The story of the hula hoop and how Wham-O exec”Spud” stole credit away from this sweet 94 year-old.
Thanks to Harrison Lazarus for putting this one on our radar.
You Can’t Make This Sh*t Up
- Wham-O sold 25 million hula hoops in less than four months in 1958—but Joan, the woman who sparked it, didn’t see a dime.
- The entire “deal” between Joan and Wham-O’s Richard “Spud” Melin was a handshake at her kitchen table. That was it. No contract, no paperwork.
- At age 94, Joan still keeps one of her original handmade hula hoops in her living room as proof of her claim.
Watch “Hula Girl”
You can watch “Hula Girl” on YouTube here.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 90/100
- IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
Director’s Note: “Hula Girl” is an 11-minute short directed by Riess Hill, Amy Hill, and Chris Riess. They give Joan Anderson her long-overdue spotlight.
Release Date: 2018
My Review of “Hula Girl”
The Setup
Joan Anderson came up with the idea for the hula hoop after watching Australian kids spin bamboo rings around their waists in the late 1940s. She and her husband even pitched it to Wham-O, whose execs gave her a handshake agreement. But when the toy exploded into a national craze, Wham-O froze her out completely. The doc gives Joan the chance to finally tell her story.
More Highlights from the Doc
- Archival footage shows the 1958 hula hoop craze—kids spinning in schoolyards, contests on national TV, and sales so hot stores couldn’t keep them in stock.
- Joan describes how she saw the bamboo-ring game in Australia during her husband’s Navy posting after WWII, then recreated it in the U.S. with plastic tubing.
- Family interviews reveal how Joan lived quietly for decades, never pursuing lawsuits, even while Wham-O built a toy empire off her idea.
- The filmmakers weave Joan’s personal warmth with corporate greed—making her story both heartbreaking and inspiring.
Lesser-Known Details from the Doc
- Wham-O founders also grabbed credit for other “inventions” like the Frisbee—often buying or borrowing ideas from others and mass-marketing them.
- Joan only came forward after friends urged her to “get her story on the record” before it was lost to history.
- The title “Hula Girl” nods to both Joan’s nickname as the inventor and the Hawaiian dance-like motion of the hoop craze she launched.
Wrap Up
“Hula Girl” is a bite-sized documentary with a big punch that had me hooked from start to finish. It is part toy history, part cautionary tale of corporate greed. Joan Anderson finally gets the credit she was denied for 60 years.
Thanks for reading!
Heather Fenty, Guest Writer, Daily Doc