Grandson of Hula Hoop

"We believe that the nation and the world are ready for a new Hula Hoop era." Venturing that brave prediction is Barry Shapiro, 39, executive vice president and general manager of the Wham-O Mfg. Co., the San Gabriel, Calif., toy and sporting-goods maker that introduced the hoop in 1958. During a slightly mad six-month period 25 years ago, as many as 120 million hoops were sold around the world. A 1967 version called the Shoop-Shoop Hula Hoop was filled with ballbearings to make a swishing sound. It briefly sparked renewed interest, but failed to reignite the fad.

Now the company is trying to launch the Grandson of Hoop. At New York City's annual toy fair last month, Miss U.S.A., Kim Seelbrede, was on display whirling the 1982 model, known as the Peppermint Hula Hoop, because it bears barber-pole stripes and is peppermint scented. In coming weeks the hoop will be featured in an episode of the television comedy-adventure The Dukes of Hazzard, and paraded in Daytona Beach, Fla., at an olympiad of hoop-based sporting events during the spring break for college students.

Wham-O believes that the current economic troubles may be just what is needed to give the Hula Hoop another whirl. The first introduction coincided with the 1958 recession, while the second came during the trauma of the Viet Nam War. As Shapiro explains, "Wham-O has always felt that when the world is in kind of a messy way and people are unhappy, something like the hoop lets them just forget everything while they go crazy for a minute or two spinning around."

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