Although the yo-yo had been around for centuries, it was the craze of the contest that made the yo-yo one of the most popular toys of the twentieth century. The demand for the toy was so high in that Popular Mechanics published an article in their July issue on how to make a Filipino yo-yo. This was a scare tactic to prevent other toy producers from manufacturing yo-yos. Flores actually produced yo-yos for only a very brief period of time before he sold his yo-yo trademark and company to the Donald F.
Duncan Company. Duncan at the time was a competitor for Flores but did not have the trademark rights to the yo-yo. The annual appearance of the Duncan yo-yo man and his contests became a rights of passage for the youth of America during this period. He used the technique of combining contest campaigns with local newspaper subscription drives. The sponsoring newspapers benefited by requiring the entrants to sell subscriptions for contest eligibility.
They in turn, provided free publicity and prizes. The technique was so successful that Duncan convinced William Randolph Hearst, the biggest newspaper magnate of the early 20th century, to use yo-yo contests to stimulate his circulation. Duncan also tapped into recognition surrounding celebrity exposure.
If a town was without a visible celebrity, public officials did nicely for publicity shots. Mayors, police chiefs, city health commissioners, all were recruited to promote local yo-yo campaigns.
Duncan not only sold yo-yos in the United States but worldwide as well. The 30s were best known for their metal whistling yo-yos. They introduced their first light up yo-yo in , which was also their first plastic yo-yo. At the peak of its production the Duncan factory employed and produced as many as 60, yo-yos per day and in , 45 million sold in one year.
Duncan may have ruined themselves in their own effective marketing. In he left Duncan and formed his own yo-yo company. With the loss of the support of the Duncan demonstrators few yo-yo contests were held from the mids to the mid 80s. The yo-yo began to lose some of its previous glory in the United States as a cultural icon. Although the Duncan trademark was later bought by Flambeau and plastic Duncan yo-yos began to be produced again in , the era of the yo-yo man demonstrator in America had passed.
For the rest of the world the yo-yo still retained its fad like status. From the late s on ,with the exception of North America, Jack Russell made the word yo-yo almost synonymous with Coca Cola. Although yo-yos still sold by the millions each year in the late 60s and 70s the poplar presence that it had previously as a cultural icon had diminished.
The yo-yo did occasionally break into the national scene during this time period the most notable were political in nature. First in antiwar activist Abbie Hoffman pulled out a yo-yo and walked the dog while testifying before a congressional committee. He was found in contempt of court for his actions and this rates as the most severe reprimand resulting from the play of the yo-yo. President Nixon took a couple of throws on stage with Acuff and a photos of this were released by the major media.
Political cartoonists had a field day with the event. Nixon signed the yo-yo and presented it to Acuff. For centuries the yo-yo had remained very similar in form and function. In the end, I had to unpack and demonstrate each of the yo-yos in turn, much to the amusement and eventual applause of the security team. So I was somewhat accustomed to the idea that the material and shape of the modern, metal yo-yo could cause confusion; most people still think of yo-yos as cute plastic or wooden toys.
They imagine children playing with them in front of a s fireplace. The simple charm of the yo-yo was usually enough to disarm any misunderstandings and, for many people, it triggers a warm sense of nostalgia for their own childhoods.
The myth of the yo-yo as an ancient Filipino weapon persists despite the absence of sound historical evidence that it was ever used in this way. The term yo-yo like the toy itself was probably imported into the U. The first yo-yos manufactured in the U. In the cultural turmoil of U.
When it reached the full extent of the string, it spun there, whirring with a faintly mechanical sound. Temporarily distracted by these maintenance considerations, I let the yo-yo spin at the bottom of the string and listened to it whine, feeling a little embarrassed about being a bad yo-yo owner. The security guard stared at the yo-yo and then looked up at me, clearly unimpressed.
Would it be a different object altogether: a yo? In fact, the notion that a yo-yo should immediately return to the hand pre-dates the use of the term "yo-yo" in the West. Before Pedro Flores introduced the Filipino practice of looping the string rather than tying it or otherwise fixing it around the axel, the yo-yo had been known by a variety of different names: the bandalore in France, the quiz in England, the chucki an Indian name during an 18th-century popularity boom in Europe.
Historians assume that the yo-yo was known as a yo-yo in Asian history, reaching back at least as far as B. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile.
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