Joan Anderson, the woman who presented Hula Hoop to the United States and gave her iconic name, died last month at age 101.
Anderson’s daughter, Lorelyn Willis, confirmed her death to NBC News on Friday and said her mother died on July 14 in an elderly home in Carlsbad, California.
Anderson’s story was largely unknown until the 2018 documentary “Hula Girl”, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The filmmakers Chris Riesss and Amy Hill took their story to the light after Hill’s mother, listened to her in a restaurant.
Born in Joan Constance Manning on December 28, 1923, in Sydney, Australia, she met her husband, the American pilot Wayne Anderson, in Bondi Beach in 1946. They married four months later, they moved to the United States and finally settled in Hollywood, where Joan worked as a model, according to a biography on a biography on a “Hula Girl” biography.
While visiting the family in Australia in the 1950s, Anderson noticed a madness of toys that swept the country. Curious, he asked his mother to send him one. When he arrived, even the delivery man questioned why he had come so far. According to the documentary, Joan and Wayne played with him for months before showing him to his friends. At a dinner, someone commented that he seemed to make the HULA, to which Joan replied: “There is the name, Hula Hoop.”
The couple presented the ring to Arthur “Spud” Melin, co-founder of Wham-O. The meeting was informal, without paperwork, just a handshake, according to Anderson.
“We were very naive,” Anderson said in “Hula Girl.” WHAM-O went to make millions. The Anderson sued and settled in 1961 for less than $ 6,000 after legal fees.
“They never recognized who gave them the Hula Hoop,” Anderson said in the movie. “I think that bothered me more than anything.”
Despite the result, Anderson and her husband used money from the agreement to start a successful manufacturing business.
“We let it go and continue with our lives.” Anderson said in “Hula Girl.” “Why get angry with something you can’t change?”
Hill, the filmmaker who co -directed “Hula Girl,” said Anderson’s story resonated far beyond the origin of the toy.
“We use the word ‘revenge’ because she says that in the movie,” said Hill, referring to a moment in the movie when Anderson said happiness is the best revenge. “But it’s more than that. It is a well -lived life. It is living your best life despite a setback.”
Anderson survives his daughter, two children and six grandchildren.
