Fads: And Now the Shoop Shoop

Nothing is deader than yesteryear’s fad, or so at least moan merchants who have been stuck with unsalable stocks of Yo-yos, Davy Crockett hats and Batman costumes. Until six weeks ago, the same could have been said of Hula Hoops, which in a profitable six months in 1958 racked up worldwide sales of 70 million. But Wham-O Manufacturing Corp., which started the first craze, had a hunch that hoops were good for another twirl. The novelty that was needed was noise. So Wham-O put half-a-dozen ¼-in.-diameter ball bearings inside each hollow hoop to give it a whirry sound, brightened the plastic colors, and called it the New Shoop Shoop Hula Hoop. Test-marketed this summer in Miami, the hoops caught on with a new moppet generation too young to have been in on the first fad. Right after Labor Day, Shoop Shoops went national. Manhattan stores have sold 400,000 of them, Chicago 225,000, and nationwide sales have already shot past 3,000,000.