Another Popular Fad

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

In my opinion, there are two fads from our childhood that stand out greater than others. One was the coonskin caps of our Day Crockett days, and the other was the infamous Hoold Hoop Fad. Sure there were others, but those two stand out in my mind.

A hula hoop is a toy hoop that is twirled around the waist, limbs or neck. It can also be wheeled along the ground like a wheel with careful execution. They have been used by children and adults since at least 500 BC. The modern hula hoop was inspired by Australian bamboo hoops. The new plastic version was popularized in 1958 by the Wham-O toy company and became a fad.

The hula hoop gained international popularity in the late 1950s, when a plastic version was successfully marketed by California's Wham-O toy company. Cane hoops had been popular children's toys to be rolled on the ground and kept balanced for as long as possible. 

According to "The Playmakers: Amazing Origins of Timeless Toys" by Tim Walsh, the bamboo hoop's path to plastic started in Australia when a Sydney teacher taught school students how to sway bamboo hoops in sports classes. Australia's Coles department stores then started selling bamboo hoops and demand soon outstripped supply. Coles then asked legendary toy man Alex Tolmer, who founded toy company Toltoys, to help mass produce hoops. In 1957, Tolmer used Polyethylene which was stronger and less brittle than earlier plastics. The new lightweight plastic hoops sold in a variety of colors for less than $2. Toltoys sold 400,000 plastic hoops in Australia in 1957 alone.

By 1958, Wham-O plastic hoops were being used in California and then the craze for hooping swept the United States and beyond. The earliest known advertisement was seen for the "Hula-Hoop by Wham-O" was seen on June 16, 1958 for "The Broadway" chain of department stores in Los Angeles, for sale for $1.98.

With giveaways, national marketing and retailing, a fad began in July 1958: twenty-five million plastic hoops were sold in less than four months, and sales reached more than 100 million units in two years. Carlon Products Corporation was one of the first manufacturers of the hula hoop. During the 1950s, Carlon was producing more than 50,000 hula hoops per day. Saddled with a glut of unwanted Hula Hoops, Wham-O stopped manufacturing the toy until 1965, when Knerr and Melin came up with a new twist: They inserted ball bearings in the cylinder to make a "shoosh" sound.

The hula hoop craze swept the world, dying out in the 1980s except in China and Russia, where hula hooping and hoop manipulation were adopted by traditional circuses and rhythmic gymnasts

The Wayback Machine

Unless someone sends in another toy idea, this will probably end our look back at the toys of our youth for a while. I specifically remember the Hula Hoop days, and in my memories there was a day when a TV crew came driving down Clinton Street and saw a bunch of us playing with them in our front yards. The crew stopped and filmed us with our hula hoops and I heard it was later shown on national television but I cannot say for certain that it was.

SAVE THE DATE

Lee Lunch Bunch

Classes of ’64, ’65, ‘66

Date: Thursday, October 24, 2024

Time: 11:00 AM

Place: Logan’s Roadhouse

Balmoral Dr.

Huntsville, AL

Reservations Required through the following:

Patsy Oldroyd ‘65

C (256) 431-3396

H (256) 232-7583

keithandpatsy@att.net

Getting this together this time was more difficult than ever before. Logan’s now requires groups to go through a reservation agency. Also, I had to do some tall talking to avoid the expensive reservation fee they now require along with a contract. Our history of the past fourteen years there for our LLB is the only thing that saved me this time from all of that. I was lucky to only have to do the reservation agency. So… PLEASE do let me know if you plan to come, and do show up! Sorry no last-minute show-ups without a reservation. Thanks! 

Last Week's Questions, Answers, 

And Comments

Dianne Hughey McClure, LHS ‘64, "Being the youngest of two siblings much older than me I spent many hours playing with my Betsy McCall paper dolls. She was my "Barbe Doll" of the fifties. I later introduced her to my daughter's and once again I got to play with Betsy. Too bad she wasn't still around when my granddaughters came along or I would have introduced them to her and could once again played with my 'Barbie'."

Patsy Oldroyd, LHS ‘65, "About the toys we played with when we were young. I played with all of the dolls, of course, but my sister, Nancy, and I loved the potholder kits that became popular when we were young teens. It wasn’t actually a toy, but more of a craft. You could buy a potholder making kit which contained a square metal frame that held the colorful fabric loops that came with the kit. Also, a long metal tool like a needle that was needed to pull the loops up and over each other to create the woven pattern of the potholder. The final tug of the last loop created a single loop that was used to hang the potholder somewhere in the kitchen usually around the cook stove. We made about a million of those things, giving them to our mother, grandmothers, aunts, cousins, and then to our friends. We finally tired of making potholders and moved on to something else. It was fun for quite a while though. When cleaning out my parents' home after my mother died, there was one of those potholders way in the back on the bottom of her potholder drawer. It was a bit greasy, but I was happy to find it. Brought it home. Washed it. Now it is in the far back section on the bottom of my potholder drawer. We went downtown today here in Athens to UG White Mercantile to look at all of their great vintage toys. Our little granddaughter will be 2 years old in a couple of weeks on the 25th, and we wanted to find some vintage ABC wooden blocks for her. The first thing we saw as we went upstairs to the toys was one of those old potholder weaving kits that I just mentioned to you in my last email. Wow, they have really increased in price since those many years ago when I wove so many of them. Just thought it was such a coincidence."