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YoYo Related News From Around The World

Throwback Thursday – PowerYo

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Oh, the late 90s/early 2000s were an amazing time for yoyoing worldwide. Unfortunately, there is video evidence of a lot of it. Check out this commercial for the UK-based “PowerYO” line of products. Like most product lines that rolled in during the boom, this one didn’t last very long but at least we got this gem of a TV commercial.

Thanks to Luke Roberts (featured in the commercial!) for getting this glorious bit of awfulness online for us.

This was from way back in 2004, when a company in the UK (Peterkin) decided to start up their own yo-yo brand, and myself, Arron Sparks, Paul Sargent and Sean Misselbrook were part of the PowerYo demonstration team.

We toured across the UK – even doing a stint in Butlins! It was great fun and you can still even buy some PowerYo products to this day! (Some will be going up on the store this weekend).

Check it out for a bit of a giggle! (and check out that rap song! 😛)

Throwback Thursday: 1970’s Duncan Yo-yolympics

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For Throwback Thursday, check out this hilarious old promotional footage that Duncan Toys produced in the 70’s.

The first four minutes are a yo-yo “history & science lesson” presented by Doug Behringer, who was the Promotions Director for Duncan during this era. Scratch your head while he explains how yo-yos are powered by the sun.

“What do you think would happen to a yo-yo in outer space? Without gravity, do you think it would spin forever?” I wish I could make this stuff up!

Also notice: towards the end of the bit, Doug explains that it’s called “playing yo-yo” rather than “playing with the yo-yo.” I’d reckon that the term “yo-yoing” hadn’t been coined yet. Crazy stuff.

The latter ten minutes of the film is an extraordinary glimpse at yo-yo contests of yesteryear – “How to Run a Yo-Yo Olympic Contest.” This was filmed in 1979 at Six Flags over Georgia, and distributed to parks and recreational departments across the country in preparation for this nationwide event orchestrated by Duncan Toys. According to the video, the Duncan Yo-Yo Olympics was open to all boys and girls under 16 years of age. Divisions were segregated between the sexes, and also either over or under 12 years old.

Contests seeded from the Playground level to the City Contests, followed by State Contests, and onto one of 9 Regionals. Finally the top 9 in the country were flown to Nationals at the Marriott Great America, in Illinois. The prize for a Gold medal at Nationals was a $1000 Scholarship Bond.

Duncan had certified demonstrators in every region of the country mobilize to sell yo-yos, teach tricks, and judge these competitions locally. In Atlanta, the regional demonstrator at this contest was Lance Lynch from Pensacola, Florida. With that fantastic mustache, watch in the film as Lance rounds the kids up in a line for the contest. Unlike modern freestyle based competitions, this primitive yo-yo contest format is very similar to how Kendama ladders are organized today. As Lance moves down the line of kids with a clipboard, everybody steps out from the line one at a time to attempt each trick. Here, everyone starts off with 100 points, and loses 2 points for each miss. It’s basically a sport ladder where the competitors move up the rungs in a group.

Here are the old trick lists:

Playground Level:

-Gravity Pull

-The Spinner

-Walk the Dog

-Around the World

City Level:

-Lunar Loops

-Astro Loops

-Planet Hops

-Orbit Launch

-Rock the Baby

State / Regional Level:

-Skyrocket

-Man on the Flying Trapeeze

-Tidal Wave

-Warp Drive

-Flying Saucer

-Braintwister

-Shooting Star

-Double or Nothing

-Gemini Loops

Throwback Thursday – The Fascinating Art of YoYo (1950s)

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In this great black-and-white video we get a solid look at yoyo contests of the 1950s and “World YoYo Champion” Art Pickles.

I have to confess, I don’t really know much about Art Pickles. His name has come up a few times here and there in my various diggings into yoyo history, but I’ve never been able to find very much. He seems to be using and promoting an “off-brand” yoyo made by a company called Outspan, although I can also say I don’t really know anything about them either. Art Pickles is an anomaly in yoyo history…he seems to have come and gone without leaving much of a trace, and doesn’t appear to have ever worked for any of the major companies of the day. But damn he was stylish…check out those double Walk The Dogs!

Art Pickles Whistling YoYo

YoYo World Magazines For Sale To Benefit Stu Crump

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YoYo World Magazine YoYoExpert

Back in January, I posted a look back at Yo-Yo World Magazine, one of the more hilarious things to come out of the late 90’s yoyo craze. Well, YoYoExpert.com has come across a stash of these magazines, and is offering full sets of all three issues for sale!

A significant portion of the sales of these back issues will go to benefit Stu Crump, who has been battling Parkinson’s Disease for many years now. Stu was the Editor of the YoYo Times Newsletter, a print newsletter that for many, many years was the ONLY source of yoyo-related news in the world. I remember getting my bright yellow copies in the mail and devouring them, although at the time I mostly just complained about how everyone had clever “YO” nicknames and how it was impossible to learn tricks from the text descriptions they often published. It was a weird, small time for yoyoing, and Stu held the handful of us who were scattered around the world together with little more than sheer force of will and the kindness of his own heart. He’s a great guy, and every little bit we can send his way will help. So pick up your copies, enjoy the godawful fashion choices we all made back then, and help out a legacy of the yoyo community.

From YoYoExpert:

Yo-Yo World was a magazine produced by H&S, a company who published many other magazines that were influenced by the very cool fads of the 90’s. This is likely the only time you will see a COMPLETE set of these available for sale!

