Air Blaster (1965), which shot a puff of air that could blow out a candle at 20 feet.The television commercial featured Kathryn Minner, the original Little Old Lady from Pasadena. The packaging design, featuring 1960s icon Rat Fink, was widely reproduced on T-shirts, posters and decals. Wheelie Bar (1966) for wheelie bikes, especially well suited for the popular Schwinn Sting-Ray.The retail price for the rubber-band-powered toy was $3 (about $24 in 2020 money). Made of aluminum spars, wood, steel wire and mylar, it was brightly painted to resemble a hawk or owl. Wham-O Bird Ornithopter (1959) sold in a large cardboard box, ready to fly.Vintage Blue and white Wham-O Magic Window toy from the 1970s 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. When the rains came, the eggs hatched and fish emerged overnight. 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. 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. In the 1960s they produced a US$119 do-it-yourself bomb shelter cover. With other products, Wham-O tried to capitalize on existing national trends. Around 20 million Super Balls were sold that decade, and the NFL named the Super Bowl games after it. 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. In 1959 Wham-O marketed a slightly modified version, which they renamed the Frisbee-and once again a Wham-O toy became a common part of life through the 1960s. In 1955 inventor Fred Morrison began marketing a plastic flying disc called the Pluto Platter. Shortly thereafter, the company had another huge success with the Frisbee. "Hula Hoop mania" continued through the end of 1959, and netted Wham-O $45 million (equivalent to $418 million in 2022 ). 25 million were sold in four months, and in two years sales reached more than 100 million. (The name had been used since the 18th century, but till then was not registered as a trademark.) It became the biggest toy fad in modern history. 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. 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. When they outgrew the garage, Knerr and Melin rented a building on S. The powerful slingshot was adopted by clubs for competitive target shooting and small game hunting.
The name "Wham-O" was inspired by the sound of the slingshot's shot hitting the target.
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. In 1948 they formed the WHAM-O Manufacturing Company in the Knerr family garage in South Pasadena. Richard Knerr (1925–2008 ) and Arthur "Spud" Melin (1924–2002 ), two University of Southern California graduates who were friends since their teens, were unhappy with their jobs and decided to start their own business.
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