Wham-O

Last updated
Wham-O Toys Inc.
Company type Private
Industry Toys
Founded1948;76 years ago (1948)
FounderRichard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin
Headquarters966 Sandhill Ave, Carson, California 90746
Website wham-o.com

Wham-O Inc. is an American toy company based in Carson, California, United States. It is known for creating and marketing many popular toys for nearly 70 years, including the Hula hoop, Frisbee, Slip 'N Slide, Super Ball, Trac-Ball, Silly String, Hacky sack, Wham-O Bird Ornithopter and Boogie Board, [1] many of which have become genericized trademarks.

Contents

Corporate history

Richard Knerr (1925–2008 [2] ) and Arthur "Spud" Melin (1924–2002 [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. In 1948 they formed the WHAM-O Manufacturing Company in the Knerr family garage in South Pasadena. Their first product was the Wham-O Slingshot, made of ash wood, which Knerr and Melin promoted by holding demonstrations of their own slingshot skills. The name "Wham-O" was inspired by the sound of the slingshot's shot hitting the target. [4] The powerful slingshot was adopted by clubs for competitive target shooting and small game hunting. [5] When they outgrew the garage, Knerr and Melin rented a building on S. Marengo Ave in Alhambra, California; and then, in 1955, moved their manufacturing plant to neighboring San Gabriel, California where they remained until 1987, when they sold the plant to Huy Fong Foods.

Products and marketing

A Frisbee made by Wham-O Frisbee 090719.jpg
A Frisbee made by Wham-O

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. (The name had been used since the 18th century, but until then was not registered as a trademark.) It became the biggest toy fad in modern history. [6] [7] 25 million were sold in four months, and in two years sales reached more than 100 million. [8] "Hula Hoop mania" continued through the end of 1959, and netted Wham-O $45 million (equivalent to $470 million in 2024 [9] ).

Shortly thereafter, the company had another huge success with the Frisbee. In 1955 inventor Fred Morrison began marketing a plastic flying disc called the Pluto Platter. He sold the design to Wham-O on January 23, 1957. By June they had learned that students back east were calling them a "Frisbee." In early 1958 Wham-O added the name "Frisbee" to the top of the Pluto Platter [10] – and once again a Wham-O toy became a common part of life through the 1960s.

In the early 1960s Wham-O created the Super Ball, a high-bouncing ball made of a hard elastomer Polybutadiene alloy, dubbed Zectron, with a 0.92 coefficient of restitution when bounced on hard surfaces. Around 20 million Super Balls were sold that decade, and the NFL named the Super Bowl games after it. [11]

The Frisbee and Hula Hoop created fads. With other products, Wham-O tried to capitalize on existing national trends. In the 1960s they produced a US$119 do-it-yourself bomb shelter cover. 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.

Many products were not successful. During an African safari in the early 1960s, Melin discovered a species of fish that laid eggs in the mud during Africa's dry season. When the rains came, the eggs hatched and fish emerged overnight. This inspired Melin to create the Instant Fish product, an aquarium kit consisting of some of the fish eggs, and some mud in which to hatch them.

Other products

Vintage Blue and white Wham-O Magic Window toy from the 1970s Magic-window1d.jpg
Vintage Blue and white Wham-O Magic Window toy from the 1970s

Strategy

Knerr and Melin marketed their products directly to children, including demonstrating their toys at playgrounds. They extensively researched new product ideas, including traveling around the world. [30] "If Spud and I had to say what we contributed," Knerr said, "it was fun. But I think this country gave us more than we gave it. It gave us the opportunity to do it." [31]

For many years, the company's strategy was to maintain eight to twelve simple, inexpensive products such as Frisbees, Super Balls, and Hula Hoops. New products were developed for tryout periods. Old ones were retired, for a few years or permanently, as their popularity waned. Since the toys were simple and inexpensive, they could be sold by a wide range of retailers, from large Department Stores to five and dime stores.