This unique Magazine was only produced for three months and only contained 1 volume consisting of three issues. The first issue, July – August 1999, includes a “tricks and tips” guide with some names you may know and some names you will be happy to learn. The Second issue, September – October 1999, includes a special Q&A with the Founder of YoYoFactory (then ProYo Champ) – Hans Van Dan Elzen. The Third and Final issue Dated November – December 1999 contains an old buyers guide that gives you an idea of just how different yo-yo culture was 14 years ago.

Yo-Yo World is definitely one of the most entertaining magazines we have read and it is the perfect coffee table book-set for a true yo-yo enthusiast. You will love this magazine if you are looking to get a taste of what yo-yoing was like back in the day or if you just want to reminisce and see what your favorite players were wearing in the 90s! (OOCH, AAAW YEAH!) These are all as is from the printer and even include all the original postcards!

Rare Flores YoYo String Pack on eBay

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Here’s a neat piece of yoyo history…an incredibly rare Flores replacement string pack! These don’t turn up very often…check it out!

In the 1920s, a Filipino man named Pedro Flores immigrated to the United States, bringing the first yo-yo with him. He established Flores Yo-Yos in the San Francisco Bay Area to sell these toys, each of which was hand carved out of a single piece of wood. Instead of having the string tied to the axle, as was traditional with bandalores, the Flores yo-yo’s string looped around the axle, which let the toy spin at the end of the string. This development lead to the birth of modern-day yo-yoing, which allows for elaborate tricks, instead of just bouncing up and down.

In the late ’20s, Donald F. Duncan saw a child playing with a Flores yo-yo and realized it had the potential to be a nationwide sensation. He soon joined Flores’ company as a marketer, hosting yo-yo competitions. By 1929, he had bought Flores out of the company, renaming it the Genuine Duncan Yo-Yo Company, and in 1932, he trademarked the word “yo-yo,” prompting competitors to use words and phrases like “come-back,” “return,” “returning top,” “whirl-a-gig,” and “twirler” to describe their products. He sent “Duncan Yo-Yo Professionals” on tours across the country, where they would teach yo-yo skills and hold competitions.

 

 

Drew Tetz – Rock the Rainbow Ribbon

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Happy Fixed Friday! If you didn’t get enough fixie action out of Ed’s 3D and Off-Plane Video, here’s another quick combo for you. The yo-yo I’m using is an eighties-era Duncan/Yoffy Rainbow Ribbon, a gift from the incomparable John Higby, a man who truly knows how to rock the sideways flip.

Throwback Thursday – Duncan Toys “How To Run A YoYo Contest” (1970)

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“Now, through the magic of slow motion….”

I love love LOVE old training videos in general, and old yoyo training reels are the best! Brandon Jackson just uploaded this gem from the Duncan Toys vaults featuring legendary yoyo demonstrator Barney Akers helping teach how to run a basic yoyo contest.

A couple of notes the video:

– 7:48 – The narrator begins lying blatantly about the history of the yoyo. Yoyos originated in 450 BC Greece, or at least that’s as far back as any have been discovered. This nonsense was started in the 1940s by Duncan marketing director Tom Ives, and has been repeated ever since, including in textbooks and various history books. Yikes.

– They only spend 3 minutes discussing how to run a contest at the very end of the video…the rest of the video is devoted entirely to demonstrating the actual tricks. It’s not entirely clear, but it looks like this reel was specifically intended not for retail stores but for Parks & Recreation departments across the country. In the 1970s and 1980s, Duncan had slowed their demonstrator program down considerably from its heyday in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, and relied predominantly on television and brand recognition to sell the product.

– Phyllis Kelsey was adorable. Jack Bozung was not.

Huge thanks to Duncan Toys and Brandon Jackson for sharing this with us!

 

Throwback Thursday: Vintage Duncan Toys Commercials

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Duncan Toys has a long and rich history, stretching back to the late 1920s and encompassing some of the most brilliant and truly American aspects of entrepreneurship.

And of course, that means they’ve made some absolutely horrifying commercials. Here are a few choice gems from their archives that will leave you wondering, laughing, and cringing.

Have you ever heard a human being speak more awkwardly than this? Disco robot demonstrator?

 

No matter how weird a guy on stilts throwing yoyos may be, the Japanese voiceover makes it seem oddly commonplace.

 

I’m not sure exactly why they chose to film this in the back warehouse of a lawn & garden shop, but the fake gazebo in the back really sells the “fun” of yoyos.

 

Filmed in someone’s garage and produced for the princely sum of no more than five dollars, this is hands-down the most god-awful, low-budget commercial I’ve ever seen. For anything!

 

This commercial starts off ridiculous, and then? BOOM: Fat Elvis Kid pops out the top of the convertible. Amazing.

 

Wait…is the kid on the couch the same as the Fat Elvis kid from the last commercial?

 

Because nothing says relevant in 1999 like a long-defunct 80’s New Wave band from Ohio. Bonus: Look at lil’ Hank Freeman!

 

Fun fact: I didn’t actually know about the whole “Give Us The Finger” thing until AFTER I filmed my part of this commercial. And when I found out, and told them that it was the stupidest idea I’d ever heard, they were not happy with my quality feedback. And thus did I learn: Never say yes until you’ve seen the whole script. *facepalm*

 

PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE FACT THAT I NEVER ACTUALLY USED THE YOYO THAT THE COMMERCIAL IS SELLING. DRINK COKE!

 

This is actually pretty good. Kinda surprised it holds up as well as it does, actually.

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