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THE RING OF SUCCESS

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By PHILIP MORGAN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 10, 2008

Entrepreneurs Richard P. Knerr and Arthur K. Melin started out making slingshots in a garage in San Gabriel, Calif. They formed a company and named it Wham-O for the sound the shot makes when it hits the target. Their toy was a minor hit.

Someone showed Melin a bamboo exercise ring that Australian kids were spinning around their waists. The company made a few wooden hoops before switching to a hollow polyethylene ring they named the Hula Hoop.

A half-century ago this year, Hula Hoops - and Elvis - captivated the world. In four months, Wham-O sold 25 million of the mindlessly simple toys at $1.98 each. In a year, 100 million customers were Hula Hooping.

The two inventors started out promoting the toy on Southern California playgrounds, according to the Wham-O company history at www.wham-o.com. They demonstrated the technique and tossed free hoops to the kids.

Soon, youngsters worldwide were entering Hula Hoop endurance contests. In Taipei, Taiwan, 14,000 people crowded into a 7,000-seat stadium to watch a demonstration. Three Japanese cities outlawed hooping in the street, saying it contributed to traffic accidents. The Jakarta, Indonesia, City Council prohibited public demonstrations, fearing it could "stimulate passions."

It didn't go over well in the Communist bloc. A newspaper in Soviet-controlled Budapest, Hungary, called it "Western idiocy."

The fad faded by the summer of 1959. Though Wham-O still sells Hula Hoops - they've gone up just $2 in 50 years - it has never come close to recreating that glorious spin of 1958.

Philip Morgan

Information from Tribune files was used in this report.

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