They also offered mail-order sporting goods, such as pellet guns, crossbows and daggers. By the summer of 1958, the Hula-Hoop, and its many imitators, took the nation by storm. Mr. Melin (pronounced muh-LIN) once bought a truckload of oysters from Texas in hopes of starting a raw bar in California modeled after those he had seen in New York. Melin retired from the company when it was sold to Kransco Group Cos. in 1982. 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). Increasingly, kids were turning less to outdoor play and more toward higher-priced electronic offerings, which meant bigger profit margins for companies. 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 His great success story was the Hula Hoop. In the 1960's, the company says, it sold 20 million SuperBalls until it dropped the product. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? Ben Martin/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images Today, Wham-O is owned by the Aguilar Group, a private investment company, and still markets their trademark products. The Frisbee was reintroduced in the late 1950s, this time as an athletic endeavor. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! The California native was a teenager when he befriended Arthur Spud Melin outside a Pasadena movie theater. If Headrick firmed it up and added ridges to make it more aerodynamic, they might have something. He left behind a legacy of fun. 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. While visiting that continent he saw a little fish that buried its eggs in mud during the dry season. Humans have been hula hooping for hundreds of years. When a ball dreams, it dreams it's a Frisbee," they said. Melins African-inspired bright idea fared poorly in comparison. Their hobby was breeding falcons, and training them to dive by lobbing meatballs at them on the wing. She didn't know what she was going to do with it.. 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 panel were stumped by the chief painter at the White House. Edit Overview Section. The elephant was unloaded and the delivery truck left. Which memorial do you think is a duplicate of Arthur Melin (27070295)? Melin retired when Wham-O was sold to Kransco Group Cos. in 1982. 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. Art (Spud) Melin and Richard (Rich) Knerr had a knack for fun, and an open door for outside inventor ideas. A toy maker from Australia gave Mr. Mullin and Mr. Knerr a wooden exercise hoop used in gymnastics classes. 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. 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. Their Air Blaster could blow out a candle at 25 feet. TIME reporter Allie Townsend picks the 100 most influential toys from 1923 to the present. 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. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. [6][7] 25 million were sold in four months, and in two years sales reached more than 100 million. Made of aluminum spars, wood, steel wire and mylar, it was brightly painted to resemble a hawk or owl. 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. Wham-O, in fact, hired students to sell Frisbees on campuses until it could get distribution in stores. All Rights Reserved. April 25, 2018. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. You can always change this later in your Account settings. I remember being so proud when that toy was banned from my school. Sales skyrocketed, reaching 100 million before Mattel eventually bought out Wham-O. All rights reserved. Try again later. 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. 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. 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. Read more:12 WackyProducts from Wham-O You Have to See to Believe.. GREAT NEWS! 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. The name "Wham-O" was inspired by the sound of the slingshot's shot hitting the target. In 1958, as Frisbee sales took off, an Australian toy manufacturer visited Wham-O's factory in the Los Angeles suburb of San Gabriel. 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. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. Knerr spent his final hours in Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, Calif., after suffering a stroke earlier in the day at his home. , It was difficult for dad to see his friends health decline, Lori Knerr says. Melin became active in conservative causes like immigration reform, but continued to pursue inventions. Try again. 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. "Superball was such a great one. Over the years, Wham-O churned out 25 million Hula Hoops. 1957: WHAM-O acquires the rights to the Pluto Platter from Fred Morrison and renames it Frisbee. Promoting the creations was a family affair. All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. 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. They showed little regret. By the end of the 1970s, Wham-O had settled into a strange sense of complacency. Guest panelist John Payne identified the inventor and manufacture of the Hula Hoop. 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. COSTA MESA, California, Jun 29, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- 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. 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. Try again later. The company's lines are also more complex, and grouped in related categoriesfor example, the Sea-Doo line (about a dozen products), several Slip 'N Slide variations, and a group of "lawn games". 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. Tens of millions of hoops were snapped up, with Wham-O racing to meet demand. Their inspiration came from a slingshot they had made while hunting with falcons, which was used to shoot meat up to the birds. Smith has 10 children, including a daughter who works as a film producer. 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. They just banned Elvis Presley's hips from the Ed Sullivan show.' Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print. Turning the Titans into an offensive juggernaut. The companys name, Wham-O, came from the sound the slingshots supposedly made. Rather, he said, the name came from a comic strip of the era called Mr. Frisbie. Headricka veteran who spied on Nazi movements during World War IIpaid college kids to toss the disc on campuses. 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. An estimated 25 million Hula-Hoops were sold in its first four months of production alone. Additional Sources:The WHAM-O Super Book. The name Wham-O was meant to evoke the noise a slingshot made. Shortly thereafter, the company had another huge success with the Frisbee. 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 knew if they spent the money, theyd see a return on their investment, Walsh says. When lawsuits were brought over serious injuriesincluding one death and two broken necksthe company ceased production.. Everyone is just too litigious. One of the best relationships on Merlin was between the series' eponymous protagonist and Camelot's king. "Then their barber recommended they put an ad in a magazine and try mail order," he says. When the rains came, the eggs hatched and fish emerged overnight. In 1955, the founders of the Wham-O toy company, Arthur Spud Melin and Richard Knerr, saw Morrisons flying disc. Instead of counting a fortune, Wham-O was sitting on inventory they wouldnt clear for years. This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. Within four months, 25 million hoops had been sold, according to Wham-O, and hooping was an integral part of American youth culture. In 1957, an Australian visiting California told them offhand that in his home country, children For about a year in the 1950s, the company markets their sporting goods under the name WAMO. 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! RELATED: Sherlock Holmes: 5 Similarities Between The Films Reboots & The BBC Series (& 5 Differences) They may There was a problem getting your location. In 1955 inventor Fred Morrison began marketing a plastic flying disc called the Pluto Platter. Knerr, Walsh says, had sellers remorse right away. 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. In fact, the company was named for the spectacular Within six months, they sold 7 million Superballs. Wham-O began selling the disc they called the "Pluto Platter" two years later before modifying it and renaming it the "Frisbee.". 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. We have set your language to He patented a design for a two-handed tennis racket with an adjustable handle. You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. Knerr and Melin marketed their products directly to kids, including demonstrating their toys at playgrounds. With some of their biggest successes selling for under a dollar, no one was priced out of enjoying them. But nothing could compare to the whirlwind force of the Hula-Hoop, which Wham-O introduced the next year. 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. By 1957, the company had sold several million of the disks.But nothing could compare to the whirlwind force of the Hula-Hoop, which Wham-O introduced the next year. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? 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. Arthur (Spud) Melin: born 1924; died, June 2002, Michael Loftus obituary: The only Mayo man to have been GAA president, Mary Quant obituary: Fashion revolutionary who injected excitement, fun and vulgarity into clothing, Noel Hanna obituary: Adventurer who scaled Mount Everest 10 times, Mark Stewart, Pop Group frontman and revered post-punk pioneer, has died aged 62, Barry Humphries obituary: Outrageous caricatures Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson took the one-man show to new heights, Ammi Burke returns to High Court for hearing on claim of unfair dismissal from law firm, Fintan OToole: Honouring this fanatical racist by naming clubs after him shames our GAA, This has been a game-changer for me: how a room in the garden can transform your family life, Luxembourg landlord Marc Godart sublet Mountjoy Square property for decade, despite having lease for just two years, Prize bonds - could it be you? Kids would just throw it on the ground and it would just take off to the ceiling, into lights.". All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. They extensively researched new product ideas, including traveling around the world. When Hasbro tried to buy Wham-O in 1982, Melin and Knerr were responsive. Oops, we were unable to send the email. died this week after suffering a stroke in California. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. READ MORE: The History of Must-Have Holiday Toys. "[My mother] and Spud's wife would demonstrate hula hoops in parks and recreation centers around the country," Chuck says. The technology allowed them to dream up all sorts of packaged nonsense. The adolescent appetite for dangerous weapons and sporting goods was so large that the two were soon grossing $100,000 in annual revenue. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. You can navigate days by using left and right arrows. 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. A full body orgasm at the L.A. Phil? 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. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Drag images here or select from your computer for Arthur Kelso Spud Melin memorial. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. ''. 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. All the funny product namesFling-a-Ring, Zip Zap, Water Weiniehad been exhausted. 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. And like his father, Arthur Smith excels at his job. Commercials were shot in their own backyards. The Frisbee was originally marketed under a different name, the Pluto Platter, in an effort to capitalize on Americas fascination with UFOs. Are you sure that you want to delete this flower? We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. Wham-O also benefited from the relative economic sense of advertising nationally. 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 Kids, with their resistant vertebrae, had an easier go of it than some adults, who suffered hernias and slipped discs. Neon bending! 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? It gave us the opportunity to do it."[29]. Pottery! Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. The Hula had been Thanks for your help! Wham-O Bird Ornithopter (1959) sold in a large cardboard box, ready to fly. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? 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. 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. Initially, Melin and Knerr marketed them on college campuses by word of mouth. Summary. [28] If Spud and I had to say what we contributed, Knerr said, it was fun. 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. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. Real devotees were dubbed Frisbyterians.. 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. However, his most famous offspring happens to work in the football industry. In 1957, they purchased the rights to Morrisons toy. Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial? 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.". In 1957, Toltoys of Australia brought the concept of the Hula Hoop to Knerr and Melin. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. Ed Headrick looked over the leftover plastic from the Hula implosion and had an idea. 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. To use this feature, use a newer browser. 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. The next year it was refined and reintroduced as the Frisbee. Richard Rich Knerr co-founded the Wham-O company, which specialised in fun products such as Silly String and the Super Ball. Learn more about managing a memorial . More than $1 million accepted in orders by Wham-O had to be refunded and the project was abandoned. Unlike their contemporaries at Mattel or Hasbro, Melin and Knerr didnt have to navigate a corporate obstacle course. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. ''He said it would be huge. Along with his wife, Melin is survived by five daughters, Linda, Sally, June, Carol and Della; one brother, Tom; and 11 grandchildren. Recalled in 1978 after it caused the deaths of two children, having sold approximately 2.5 million units. He was 77 and had lived in Irvine, Calif. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. 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. Their research and development team consisted of their kids. Melin thought he could sell chunks of egg-embedded mud, instruct buyers to add water, and provide fish to delight the millions. Because of its enduring popularity, the Hula Hoop was inducted into He had lived for many years in San Gabriel before his retirement. The retail price for the rubber-band-powered toy was $3 (about $24 in 2020 money). A series of equally ingenious toys including Slip 'N Slide, Silly String, the Hula Hoop and the insanely bouncy Superball would soon follow. 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. Were it not for a chemist and a former World War II spy, things might have stopped being fun. The domestic size sold 20 million. "I think he proved the American success story. They were more of an old-school company. Wham-O took a fair share of wild swings in the marketplace. 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. It was like a new medium, says Tim Walsh, a Wham-O historian and author of The Wham-O Super Book. Rather, he said, the name came from a comic strip of the era called Mr. Frisbie.But the connection was not coincidental to the success of the Frisbee, which found its earliest acceptance at Eastern colleges. Oops, something didn't work. 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. New products were developed for tryout periods. We didnt want it used as a toy, Melin told the Pasadena Star-News in 1998. The email does not appear to be a valid email address. Wham-O would never have seen that success if not for their open-door policy: Anyone could telegram, mail, or show up in person with a toy idea. 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 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. But the imported fish produced no hatchable eggs. This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. 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]. An estimated 25 million Hula Hoops were sold in its first four months of production alone. 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. Melin and Knerr started with slingshots and named their mail-order company after the sound a slingshot made when its projectile struck a target. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. Richard Knerr, a businessman who brought joy to millions of children around the world, died on Jan. 14 from complications of a stroke. WebIn 1948, he co-founded the company Wham-O with Arthur Melin (nicknamed "Spud"). 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. But the connection was not coincidental to the success of the Frisbee, which found its earliest acceptance at Eastern colleges. You need a Find a Grave account to continue. We strive for accuracy and fairness. Melin, who started toy giant Wham-O in 1948 with his boyhood friend Richard Knerr, died Friday. [4] The powerful slingshot was adopted by clubs for competitive target shooting and small game hunting. Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. 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. 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. There was an error deleting this problem. There is a problem with your email/password. "(It) remains the standard against which all national crazes are measured.". See more:12 Wacky Products from Wham-O You Have to See to Believe., That wouldnt fly in todays toy world. 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. The 76-year-old also built a large family. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Tilted flip curves. This page was last edited on 12 December 2022, at 22:20. 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.
Simon Reeve Sunrise Cancer Treatment,
Does Marilyn Die In Home And Away 2022,
Pointe A La Hache Ferry Address,
Articles A