Joan Anderson, who helped create the hula hoop, dies aged 101

Joan Anderson, who coined the title for the hula hoop and performed an unsung function in its rise, has died age 101.

The former mannequin was visiting her native Australia from her dwelling within the US when she noticed teams of individuals swivelling wood hoops round their waists.

She was so mesmerised by the rising craze in Australia that she had one of many unusual new toys shipped to the US.

The 2018 documentary Hula Girl retold Ms Anderson’s story of dubbing it the hula hoop after the hip-swivelling Hawaiian dance, and the way it was she and her husband who first confirmed it to a toy firm boss.

It went on to promote thousands and thousands and develop into a worldwide sensation – however the couple went uncredited for his or her function in its rise.

Recounting assembly the boss of American toy conglomerate Wham-O within the early Nineteen Sixties, Ms Anderson informed documentary makers: “We told him, ‘we’ve called it the hula hoop,’.

“He stated, ‘seems to be prefer it has some benefit, if it makes cash for us, it should become profitable for you’.”

Ms Anderson claimed the deal was sealed with a “gentleman’s handshake” and it began to fly off the shelves in the US.

But in the year’s that followed, the firm’s boss “stored placing us” off, Ms Anderson said, and the pair eventually filed a lawsuit which resulted in a modest financial settlement – but crucially, no formal recognition of their role in its rise.

Later accounts of its invention mentioned how an “Australian buddy” brought an early version to the US.

She told documentary makers: “I feel that bugged me greater than something. It was by no means reported accurately in any respect. I used to be not a ‘buddy’.”

Born Joan Constance Manning in Sydney on 28 December 1923, she worked as a swimsuit model and met Wayne Anderson, a US Army pilot, on Bondi Beach and married him soon after.

Speaking to the BBC, the filmmaker behind the story of Ms Anderson’s life said: “Telling Joan’s story was such a rewarding expertise.

“She was 94 when we met and even with everything she’d been through, she had lived an amazing, full life.

“Seeing her lastly get the popularity she deserved in any case these years was unimaginable.”

Ms Anderson died on 14 July at a nursing home in Carlsbad, California, having lived “a beautiful life”, her family said.

She is survived by two sons, a daughter and 6 grandchildren. Another son, Carl, died in 2023.