2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Arthur Spud Melin - Crunchbase Person Profile ''Mr. With other products, Wham-O tried to capitalize on existing national trends. Knerr spent his final hours in Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, Calif., after suffering a stroke earlier in the day at his home. If it was good, the company would license it and pay out a royalty. Potato Heads can be worth from $200 to $695 dollars. They just did it because they thought it was funny.. Wham-O was the comic book sound effect they assigned to their ball bearings hitting a target, and a good name for a company that specialized in launching projectiles: blowguns, throwing knives, and tomahawks followed. Melin and Knerr showed entrepreneurial spirit early on. Knerr and childhood buddy Arthur "Spud" Melin started a slingshot-selling business in 1948 in Pasadena and called their company Wham-O after what they said was For years, college students, especially at Yale, had played a game of catch with pie tins (or in some versions of the story, lids of cookie jars) made by the Frisbie Pie Company of Bridgeport, Conn. Mr. Knerr said in an interview yesterday that the similarity of the name of Wham-O's disk to the name of the student game was a coincidence. Litigation, changing tastes, and corporate shrinkage would eventually undo Wham-O. Anyone, anywhere, could submit an idea to them and potentially get a royalty deal. Mr. Melin (pronounced muh-LIN) once bought a truckload of oysters from Texas in hopes of starting a raw bar in California modeled after those he had seen in New York. Their research and development team consisted of their kids. Kids, with their resistant vertebrae, had an easier go of it than some adults, who suffered hernias and slipped discs. Arthur Melin, the co-founder of Wham-O, which introduced fads like the Hula-Hoop and lasting diversions like the Frisbee, died on Friday at a care center in Costa A system error has occurred. Today in History: March 5, 1963. Their bowling set consisted of a ball and pins that were sold empty and filled with water to add weight (the innovation also helped reduce shipping costs to retailers); a Wham-O game of catch involved a Pluto Platter, the disc-shaped saucer later re-named Frisbee that some people thought ran along strings; a cap gun that shot peas and beans at pretend cowboys. Learn more about merges. Melin was right, though. In 1959 Wham-O marketed a slightly modified version, which they had renamed the "Frisbee" two years earlier in 1957 - and once again a Wham-O toy became a common part of life through the 1960s. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Current one is: March 5. Melin and his wife, Suzy, became aware of children in Australia and elsewhere around the South Pacific playing with a bamboo or rattan ring by swinging it around their hips. They bought a saw at Sears, Roebuck & Company on a monthly payment plan, set it up in a garage and began making and selling slingshots. In a testament to his marketing aptitude, the stunt was picked up by local press. Failed to delete flower. ", Ben Martin/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images. Ten years ago, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Knerr was also quoted in 1997 as saying the name came from a comic strip called Mr. But they hit the big time when Walter Frederick Morrison walked in with a toy flying disk, marrying the 1950s furor over UFOs and a game played by Yalies tossing empty pie tins from the Frisbie Baking Co. in Hartford, Conn. Wham-O began selling the plastic disks in 1957 as Pluto Platters. Almost certainly not, Vanessa Hudson to replace Alan Joyce as Qantas chief, Covid graduates struggle with teamwork - Deloitte and PwC, Godfather of AI Geoffrey Hinton quits Google and warns over dangers of machine learning, Permanent TSBs interest income jumps 86% on Ulster Bank deal and rising rates, Ukrainian forces shell village in Bryansk region, says Russian governor. However, when the weather cooled and the kids went back to school, the fad was over, and Wham-O had millions of unsold hoops. Hula Hoop - pgpedia.com By the summer of 1958, the Hula-Hoop, and its many imitators, took the nation by storm. GREAT NEWS! With some of their biggest successes selling for under a dollar, no one was priced out of enjoying them. In 1962, they sold a limbo dance kit to take advantage of that fad; and in 1975, when the movie Jaws was released, they sold plastic shark teeth. Increasingly, kids were turning less to outdoor play and more toward higher-priced electronic offerings, which meant bigger profit margins for companies. Head to one of these 8 L.A. spots for the perfect spring paddle. The ball was uninjured. We didnt want it used as a toy, Melin told the Pasadena Star-News in 1998. 2015: StallionSport Ltd. and InterSport Corp. acquire global rights to Wham-O Inc. 2018: Wham-O partners with Smacircle LMT ltd. to introduce Smacircle S1, an e-bike. In 1948 they formed the WHAM-O Manufacturing Company in the Knerr family garage in South Pasadena. