Hula Hoop

The Hula Hoop – developed in 1957 by Wham-O – is the standard by which all fads are measured. Somewhere inside that plastic ring lay the key to the hearts of a generation, and the Hula Hoop won those hearts like no toy before or since.

Fads had certainly existed before – not three years earlier, Davy Crockett coonskin caps covered the heads of almost every boy on the playground – but the the Hula Hoop was a new phenomenon.

It wasn’t just for boys, it wasn’t just for girls? It wasn’t even just for kids. Everyone wanted one, and nearly everyone got one.

Hula Hoop-type toys had been around for years before 1957 – centuries, in fact. Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman societies had similar hoops, and several other cultures had their own variations.

The direct inspiration actually came from Australia, where a friend of Wham-O founders Arthur “Spud” Melin and Richard Knerr spotted groups of schoolchildren exercising with bamboo rings, twirling them around their waists with constant hip gyrations.

Melin and Knerr developed their own version out of polyurethane tubing, dubbed it ‘Hula Hoop’ (after the hula-dance-like waist movements needed to keep it spinning), and set out to sell the things.

Wham-O staged publicity events on playgrounds in Southern California, teaching kids how to twirl the hoops and giving out free Hula Hoops to build the buzz.

The craze spread like wildfire, and Wham-O sold 25 million Hula Hoops in the first four months.

Somewhat unprepared for the international success of their invention, the Wham-O duo found themselves unable to police their patent, and soon ‘Spin-a-Hoop’, ‘Hoop-D-Do’ and some 40 other American varieties were competing for their share of international sales of between 60 million and 100 million hoops in 1958.

Singer Teresa Brewer had a hit with The Hula Hoop Song, and so did sultry jazz singer Georgia Gibbs, who performed a different tune also titled The Hula Hoop Song on The Ed Sullivan Show on 6 September 1958.

Tempo Di Hula Hoop was released by Italian songster Teddy Reno in his native tongue.

On The Steve Allen Show, which aired on Sunday 14 September 1958, funnyman Allen introduced his new record, Hula Hoop, which he performed backed by a chorus and orchestra.

You could also hop to the Hula Hoop Polka by Herb Wojnarowski and His Orchestra.

Several contests sprang up: How many hoops can you twirl? How long can you keep them spinning? and so on. Skilled Hoopers could spin the rings not only around the waist, but on the arms and wrists, the legs and feet, and even the neck and head.

The Hula Hoop’s popularity spread to other countries, with Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan particularly caught up in the frenzy.

With such a meteoric rise, the Hula Hoop’s success could only spiral out of control. After peak production periods of 50,000 hoops per day, Wham-O was inundated with Hula Hoops and stopped production in the early Sixties.

Wham-O shrewdly reintroduced the Hula Hoop in 1965, moving its previous stagnant stock by inserting ball bearings into the hoops’ hollow plastic tubing.

When twirled, the Hula Hoops now made a telltale sound dubbed “Shoop Shoop” by Wham-O.

The Shoop Shoop Hula Hoop spiked sales again, and Wham-O began co-marketing the item with its Frisbee, pushing them as a leisure-time duo perfect for teenagers’ beach frolicking.

A prototypical infomercial was produced where boy and girl actors demonstrated how to Hula Hoop, including some mesmerising stunts such as “The Stork” (standing on one leg) and the “Hokey Pokey”–ish “Stepping In” and “Stepping Out,” where one leg is moved in or out of the other leg’s swirling hoop.

That mid-Sixties’ blip of popularity was short-lived, and before long, Hula Hoop hysteria waned.

Whether for PE, exercise or pure recreation, kids can still be found twisting the hoops that link them to what may be the biggest toy fad this planet has ever seen.