TellZall's object for August is the "Hula Hoop"®.

In 1948 Arthur "Spud" Melin and Richard Knerr founded a company they called "Wham-O". They intended to invent, manufacture, and market novelty toys and sporting goods. Their first product, a slingshot, gave the company its name and its start. The slingshot was a success and thousands were sold.

In 1957 an Australian visitor told the pair about how children in his country twirled bamboo hoops around their waists for exercise and fun. Melin and Knerr combined this idea with Marlex, a lightweight, durable new plastic developed by Phillips Petroleum. The called their product the Hula Hoops and began marketing it around Southern California. At first they gave "Hula Hoops" away, hoping to generate interest. The ploy worked. Other, more intense market efforts followed.

The Hula Hoop became immensely popular. More than twenty-five million were sold for $1.98 each in just four months. Kids held contests and exhibitions. Media coverage, including a four-page feature in Life magazine and endorsement by TV star Art Linkletter, was amazing and effective. Every kid in America, it seemed, had to have at least one "Hula Hoop" . Overseas, the fad also caught on, though not everywhere. The hoops were banned in Japan, and the Soviet Union proclaimed that the fad was one more example of the "emptiness of American culture." Perhaps, but the kids had fun and, by the end of 1958, Wham-O had earned $45 million in profits.

Then the fad died. As quickly as "Hula Hoops" caught the attention of America's youth, they faded from popularity. "Hula Hoops" would continue to be made - indeed, they are still - but the bubble of popularity had burst. Wham-O did not spend time mourning the loss, however. The company already was busy with its next blockbuster, a flying plastic disk called "Frisbee".