They started making slingshots, just for kicks, out of the ends of orange crates, Chuck recalls. 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. They showed little regret. Learn more about managing a memorial . ''He said it would be huge. 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. 10 Best Moments Between Arthur & Merlin Retailers in the United States were skeptical, but the two sensed a hit. version made of colorful plastic tubing. Wham-O also benefited from the relative economic sense of advertising nationally. At first, they focused on sporting goods, rather than toys, but they kept an eye out for unusual items like boomerangs and crossbows. 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. ", "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. 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. 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. But neither Arthur Melin nor Richard Knerr can lay any claim to inventing the thing. 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 In 1958, as Frisbee sales took off, an Australian toy manufacturer visited Wham-O's factory in the Los Angeles suburb of San Gabriel. Sales skyrocketed, reaching 100 million before Mattel eventually bought out Wham-O. The California native was a teenager when he befriended Arthur Spud Melin outside a Pasadena movie theater. Spud Melin's genius saw the potential, and, after prototype trials with Pasadena children, manufactured, with Knerr, a hollow cylinder in light, durable polyurethane. Once perfected, the berserk Super Ball sold six million units in 1965 alone. An estimated 25 million Hula Hoops were sold in its first four months of production alone. Knerr and Melin left behind a considerable legacy in the toy world. She didn't know what she was going to do with it.. You can always change this later in your Account settings. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? 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 Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. He suggested they start making the toy at Wham-O, the San Gabriel-based company he had started with his childhood friend, Richard Knerr. By various estimates, 20 million to 40 million were sold that year worldwide. For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab. 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. A system error has occurred. They extensively researched new product ideas, including traveling around the world. 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. The two never publicly commented on the injuries, but for a company that was built on levity, it had to be sobering. 1957: WHAM-O acquires the rights to the Pluto Platter from Fred Morrison and renames it Frisbee. 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. If it was good, the company would license it and pay out a royalty. Because of its enduring popularity, the Hula Hoop was inducted into Melina and Knerr were inspired to develop the Hula Hoop after they saw a wooden hoop that Australian children twirled around their waists during gym class. Wham-O took a fair share of wild swings in the marketplace. If subjects mastered the swing of it, they got to keep the toy. Tiring of business, Mr. Melin persuaded Mr. Knerr to sell the company in 1982 to the Kransco Group Companies for $12 million. Both the Hula Hoop and Instant Fish sprang from Melins interest in other parts of the world. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. 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. The 76-year-old also built a large family. 2019 TIME USA, LLC. 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. The Frisbee was originally marketed under a different name, the Pluto Platter, in an effort to capitalize on Americas fascination with UFOs. Introduced Hula-Hoop and Frisbee The Irish Times Richard Knerr | The Blog of Death This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. In the 1960's, the company says, it sold 20 million SuperBalls until it dropped the product. Wham-O Bird Ornithopter (1959) sold in a large cardboard box, ready to fly. Compared by many to be two sides of the same coin, Merlin and Arthur's relationship was at the heart of the show. 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. Try again later. 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. I remember being so proud when that toy was banned from my school. Save . New products were developed for tryout periods. Soon, crowds of teenagers rotating their hula hoops were featured in Life magazine and on the Dinah Shore Show. When the rains came, the eggs hatched and fish emerged overnight. 1950s Fads - Hula Hoops 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 Melin and Knerr started with slingshots and named their mail-order company after the sound a slingshot made when its projectile struck a target. With only network channels to choose from, the odds kids would see ads for the Super Ball were substantial. This Day in History Their hobby was breeding falcons, and training them to dive by lobbing meatballs at them on the wing. 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. 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 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. Mr. Melin became active in conservative causes like immigration reform, but continued to pursue inventions. 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. [28] If Spud and I had to say what we contributed, Knerr said, it was fun. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? All Knerr's creations had a way of bringing out the most mysterious aspects of physics, Knerr says. The Frisbee was reintroduced in the late 1950s, this time as an athletic endeavor. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. We're Not Toying With You! These Really Are the Most Popular CB Rank (Person) 1,575,211. Hula Hoop mania took off from there. But Spud and Rich knew good ideas were out there and were willing to listen.. hide caption. "They really liked enjoying life and enjoying their toys, and they really wanted to share that sense of fun," he says. In the 1960's, the company says, it sold 20 million SuperBalls until it dropped the product. 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. We wanted it to be a sport.. Weve updated the security on the site. WebArthur Spud Melin has recently died. He patented a design for a two-handed tennis racket with an adjustable handle.Ten years ago, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. It gave us the opportunity to do it."[29]. Wham-O rebounded a few years later with the unusual spring of the SuperBall, made of a compressed plastic known as Zectron. Every toy company has a submission policy, says Walsh, who also designs games. 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. In a testament to his marketing aptitude, the stunt was picked up by local press. 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.". Their first major development was a buy-in - the Frisbee. This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review. With some of their biggest successes selling for under a dollar, no one was priced out of enjoying them. 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. 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. More than $1 million accepted in orders by Wham-O had to be refunded and the project was abandoned. Anyone can read what you share. 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. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer. 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. The name "Wham-O" was inspired by the sound of the slingshot's shot hitting the target. Most wont even look at an idea unless it comes through an agency. The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. When lawsuits were brought over serious injuriesincluding one death and two broken necksthe company ceased production.. 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.

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