The yo-yo is a toy that falls and rises on an adroitly manipulated string. It is the second oldest known toy in the world (only the doll is older), and has been around fo 3,000 years.
Playing with the yo-yo was one of the favourite pastimes of ancient Greek children. A Greek vase painting from 440 BC shows a boy playing with a yo-yo.
Yo-yos were used as a weapon by hunters during the sixteenth century in the Philippine Islands. They hid in trees with a rock tied to a cord to throw at wild animals beneath them. The cord meant they could get the rock back without having to come down from the tree. These yo-yos weighed 4 pounds and had a 20-foot cord.
Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette were yo-yo enthusiasts. Later, during the French Revolution the dangling toy was associated with aristocratic French families fleeing the guillotine. It was known in those days as a "bandalore".
They were first introduced to America in 1866 by James L. Haven and Charles Hettrick of Cincinnati but remained in relative obscurity until 1928 when a Filipino American named Pedro Flores opened the Yo-yo Manufacturing Company in Santa Barbara, California.
By November 1929, Flores was operating two additional factories in Los Angeles and Hollywood, which altogether employed 600 workers and produced 300,000 units daily.
An entrepreneur named Donald F. Duncan recognized the potential of this new fad and purchased the Flores yo-yo Corporation and all its assets, including the Flores name, which was transferred to the new company in 1932.
The word yo-yo was registered as a trade name in Canada in 1932, and it was then that a sudden craze for the toy spread through the Western world.
The hands of 1932 World Yo-Yo Champion, Harvey Lowe, were insured for $150,000. He travelled through Europe and while in London taught the Prince of Wales how to play the Yo-Yo.
Playing with the yo-yo was one of the favourite pastimes of ancient Greek children. A Greek vase painting from 440 BC shows a boy playing with a yo-yo.
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| Boy playing with a terracotta yo-yo, Attic kylix, c. 440 BC, |
Yo-yos were used as a weapon by hunters during the sixteenth century in the Philippine Islands. They hid in trees with a rock tied to a cord to throw at wild animals beneath them. The cord meant they could get the rock back without having to come down from the tree. These yo-yos weighed 4 pounds and had a 20-foot cord.
Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette were yo-yo enthusiasts. Later, during the French Revolution the dangling toy was associated with aristocratic French families fleeing the guillotine. It was known in those days as a "bandalore".
 |
| A 1791 illustration of a woman playing with an early version of the yo-yo, |
They were first introduced to America in 1866 by James L. Haven and Charles Hettrick of Cincinnati but remained in relative obscurity until 1928 when a Filipino American named Pedro Flores opened the Yo-yo Manufacturing Company in Santa Barbara, California.
By November 1929, Flores was operating two additional factories in Los Angeles and Hollywood, which altogether employed 600 workers and produced 300,000 units daily.
An entrepreneur named Donald F. Duncan recognized the potential of this new fad and purchased the Flores yo-yo Corporation and all its assets, including the Flores name, which was transferred to the new company in 1932.
The word yo-yo was registered as a trade name in Canada in 1932, and it was then that a sudden craze for the toy spread through the Western world.
The hands of 1932 World Yo-Yo Champion, Harvey Lowe, were insured for $150,000. He travelled through Europe and while in London taught the Prince of Wales how to play the Yo-Yo.
Yo-yos were banned in Syria in 1933, because many locals superstitiously blamed the use of them for a severe drought.
More than half a billion yo-yos have been sold in the United States since Donald F. Duncan introduced the toy in 1930.
There was a female rapper named Yo-Yo (Yolanda Whitaker) who was a protégé of Ice Cube. She cracked the US Top-40 in 1991 with her song "You Can't Play With My Yo-Yo."
Cheap yo-yos can spin approximately 10-20 seconds, with a record of nearly 4 minutes, while professional ball bearing yo-yos can spin for 1-4 minutes, with a record of just over 21 minutes.
Yo-yos can spin around 6,000 revolutions per minute, about as fast as most car engines can turn over.
Due to a yo-yo's gyroscopic stability and the string's friction, the string doesn't even need to be tied to the yo-yo to make it work.
One of the most famous tricks on the yoyo is "walk the dog". This is done by throwing a fast Sleeper and allowing the yoyo to roll across the floor.
Yo-yo balloons are a common type of water balloon found at festivals in Japan. The balloon is tied shut and hung from an elastic string with a finger loop tied at the end. This gives them enough weight and bounce to function as a yo-yo, earning their name.
Source Songfacts
More than half a billion yo-yos have been sold in the United States since Donald F. Duncan introduced the toy in 1930.
There was a female rapper named Yo-Yo (Yolanda Whitaker) who was a protégé of Ice Cube. She cracked the US Top-40 in 1991 with her song "You Can't Play With My Yo-Yo."
Cheap yo-yos can spin approximately 10-20 seconds, with a record of nearly 4 minutes, while professional ball bearing yo-yos can spin for 1-4 minutes, with a record of just over 21 minutes.
Yo-yos can spin around 6,000 revolutions per minute, about as fast as most car engines can turn over.
Due to a yo-yo's gyroscopic stability and the string's friction, the string doesn't even need to be tied to the yo-yo to make it work.
One of the most famous tricks on the yoyo is "walk the dog". This is done by throwing a fast Sleeper and allowing the yoyo to roll across the floor.
Yo-yo balloons are a common type of water balloon found at festivals in Japan. The balloon is tied shut and hung from an elastic string with a finger loop tied at the end. This gives them enough weight and bounce to function as a yo-yo, earning their name.
Source Songfacts
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