As Wham-O changed ownership, its new management adjusted this formula to accommodate the changing toy industry, which had increasingly complex toys and fewer distribution channels.

By 2006 Wham-O's product line included several groups of related items using licensed brand names. For example, Sea-Doo is a brand of personal water craft owned by Bombardier; Wham-O makes a Sea-Doo line of small inflatable rafts designed to be towed behind watercraft.

The company's lines are also more complex, and grouped in related categories—for example, the Sea-Doo line (about a dozen products), several Slip 'N Slide variations, and a group of "lawn games".

On January 31, 2011, Wham-O announced an agreement with ICM, the agency representing Atari video games, to represent Wham-O in movies, television, music, and online content based around its toys. [32]

Company timeline

Frisbee political campaign advertisement designed by San Francisco-based advertising executive Bob Gardner of Gardner Communications as part of U.S. President Gerald Ford's 1976 advertising team and given to Ford at the 1976 Republican National Convention. At the time, Gardner's company also held the Frisbee advertising account. 1976 campaign flying disc.JPG
Frisbee political campaign advertisement designed by San Francisco-based advertising executive Bob Gardner of Gardner Communications as part of U.S. President Gerald Ford's 1976 advertising team and given to Ford at the 1976 Republican National Convention. At the time, Gardner's company also held the Frisbee advertising account.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frisbee</span> Throwing toy

A frisbee, also called a flying disc or simply a disc, is a gliding toy or sporting item generally made of injection-molded plastic and roughly 20 to 25 centimetres in diameter with a pronounced lip. It is used recreationally and competitively for throwing and catching, as in flying disc games. The shape of the disc is an airfoil in cross-section which allows it to fly by reducing the drag and increasing lift as it moves through the air, compared to a flat plate. Spinning the disc imparts a stabilizing gyroscopic force, allowing it to be both aimed with accuracy and thrown for distance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slingshot</span> Hand-powered projectile weapon

A slingshot or catapult is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame, with two tubes or strips made from either a natural rubber or synthetic elastic material. These are attached to the upper two ends. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pouch that holds the projectile. One hand holds the frame, while the other hand grasps the pocket and draws it back to the desired extent to provide power for the projectile—up to a full span of the arms with sufficiently long bands.

Toy guns are toys which imitate real guns, but are designed for recreational sport or casual play by children. From hand-carved wooden replicas to factory-produced pop guns and cap guns, toy guns come in all sizes, prices and materials such as wood, metal, plastic or any combination thereof. Many newer toy guns are brightly colored and oddly shaped to prevent them from being mistaken for real firearms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hula hoop</span> Toy hoop that is twirled around the waist, limbs or neck

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 and practice. They have been used by children and adults since at least 500 BC. The modern hula hoop was inspired by Australian bamboo hoops. Common lore posits the creators of the plastic hoop witnessed Australian children playing with bamboo hoops while driving past in an automobile. The new plastic version was popularized in 1958 by the Wham-O toy company and became a fad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super Ball</span> Bouncy ball made by Wham-O

A Super Ball or Superball is a toy bouncy ball based on a type of synthetic rubber invented in 1964 by chemist Norman Stingley. It is an extremely elastic ball made of Zectron, which contains the synthetic polymer polybutadiene as well as hydrated silica, zinc oxide, stearic acid, and other ingredients. This compound is vulcanized with sulfur at a temperature of 165 °C (329 °F) and formed at a pressure of 3,500 psi (24 MPa). The resulting Super Ball has a very high coefficient of restitution, and if dropped from shoulder level on a hard surface, a Super Ball bounces nearly all the way back; thrown down onto a hard surface by an average adult, it can fly over a three-story building.

