Writer of Pop Culture

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This Day in Pop Culture

This Day in Pop Culture for March 5

Guess whose birthday it is today. The Hula Hoop!

March 12, 2020

1–2 minutes

1963: The Hula-Hoop Receives a Trademark

Although invented for hundreds of years earlier, Arthur Melin and Rich Knerr, founders of Wham-O products, received a trademark for their version of the hoop toy on this day in 1963. Wham-O’s Hula-Hoop was the first plastic hoop toy with the “shoop shoop” sound thanks to a ball bearing placed inside.

Twenty million hoops were sold in the first six months of production. It was a big hit world-wide except for Japan who thought it incited improprieties and Russia who thought it was an example of the “emptiness of American culture.” In 1999, the Hula-Hoop was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. (Image: Wikimedia)

2005: Father Osbourne Knows Best

It was on this day in 2005 that a new TV series, which probably wouldn’t have worked on another network, became MTV’s most-viewed series ever. The reality show, The Osbournes featured the real-life family of Ozzy Osbourne, well most of them anyway.

While Ozzy’s wife Sharon and his children Jack and Kelly appeared on the show, eldest daughter Aimee did not. In fact, it is said that when family photos were shown on the screen, Aimee’s face was either cut out or blurred. According to Ozzy, he was stoned during the filming of the entire series. In 2009, the family starred in a new variety series for FOX. It was cancelled after just one episode. (Image: Wikipedia)