email. He patented a design for a two-handed tennis racket with an adjustable handle.Ten years ago, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. 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. One bowling ball-sized promotional Super Ball wreaked havoc in an Australian hotel, putting a hole in the wall before accidentally falling out a window, bouncing 15 stories, and then crashing into asports carparked on the street below. This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review. WebIn 1948, he co-founded the company Wham-O with Arthur Melin (nicknamed "Spud"). 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. The technology allowed them to dream up all sorts of packaged nonsense. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing it? Air Blaster (1965), which shot a puff of air that could blow out a candle at 20 feet. Commercials were shot in their own backyards. Arthur Spud MelinAmerican Role Model | Marc Corsini Arthur Melin | | The Guardian In the summer of 1958, the craze hit the US, selling 40 million $1.98 hoops and producing $45 million in profits. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. 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. READ MORE: The History of Must-Have Holiday Toys. More importantly, they were actually having as much fun as people thought they were. Wham-Os Pluto Platter, meant to capitalize on the 1950s obsession with space and flying saucers, had a wobbly motion to it. In 1955, the founders of the Wham-O toy company, Arthur Spud Melin and Richard Knerr, saw Morrisons flying disc. 1957: WHAM-O acquires the rights to the Pluto Platter from Fred Morrison and renames it Frisbee. Almost certainly not, Vanessa Hudson to replace Alan Joyce as Qantas chief, Covid graduates struggle with teamwork - Deloitte and PwC, Godfather of AI Geoffrey Hinton quits Google and warns over dangers of machine learning, Permanent TSBs interest income jumps 86% on Ulster Bank deal and rising rates, Ukrainian forces shell village in Bryansk region, says Russian governor. 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. They showed little regret. In the toy business, we aspire to create fun for people. WebEd Sullivan (2): Directed by Franklin Heller. Richard Rich Knerr co-founded the Wham-O company, which specialised in fun products such as Silly String and the Super Ball. 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. Richard Knerr | The Blog of Death They started making slingshots, just for kicks, out of the ends of orange crates, Chuck recalls. "No sensation has ever swept the country like the Hula Hoop," author Richard Johnson wrote in his book "American Fads." But nothing could compare to the whirlwind force of the Hula-Hoop, which Wham-O introduced the next year. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. Retailers in the United States were skeptical, but the two sensed a hit. 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. They thrived in a time kids functioned outside, with hits like the Frisbee prompting people to break a sweat. For many years, the company's strategy was to maintain eight to twelve simple, inexpensive products such as Frisbees, Super Balls, and Hula Hoops. Nonetheless, Hula-Hoops remain the most extraordinary US global imposition - travelling faster in two years than Coca-Cola in decades. But the connection was not coincidental to the success of the Frisbee, which found its earliest acceptance at Eastern colleges. But they wanted to see what they could do with it.. 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 just banned Elvis Presley's hips from the Ed Sullivan show.' 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. We're Not Toying With You! These Really Are the Most Popular 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. In 1962, they sold a limbo dance kit to take advantage of that fad; and in 1975, when the movie Jaws was released, they sold plastic shark teeth. This account has been disabled. Sorry! By 2006 Wham-O's product line included several groups of related items using licensed brand names. Many products were not successful. Promoting the creations was a family affair. The Men Who Invented Fun: A History of Wham-O After selling more than 100 million Hula Hoops in 16 months, Arthur Spud Melin and Rich Knerr took a look at their books. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer. 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. In an era dominated by toymakers who had been around for decades, Wham-O innovated or acquired revolutionary ideas: the Frisbee, Slip N Slide, Super Ball, Silly String, and dozens of novelty items, all bearing their unique brand aesthetic. Melin and Knerr started with slingshots and named their mail-order company after the sound a slingshot made when its projectile struck a target. And for every Super Ball they successfully marketed, there were a dozen or more imitators shaving away at market share. ''Mr. The two never publicly commented on the injuries, but for a company that was built on levity, it had to be sobering. The Frisbee was reintroduced in the late 1950s, this time as an athletic endeavor. 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. Photo courtesy of Phil Kennedy. The ball was uninjured. 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. Today in History: March 5, 1963. But the imported fish produced no hatchable eggs. Wham-O, in fact, hired students to sell Frisbees on campuses until it could get distribution in stores. 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. 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. However, his most famous offspring happens to work in the football industry. Wham-O introduced the Hula Hoop in 1958 and was soon producing 20,000 a day. This Day in History Arthur This browser does not support getting your location. [6][7] 25 million were sold in four months, and in two years sales reached more than 100 million. How Much People Earned From Their Iconic Inventions - Insider In the early 1960s Wham-O created the Super Ball, a high-bouncing ball made of a hard elastomer Polybutadiene alloy, dubbed Zectron, with a 0.92 coefficient of restitution when bounced on hard surfaces. The Hula had been They added toys in 1955, when building inspector Fred Morrison sold them a plastic flying disc he had developed after watching Yale University students toss pie tins. In 1957, Toltoys of Australia brought the concept of the Hula Hoop to Knerr and Melin. Learn more about merges. 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. A. Melin, 77; Introduced Frisbee and Hula Hoop Left strictly to their own sensibilities, items like the Bowmatic bow-making machine and the Super Foam Machine probably wouldn't have kept the lights on. Stingley and the company spent two years trying to create a manufacturing process that would result in a stable ball (prototypes were prone to exploding). 10 Best Moments Between Arthur & Merlin 1997: Wham-O becomes independent again when an investment group purchases it from Mattel, January 2006: Wham-O is sold for ~ US$80million to, 2008: Wham-O introduces the EZ Spin Foam Frisbee Disc, a soft foam version of the Frisbee, 2009: Wham-O sold to investment firm The Aguilar Group. A system error has occurred. But as quickly as it started, it was over. 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. Their first product was the Wham-O Slingshot, made of ash wood, which Knerr and Melin promoted by holding demonstrations of their own slingshot skills. Knerr and Melin devised a test of an early version of the hula hoop in 1958 by holding demonstrations at parks. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. If it was good, the company would license it and pay out a royalty. The two stayed on as consultants for several years, but it wasnt the same. Youre never going to see a toy that costs a dollar on television again. The success of the Super Ball and Frisbee largely made up for Wham-Os misadventures with the Hula Hoopwhich, contrary to belief, wound up being a steady seller over time. Additional Sources:The WHAM-O Super Book. Their research and development team consisted of their kids. 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. Within six months, they sold 7 million Superballs. There is a problem with your email/password. 11 places in L.A. to get your creativity flowing. Ben Martin/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images , It was difficult for dad to see his friends health decline, Lori Knerr says. John Daly asked the gentleman if First Lady, Mamie Eisenhower, oversaw the interior decorating of