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Today, Woodmans net worth is estimated at $800 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, which is actually much lower than his peak valuation of $4.5 billion. There was a problem getting your location. Verify and try again. One bowling ball-sized promotional Super Ball wreaked havoc in an Australian hotel, putting a hole in the wall before accidentally falling out a window, bouncing 15 stories, and then crashing into asports carparked on the street below. died this week after suffering a stroke in California. They had no corporate ego, willing and happy to allow inventors like Springley and Morrison to pose with their creations. And in answer to a music and dance fad of the era, it also marketed Chubby Checker Limbo sets. Knerr and his partner, Wham-O co-founder Arthur "Spud" Melin, specialized in fun, with the Hula Hoop, Slip 'N Slide, Silly String and Super Ball, entertaining countless Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. In 1957, Wham-O, still a fledgling company, took the idea of Australian bamboo "exercise hoops", manufactured them in Marlex, and called their new product the Hula Hoop. Soon, crowds of teenagers rotating their hula hoops were featured in Life magazine and on the Dinah Shore Show. Richard Knerr, a businessman who brought joy to millions of children around the world, died on Jan. 14 from complications of a stroke. Mr. Melin (pronounced muh-LIN) once bought a truckload of oysters from Texas in hopes of starting a raw bar in California modeled after those he had seen in New York. Arthur Melin, 77, a Promoter of the Hula-Hoop, Is Dead, https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/01/business/arthur-melin-77-a-promoter-of-the-hula-hoop-is-dead.html. This inspired Melin to create the .mw-parser-output .vanchor>:target~.vanchor-text{background-color:#b1d2ff}Instant Fish product, an aquarium kit consisting of some of the fish eggs, and some mud in which to hatch them. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. They did not know what to make of it until another friend from Australia showed them how to gyrate their hips, thus spinning the hoop. It gave us the opportunity to do it."[29]. Add to your scrapbook. Most wont even look at an idea unless it comes through an agency. The next year it was refined and reintroduced as the Frisbee.For years, college students, especially at Yale, had played a game of catch with pie tins (or in some versions of the story, lids of cookie jars) made by the Frisbie Pie Company of Bridgeport, Conn. Mr. Knerr said in an interview yesterday that the similarity of the name of Wham-O's disk to the name of the student game was a coincidence. The bosses explained that they patented the mechanical principle behind it, the ratio of waist to diameter: "Small hoops or big waists just won't work.". Wham-O's initial success was a result of its founders' insight. In an era dominated by toymakers who had been around for decades, Wham-O innovated or acquired revolutionary ideas: the Frisbee, Slip N Slide, Super Ball, Silly String, and dozens of novelty items, all bearing their unique brand aesthetic. Richard Knerr | The Blog of Death Whatever the truth, in 1948 two ex-army pilots adapted the principle, and, in 1951, one Fred Morrison used war surplus plastic to produce the Rotary Fingernail Clipper, later known as the Flyin' Saucer. Its first hit toy, a flying plastic disc known as the Frisbee, debuted in 1957. I once asked Rich Knerr about stuff like the Mr. Hootie egg rake, Walsh says. He sold the design to Wham-O in 1957. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. They expanded their Wham-O company to the corner of a failed grocery store, then to a factory, and went into pellet guns, throwing knives and boomerangs. He reportedly has a net worth of $5.6 billion. However, the Hula Hoop never faded away completely and still has its fans today. Smith has 10 children, including a daughter who works as a film producer. Tens of millions of hoops were snapped up, with Wham-O racing to meet demand. WebArthur Spud Melin has recently died. In 1958, the founders of Wham-O toys, Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin, Vintage plastic Mr. TIME reporter Allie Townsend picks the 100 most influential toys from 1923 to the present. TheSlip N Slide, Hacky Sack, and several others were also third-party ideas. In 1958, they renamed it the Frisbee, either because that was the phoneticisation of the trade name as heard by Knerr on a college tour, or after Mr Frisbie, a US comic strip. Richard Knerr (19252008[2]) and Arthur "Spud" Melin (19242002[3]), two University of Southern California graduates who were friends since their teens, were unhappy with their jobs and decided to start their own business. 5 March 1963 The Hula Hoop is patented - PressReader Besides his wife, he is survived five daughters, Linda Melin, Sally Melin, June Macy-Melin, Carol Denham and Della Peterson; a brother, Tom Melin; and 11 grandchildren. John Daly asked the gentleman if First Lady, Mamie Eisenhower, oversaw the interior decorating of Their first major development was a buy-in - the Frisbee.