by Cynthia C. Scott
I remember the hula hoop. When I was little, my sister and I used to take turns twirling a hula hoop around
our waists, doing a spectacularly bad job of trying to keep the hoop aloft, spinning endlessly around our
hips. Neither of us had very good hip action---that was the problem. You needed rhythm to keep that thing
spinning.
Our awkwardly gyrating maneuvers never seemed to fall in sync with the hoop's gyroscopic
motions long enough before the toy slowly descended off our hips and down our legs, falling to the ground
in a crash of rattling bells that filled the inside of the thin hoop and made the swooshing sound as it spun.
But once in a while, we did---we kept the hoop spinning a few seconds longer than usual, desperately
thrusting our hips forward to meet the turning hoop, arms akimbo, grins of satisfaction on our faces.
My sister and I, as with my five brothers, were all sixties babies, but the hula hoop, invented during the
1950s, was too popular a toy to be limited by a decade. Even during the sunny 1970s we were still
spinning that hoop.
The hula hoop is timeless. Its antecedents reach as far back as 3000 years, when ancient Egyptians
fashioned grape vines into hoops and propelled them on the ground with sticks. Ancient Greeks also
had their version; they used it as a weight loss remedy.
The hula hoop made its return in 1957, when Wham-O Toy Co. founders Richard Kerr and Arthur
"Spud" Medlin were inspired to create their own version of the hula hoop after Australian
schoolchildren began twirling bamboo hoops in gym classes. Using Marlex, a durable
new plastic product, Kerr and Medlin invented the hula hoop and went on to create a sensational new toy.
The hula hoop was a major success for the company. Over one hundred million hula hoops were sold
in the United States in two years. Wham-O even staged competitions across the States. Contestants
were judged on their ability to create fantastic moves while balancing the spinning hoop. Some of the
maneuvers included the knee knocker, stork, Hula Hop, wrap the mummy, Ally Oop.
After the hula hoop's initial popularity wore off, Wham-O went on to invent another successful toy---the
Frisbee. But the hula
hoop, like its predecessors, couldn't lose its popularity completely. Over the years, the hula hoop
saw a resurgence in the 1980s and continues to be popular even today, appearing in circus acts and at
the Burning Man festivals under various incarnations.
Its focus on the body, particularly the hips, as a form of athletic exercise, the hula hoop was
egalitarian in its simplicity. You didn't have to be a world-class athlete in order to play the hula hoop it.
All you needed was hips and good rhythm and a lot of humility. The hoops popularity went beyond age, race,
religion, regional interests, social and economic status. Anyone could play it. Perhaps that was why it
transcended time. The hula hoop speaks to our universal need to play and have fun.
more articles by Cynthia C. Scott
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