arthur spud'' melin net worth
New products were developed for tryout periods. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. Melin passed away in 2002; Knerr, in 2008. 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. This browser does not support getting your location. Rather, he said, the name came from a comic strip of the era called Mr. Frisbie.But the connection was not coincidental to the success of the Frisbee, which found its earliest acceptance at Eastern colleges. 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. GREAT NEWS! Unlike their contemporaries at Mattel or Hasbro, Melin and Knerr didnt have to navigate a corporate obstacle course. Love, Spud., An hour later, she sees Dad and another man from work walking up her driveway, Knerr says.Then this fake delivery truck arrives, Suzy couldn't see what it was. They also offered mail-order sporting goods, such as pellet guns, crossbows and daggers. One of the best relationships on Merlin was between the series' eponymous protagonist and Camelot's king. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved, 12 Wacky Products from Wham-O You Have to See to Believe, 12 WackyProducts from Wham-O You Have to See to Believe. Many products were not successful. But as quickly as it started, it was over. But Wham-O continued to make other novelties, like Silly String and the Slip 'n' Slide. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. Try again. A group of investors then bought Wham-O back from Mattel in 1997 for about $20 million and relaunched many of its best-known toys, including the Slip 'N Slide. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. In fact, the company was named for the spectacular They were more of an old-school company. All rights reserved. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. Promoting the creations was a family affair. Their Air Blaster could blow out a candle at 25 feet. They started making slingshots, just for kicks, out of the ends of orange crates, Chuck recalls. Their hobby was breeding falcons, and training them to dive by lobbing meatballs at them on the wing. ", Ben Martin/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images. (L to R) Rich Knerr, Fred Morrison, and Arthur Melin. By 1948, they had moved into Knerr's Los Angeles garage, where Spud Melin cut slingshots with a handsaw, Knerr sanded, and both sold, personally first, then by mail-order and through dealers all over the United States. Today in History: March 5, 1963. Litigation, changing tastes, and corporate shrinkage would eventually undo Wham-O. Include gps location with grave photos where possible. Long story short, after much effort and rejection, Spud finally got financing for his Hula Hoop, and Wham-O went on to sell some 25 million hoops the first year, making 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. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Frisbie.. If they liked an idea, it could be implemented immediately. All Rights Reserved, Hula Hoop promoter Arthur Spud Melin dies. Hula hooping teens became an iconic image of the 1950s, and the fad grew when Wham-O began manufacturing a smaller version of the hoop for the younger set. The original Hula-Hoop girl is sitting in a caf wearing a leopard-lined jacket, gold-painted nails, and Revlon lipstick in a shade called Orange Flip. Potato Heads can be worth from $200 to $695 dollars. ). All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. In the height of the Cold War, when families were building backyard bunkers to live in following nuclear attack, Wham-O marketed Do-It-Yourself Fallout Shelters for $119. And for every Super Ball they successfully marketed, there were a dozen or more imitators shaving away at market share. In 1948, friends Arthur Melin and Richard Knerr founded a company in California to sell a slingshot they created to shoot meat up to falcons they used for hunting. Wham-O headquarters in Carson, California, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Richard Knerr, 82; co-founded Wham-O, maker of the Hula Hoop and Frisbee", "Super Bowl Owes Its Name to a Bouncy Ball History in the Headlines", "12 Lesser-Known Wham-O Products You Have to See to Believe", "Airgun makers that spawned firearms | Air gun blog Pyramyd Air Report", "Monster Super Gorilla Giant Horseshoe Magnet by Wham-o", "Super Sneaky Squirtin Stick Trademark #73131837, Owner: WHAM-O", "RETRO REVIEW: Wham-O Giant Comics #1 (April 1967)", "MTU Physics Alumni Department History Exhibits BS Degrees", "Get Yourself a Magic Window, just like the popular 70's toy for all ages! Born in Los Angeles on December 30th, 1924, he and his boyhood pal, later business partner, Richard (Rich) Knerr, studied at the University of South California. So they marketed abroad, first in Europe, then everywhere, although Japan banned them as lewd, and the Soviet Union called them "an example of the emptiness of American culture". 