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Hula Hoops
The hoop is an ancient toy. It originated in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and in the fourteenth century England. These hoops were usually made from wood, or in a few cases steel, because plastic was not produced back then.
In the 1700s, missionaries, who went to Hawaii, saw the hula dance and named the hoop a Hula Hoop®. They brought the idea back to America where it much later became one of the greatest sensations during the 1950s.
The Hula Hoop® is the most popular toy ever produced within America. It is a colored plastic hoop which is twirled around the body by gyrating the hips. Wham-O Manufacturing introduced the Hula Hoop® in 1958. Americans purchased 20 million Hula Hoop® toys within the first six months. The cost of the toy was $1.98, and its popularity was so great that stores continued to run out. As a matter of fact, at the peak of the Hula Hoop® sensation, Wham-O was manufacturing around 20,000 Hula Hoops® a day. So many Hula Hoops® have been produced that the plastic tubing from them would wrap around the Earth more than five times if they were stretched out.
Although the Hula Hoop® was extremely
popular in America, Japan banned the Hula Hoop®, and the Soviet
Union called the Hula Hoop® an
example of the “emptiness of American culture.”