Frisbee still flying high after 50 years

[Madspirit]

Frisbee still flying high after 50 years

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
AP Business Writer

SAN FRANCISCO -- Wham-O Inc. changed the name of the Pluto Platter to
Frisbee 50 years ago Sunday, flinging a new word into American
culture that still conjures images of carefree fun in the park and
breezy days at the beach.

Walter "Fred" Morrison, the inventor of the beloved disc, thought the
new name would never fly.

"I thought Frisbee was a terrible name," Morrison, now 87, said. "I
thought it was insane."

Frisbee instead became insanely popular, making the name as
synonymous with flying discs as Google is with Internet searches and
Kleenex is with tissue.

But Wham-O does not allow the Frisbee name to be thrown around
indiscriminately. When the company sees Frisbee used to describe
discs made by other manufacturers, lawyers dispatch legal notices
seeking to protect the trademarked term.

Frisbee's name is a spin-off from a now-defunct Connecticut bakery,
the Frisbie Pie Co. New England college students often tossed empty
pie tins around for fun, a habit that led them to refer to the Pluto
Platter as a "frisbie."

Wham-O co-founders Rich Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Mellin first obtained
the marketing rights to Morrison's invention in January 1957.

Less than six months later, Knerr made the fateful decision to
embrace the "frisbie" nickname. He evidently was unclear on its
spelling.

Morrison said he first tossed around a popcorn lid at a Thanksgiving
gathering in 1937 and later graduated to cake pans.

When he first started to think of designing a flying disc, Morrison
called it the "Whirlo-Way" in a tribute to the racehorse Whirlaway,
which won the 1941 Triple Crown.

By the time Morrison finally had enough money to develop a mold for
his concept, there had been reports of a spacecraft crashing in
Roswell, New Mexico. Morrison ended up calling his first line of
discs "Flyin-Saucers." After upgrading his design, Morrison then
called the disc the Pluto Platter.

Wham-O has been trying to capitalize on the Frisbee's 50th
anniversary by releasing collector's editions of the early models.
The privately held company says hundreds of millions of Frisbees have
been sold, but will not be any more specific than that.

Meanwhile, Morrison is still collecting royalties off a name he did
not really like. "It just goes to show I am a bad judge of names," he
said.

[Blue_Tires]

1. ttt

not that i could ever make the damn thing fly correctly...

i joined an ultimate league once--WAY out of my element

[Elidor]

2. If it wasn't for frisbees, there would be no disc golf

Even though the two are far from the same. I loves me some disc golf!
:bounce:
Gotta go throw tomorrow

[Inchworm]

5. Oh man!

I did that a few times. It is a blast! Do you have an actual course you go to?

:woohoo:

[Elidor]

10. Yeah, we have an 18-hole course here

It's fairly tough.

[Mojambo]

3. Stoners need outside activities too. n/t

[lost-in-nj]

4. I can't throw a frisbee

to save my life.......


but I do remember the WHAMMO commercials!!!!



lost

[qnr]

6. Yet again, poor Pluto gets demoted. n/t

[Madspirit]

8. "Yet Again, Poor Pluto Gets Demoted"

Funny... :rofl:

[Robeson]

7. I owe all my disc golfing to Wham-O.....

...if not for them, I'd never taken the disc further...

[Hand]

9. I had one of the original Pluto Platters!

Dang--Probably worth a small fortune today! :banghead: