[28] If Spud and I had to say what we contributed, Knerr said, it was fun. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. He patented a design for a two-handed tennis racket with an adjustable handle.Ten years ago, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. She didn't know what she was going to do with it.. Guest panelist John Payne identified the inventor and manufacture of the Hula Hoop. Their research and development team consisted of their kids. Head to one of these 8 L.A. spots for the perfect spring paddle. 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. Its first hit toy, a flying plastic disc known as the Frisbee, debuted in 1957. 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. The name "Wham-O" was inspired by the sound of the slingshot's shot hitting the target. Headrick was in charge of sifting through ideas, of which one in a thousand might be viable enough to pursue. Bookbinding! 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. However, when the weather cooled and the kids went back to school, the fad was over, and Wham-O had millions of unsold hoops. In the toy business, we aspire to create fun for people. 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. Many products were not successful. WebThe hoop has been a popular children's toy for thousands of years, and the introduction of the Hula Hoop in 1958 by the Wham-O toy company has been documented by sociologists as one of the biggest fads ever to take hold in America and one of the most significant events of the time. Year should not be greater than current year. You can even hire a personal hula hoop trainer. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager. In the 1960s they produced a US$119 do-it-yourself bomb shelter cover. Neon bending! Failed to delete memorial. 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. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. 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. Wham-O, in fact, hired students to sell Frisbees on campuses until it could get distribution in stores. But Melin and Knerr didnt seem wired for conventional products. [5] When they outgrew the garage, Knerr and Melin rented a building on S. Marengo Ave in Alhambra, California; and then, in 1955, moved their manufacturing plant to neighboring San Gabriel, California where they remained until 1987, when they sold the plant to Huy Fong Foods. But when the products hit, it made up for the lean years. 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. At first business was slow and the pair struggled to get by on just a couple dollars a day but gradually the orders were pouring in. 1957: WHAM-O acquires the rights to the Pluto Platter from Fred Morrison and renames it Frisbee. The cause was Alzheimer's disease, his wife, Suzy, said. I once asked Rich Knerr about stuff like the Mr. Hootie egg rake, Walsh says. Arthur Melin | | The Guardian But Wham-O continued to make other novelties, like Silly String and the Slip 'n' Slide. The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional. (It was also 1958, before the advent of more sophisticated distractions.) They showed little regret. Read more:12 WackyProducts from Wham-O You Have to See to Believe.. 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. Knerr and Melin marketed their products directly to kids, including demonstrating their toys at playgrounds. Within four months, 25 million hoops had been sold, according to Wham-O, and hooping was an integral part of American youth culture. Because of its enduring popularity, the Hula Hoop was inducted into Anyone can read what you share. 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. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. Water Wiggle (1962), a plastic-enclosed curved nozzle that, when powered by a garden hose, became airborne. 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 adolescent appetite for dangerous weapons and sporting goods was so large that the two were soon grossing $100,000 in annual revenue. The next year it was refined and reintroduced as the Frisbee. Youd never see a company making both toys and weapons now. 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. 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. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? Most wont even look at an idea unless it comes through an agency. Wham-O - Wikipedia Melin, who started toy giant Wham-O in 1948 with his boyhood friend Richard Knerr, died Friday. 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. 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]. ", "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. 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 Just why Melin and Knerr changed the disks name to Frisbee in 1958 remains debatable. World Wide Words: Frisbee Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. 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. 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. Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print. 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. Air Blaster (1965), which shot a puff of air that could blow out a candle at 20 feet. March 5, 1963: the Hula Hoop, a hip-swiveling toy that became a huge fad across America when it was first marketed by Wham-O in 1958, is patented by the In 1957, an Australian visiting California told them offhand that in his home country, children 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. Copyright 2023 Deseret News Publishing Company. 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. 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. But not before Melin and Knerr wound up radically reinventing the concept of having fun. Wham-O, in fact, hired students to sell Frisbees on campuses until it could get distribution in stores. While visiting that continent he saw a little fish that buried its eggs in mud during the dry season. Include gps location with grave photos where possible. Along with his wife, Melin is survived by five daughters, Linda, Sally, June, Carol and Della; one brother, Tom; and 11 grandchildren. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. Today, Wham-O is owned by the Aguilar Group, a private investment company, and still markets their trademark products. But nothing could compare to the whirlwind force of the Hula-Hoop, which Wham-O introduced the next year. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. Please enter your email and password to sign in. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. 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. 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. The Original Hula-Hoop Girl, Now 94, Is Still At It - Vogue "No sensation has ever swept the country like the Hula Hoop," author Richard Johnson wrote in his book "American Fads." New products were developed for tryout periods. And in answer to a music and dance fad of the era, it also marketed Chubby Checker Limbo sets. Millions of rings sat in piles like gargantuan wrist bracelets. Frisbie.. "Then their barber recommended they put an ad in a magazine and try mail order," he says. 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. Even in the face of abdominal injury, no one could resist the Hoop. 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. Everyone is just too litigious. After two years of development, its tendency to fly apart was overcome and its 92 per cent recovery rate realised for the springy Superball. You may request to transfer up to 250,000 memorials managed by Find a Grave. 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. READ MORE: The History of Must-Have Holiday Toys. Introduced Hula-Hoop and Frisbee The Irish Times Wham-O was resold to Mattel Inc. in 1994 and to a group of investors in 1997. The childhood friends formed WHAM-O in 1948, as college students, when they began making and selling slingshots in a garage. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. But knock-off artists had smelled opportunity. The Hula had been Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. The two never publicly commented on the injuries, but for a company that was built on levity, it had to be sobering. 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. ), Congressional investigators blame airlines for most flight cancellations, Its kayak season. 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 expanded their Wham-O company to the corner of a failed grocery store, then to a factory, and went into pellet guns, throwing knives and boomerangs. Anyone, anywhere, could submit an idea to them and potentially get a royalty deal. [8] "Hula Hoop mania" continued through the end of 1959, and netted Wham-O $45million (equivalent to $418million in 2023[9]). 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. Art (Spud) Melin and Richard (Rich) Knerr had a knack for fun, and an open door for outside inventor ideas. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Try again later. Melin thought he could sell chunks of egg-embedded mud, instruct buyers to add water, and provide fish to delight the millions. 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. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. Arthur Spud Melin - Crunchbase Person Profile Recalled in 1978 after it caused the deaths of two children, having sold approximately 2.5 million units. 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. Compared by many to be two sides of the same coin, Merlin and Arthur's relationship was at the heart of the show. Increasingly, kids were turning less to outdoor play and more toward higher-priced electronic offerings, which meant bigger profit margins for companies. In the 1960's, the company says, it sold 20 million SuperBalls until it dropped the product. Arthur Spud MelinAmerican Role Model | Marc Corsini Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan and Matt Mullen. Oops, we were unable to send the email. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. 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 Instant Fish--has died. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Wham-O introduced the Hula Hoop in 1958 and was soon producing 20,000 a day. A local barber suggested they sell the contraption. 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. Today I Found Out Wham-O began selling the Hula Hoop a short time later and eventually would sell 25 million of them. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? 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. Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. But the imported fish produced no hatchable eggs. 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. Soon, crowds of teenagers rotating their hula hoops were featured in Life magazine and on the Dinah Shore Show. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. 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. (Stingley got a penny per ball.) I thought you might like to see a memorial for Arthur Kelso Spud Melin I found on Findagrave.com. 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. Melin passed away in 2002; Knerr, in 2008. 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. But they wanted to see what they could do with it.. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. Potato Heads can be worth from $200 to $695 dollars.