The Hula- Hoop Fad of
the Fifties
By
Anika Logan
Did you know that the hula-hoop, that wonderful hoop you used to
twirl around your waist and laugh until your heart’s content as a
child, was an invention from the 1950’s? If this is news to you,
let’s take the time to educate ourselves about a fantastic toy fad
that the fifties inspired.
The hula-hoop was invented by Richard Knerr and Arthur “Spud”
Melin, two industrious individuals who founded a company called
the Wham-O Company. They came up with the idea in California in
1957 when an Australian visiting the U.S. told them that back home
children participated in an interesting gym class activity- they
twirled hoops made of bamboo around their waists and had a great
time doing it. A light bulb went on in these two clever people’s
minds and the American version of the hoops, made of a lightweight
but durable plastic, was born. They coined the term “hula-hoop”
because they believed the action of the toys mimicked a form of a
Hawaiian dance.
They could never have anticipated the escalation of sales from day
one. In the first two months of hula-hoops being on the market,
twenty-five million of the toys were sold in the United States.
This was followed up by international orders, in the area of a
hundred million. Wow, talk about incredible sales! They were
through the roof!
At the peak of their popularity in the early 1960’s, approximately
20,000 hula-hoops were being produced per day.
However the news was not good everywhere. The hula-hoop was widely
criticized in some parts of the world and enjoyed its greatest
popularity in North America. The Soviet Union was quoted as saying
that the hula-hoop was, “an example of the emptiness of American
culture.” Harsh as it might have sounded, Japan agreed with them
on this point. The hula-hoop was banned in Japan due to fear of
moral improprieties (no doubt it was the gyrations of the hips
that they objected to).
Hula-hoops enjoyed widespread appeal among children until the late
1970’s. The fact that they enjoyed almost a twenty-year run is
impressive in and of itself. If you look hard enough you will
still be able to find a hula-hoop in a retail store today. The
bigger stores such as Wal-Mart are more likely to carry them then
are the smaller, lesser-known stores.
Sources
http://www.crazyfads.com/50s.htm
http://www.fiftiesweb.com/fashion/fads.htm
Anika Logan is a Canadian based writer
whose work has been published extensively over the Internet and in
print. Check out her website at
www.gardenandhearth.com/apartmentliving.htm