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. The enterprise ended with the oysters being dumped into a nearby bay because they could not get the venture off the ground.Wham-O's first incursion into the mainstream came in 1955, when it bought the idea for a plastic flying disk from a building inspector named Walter Frederick Morrison. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. Andersons husband consulted Arthur Melin, a business acquaintance, about partnering with Melins company, Wham-O, one of the biggest toy manufacturers at the 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. They knew if they spent the money, theyd see a return on their investment, Walsh says. 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. Anyone, anywhere, could submit an idea to them and potentially get a royalty deal. Melin is survived by his wife, Suzy; five daughters; a brother; and 11 grandchildren. COSTA MESA, California, Jun 29, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Arthur "Spud" Melin, co-founder of the toy company that introduced the world to the Frisbee, Hula Hoop and other faddish gems of American pop culture, has died. 11 places in L.A. to get your creativity flowing. Drag images here or select from your computer for Arthur Kelso Spud Melin memorial. Long story short, after much effort and rejection, Spud finally got financing for his Hula Hoop, and Wham-O went on to sell some 25 million hoops the first year, making Wham-O was resold to Mattel Inc. in 1994 and to a group of investors in 1997. He patented a design for a two-handed tennis racket with an adjustable handle. 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. But Wham-O continued to make other novelties, like Silly String and the Slip 'n' Slide.Tiring of business, Mr. Melin persuaded Mr. Knerr to sell the company in 1982 to the Kransco Group Companies for $12 million. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. I once asked Rich Knerr about stuff like the Mr. Hootie egg rake, Walsh says. Try again later. In 1955 inventor Fred Morrison began marketing a plastic flying disc called the Pluto Platter. 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. With plastic molding so inexpensive, hoop hobbyists didnt necessarily have any brand loyaltyparticularly if the generic was cheaper. March 5, 1963: the Hula Hoop, a hip-swiveling toy that became a huge fad across America when it was first marketed by Wham-O in 1958, is patented by the He always had kids test his toys to see if they had play value. Long story short, after much effort and rejection, Spud finally got financing for his Hula Hoop, and Wham-O went on to sell some 25 million hoops the first year, making Spud tens of millions of dollars and making at least fifty bankers and investors sick. They branched into other sporting goods, including pellet guns, crossbows and daggers. Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. They were all about fun," recalls Richard's son, Chuck. Mr. Melin became active in conservative causes like immigration reform, but continued to pursue inventions. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. Copyright 2023 Deseret News Publishing Company. ), Congressional investigators blame airlines for most flight cancellations, Its kayak season. Wham-O, in fact, hired students to sell Frisbees on campuses until it could get distribution in stores. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. When the two became interested in falconry in their early 20s, they crafted a slingshot to shoot food into the air to train their birds. 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. Made of aluminum spars, wood, steel wire and mylar, it was brightly painted to resemble a hawk or owl. Knerr and Melin left behind a considerable legacy in the toy world. He was 77 and had lived in Irvine, Calif. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. A giant promotional specimen accidentally dropped from a 23rd-floor hotel room window, rebounded 15 floors and destroyed a parked convertible as it fell again. WebArthur Spud Melin . You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. Along with his wife, Melin is survived by five daughters, Linda, Sally, June, Carol and Della; one brother, Tom; and 11 grandchildren. We didnt want it used as a toy, Melin told the Pasadena Star-News in 1998. Rare was the tag line that didn't abuse exclamation marks. "[My mother] and Spud's wife would demonstrate hula hoops in parks and recreation centers around the country," Chuck says. The domestic size sold 20 million. 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. Failed to report flower. There is a problem with your email/password. You may request to transfer up to 250,000 memorials managed by Find a Grave. 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.