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Joan Anderson, the woman who introduced Hula Hoop to the United States and gave it an iconic name, passed away last month at the age of 101.
Anderson’s daughter, Loralyn Willis, confirmed her death on NBC News Friday, saying her mother died at a nursing home in Carlsbad, California on July 14th.
Little was known about Anderson’s story until the 2018 documentary “Hula Girl,” which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Filmmakers Chris Reese and Amy Hill reveal her story after Hill’s mother overhears it in a restaurant.
Born on December 28, 1923 in Sydney, Australia, Joanne Constance Manning met her husband, Pilot Wayne Anderson, at Bondi Beach in 1946. They got married four months later and eventually moved to the US, where Joan worked as a model, according to a biography on the “Hula Girl” website.
Joan Anderson. Courtesy Chris Riess and Amy Hill.
After visiting his family in Australia in the 1950s, Anderson realized that the toy hoop epidemic was cleaning up the country. Curious, she asked her mother to send it to her. When it arrived, even the delivery man wondered why it had come so far. According to the documentary, Jaune and Wayne performed it for months before showing it to their friends. At the dinner party, I commented that someone seemed to be doing a hulada. Jaune said, “I have a name – I have a hula hoop.”
The couple introduced the hoop to Arthur “Supad” Melin, co-founder of WHAM-O. According to Anderson, the meeting was informal.
“We were very naive,” Anderson said in “Huhula Girl.” wham-o continued to make millions of money. Andersons sued and settled in 1961 for less than $6,000 after legal costs.
“They never admitted who gave them hula hoops,” Anderson said in the film. “I think that bothered me more than anything. It’s about the biggest lie I’ve ever heard.”
Despite the outcome, Anderson and her husband used the settlement money to start a successful manufacturing business.
“We let it go and just kept our lives,” Anderson said in “Huhula Girl.” “Why are you angry at something you can’t change?”
Joan Anderson. Courtesy Chris Riess and Amy Hill.
Hill, the filmmaker who co-directed “The Hula Girl,” said Anderson’s story resonated well beyond the origins of toys.
“We use the word ‘vengeance’. Because she says that in the film,” Hill mentioned the film’s moment when Anderson said happiness was the best revenge. “But it’s more than that. It’s just a life that I lived. Despite the setbacks, I’m living my best life.”
Anderson was survived by a daughter, two sons and six grandchildren.
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