Tom Hugh Morey, also known by the moniker Y, was a musician, engineer, surfboard shaper, and surfer responsible for several technological innovations that have heavily influenced modern developments in surfing equipment design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Frederick Morrison</span> American inventor

Walter Frederick Morrison was an American inventor and entrepreneur, who invented the Frisbee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silly String</span> Toy and practical joke device

Silly String is a toy of flexible, sometimes brightly colored, plastic string propelled as a stream of liquid from an aerosol can. The solvent in the string quickly evaporates in mid-air, creating a continuous strand. Silly String is often used during weddings, birthday parties, carnivals and other festive occasions, and has also been used by the US military to detect tripwires.

Super Elastic Bubble Plastic was the brand name for a children's toy manufactured from the 1970s through the 80s by Wham-O. It consisted of a tube of viscous plastic substance and a thin straw used to blow semi-solid bubbles. A pea-sized amount of liquid plastic was squeezed from the tube and made into a ball. One end of the straw was then inserted into the ball, and the user would blow into the other end, inflating the plastic into a bubble. The bubble could then be removed from the straw by pinching the hole closed, sealing the air inside.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slip 'N Slide</span> Plastic waterslide toy used on lawns

Slip 'N Slide is a children's toy invented by Robert Carrier and manufactured by Wham-O. It was first sold in 1961. The main form is a plastic sheet and a method of wetting it; when the surface is wet it becomes very slippery, thus allowing the user to slide along it. Some versions also include an inflatable swimming pool for the user to slide into at the end of slide, and spray tubes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irwin Toy</span> Canadian toy company

Irwin Toy Limited was a Canadian distributor and manufacturer of toys. It was Canada's oldest toy company and remained independent and family owned until 2001.

Hooping is the manipulation of and artistic movement or dancing with a hoop. Hoops can be made of metal, wood, or plastic. Hooping combines technical moves and tricks with freestyle or technical dancing. Hooping can be practiced to or performed with music. In contrast to the classic toy hula hoop, modern hoopers use heavier and larger diameter hoops, and frequently rotate the hoop around parts of the body other than the waist, including the hips, chest, neck, shoulders, thighs, knees, arms, hands, thumbs, feet, and toes. The hoop can also be manipulated and rotated off the body as well. Modern hooping has been influenced by art forms such as rhythmic gymnastics, hip-hop, freestyle dance, fire performance, twirling, poi, and other dance and movement forms.

Richard Knerr was an American inventor best known for marketing the Frisbee and Hula hoop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waboba</span> Swedish outdoor toy company

Waboba is an international outdoor toy and sporting goods brand headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden with offices in Atlanta, Georgia and Guangzhou, China. Waboba is most known for its invention of balls that bounce on water, the high bouncing Moon ball, and the Wingman silicone flying disc. The company specializes in beach and backyard toys and games. The slogan used in advertising is Keep Life Fun. The name Waboba is a registered trademark and many of its products are internationally patented.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skyball</span> Bouncy ball toy

The Sky Ball is a mid-sized bouncy ball toy sold by Maui Toys. Each ball measures 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter and contains a mix of helium and compressed air.

Spud or Spuds is a nickname for:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Headrick</span>

Ed Headrick, also known as "Steady" Ed Headrick, was an American toy inventor. Headrick served in combat in the army in WWII and was a deep-sea welder. He is most well known as the father of both the modern-day Frisbee and of the sport and game of disc golf.

Modern disc golf started in the early 1960s, but there is debate over who came up with the idea first. The consensus is that multiple groups of people played independently throughout the 1960s. Students at Rice University in Houston, Texas, for example, held tournaments with trees as targets as early as 1964, and in the early 1960s, players in Pendleton King Park in Augusta, Georgia would toss Frisbees into 50-gallon barrel trash cans designated as targets. In 1968 Frisbee Golf was also played in Alameda Park in Santa Barbara, California by teenagers in the Anacapa and Sola street areas. Gazebos, water fountains, lamp posts, and trees were all part of the course. This took place for several years and an Alameda Park collectors edition disc still exists, though rare, as few were made. Clifford Towne from this group went on to hold a National Time Aloft record.

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