Hula Hoop - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

  • On September 6, 1958, singer Georgia Gibbs appeared on US TV's The Ed Sullivan Show to sing The Hula Hoop Song. Her last (US top-40) hit, it competed with four other songs created in the wake of the huge fad.
  • The hoop emerged in the world of circus in the 1960s, with Russian and Chinese artists taking it to extremes. These influenced contemporary circus artists like Australian circus comedian and hula hoop historian Judith Lanigan, who performs the Dying Swan — "a tragedy with hula hoops" — using 30 hula hoops. The Cirque du Soleil shows Alegría, Quidam and Wintuk have presented hula hoop acts featuring contortionist and former rhythmic gymnast Elena Lev. The Cirque show Zumanity features hoop performer and aerialist Julia Kolosova.
  • In June 2006 Angie Mack entered (and won in its own category) a Fatboy Slim competition, hooping to the track 'That Old Pair Of Jeans'.
  • Hula hoops are referred to in the 1958 Alvin and the Chipmunks song, "Christmas Don't Be Late". Wayout Toys, under licence to Emson, introduced the Alvin Hula Hoop Doll, which dances with his hula hoop and sings the song based on wanting his hula hoop.
  • The Coen brothers' comedy film The Hudsucker Proxy tells the story of a mail room clerk who is installed as president of a manufacturing company and invents the hula hoop.
  • Around the time when the Pixar Animation Studios film WALL-E was in production, Disney.com released a clip of Wall-E's first encounter with a hula hoop, swinging it across his neck.
  • Artist Keller Williams released a song Hula Hoop to the Loop, dedicated to the toy.

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