Yo Yo
I don't know what year it might have been – possibly in the early 1930's if I had to guess. But, I do recall that our Granddaddy Loeffert, then living in South Norfolk, Virginia, sent us gifts he found of interest from time-to-time. That one year he sent us two growing boys a toy which - about one year later- suddenly became the nation's number one toy. It was a “Depression Time” play thing ...a strange, wooden spool with a string attached - called a Yo Yo top.
One of them was a bright blue; the other fire-engine red. The red one was mine. In those days new toys did no arrive in colored boxes with detailed instructions therein explaining how the toy was to be used to best advantage. I suppose,Grandpa assumed that any grandsons of his would be smart enough to figure out how the things worked.
We didn't. Not really, that is. Oh, we learned to spin right wooden wheel up and down the string, of course, but the other kids on the block thought it was baby stuff. Not much interest; not even a tinge of jealousy or envy. Before too long the poorly made tops came apart; the paint faded and they were more,or less discarded. One year later, when the Yo Yo craze hit and every kid had at least one Yo Yo. We had to dig ours out, repaint and glue them to join the crowd. Granddaddy John Loeffert was one year ahead of the tide as he seems, now, to have been in much of living. From that point on Yo Yo spinning moderated and was taken over by older folks - or young people who had grown old using them.
Just as suddenly as it came upon us, the Yo Yo fever faded slowly away. And the return of prosperity brought with it brighter, noisier, and battery operated toys instead. Yo Yo's continued to be sold but in moderation... some with batteries which caused them to light up colorfully when twirled. I never really learned to do all the tricks and showy stunts the Yo Yo artist can now do now, but we did enjoy ours as long as the fad lasted.
Years later - much later – I learned that the Yo Yo, originally weapon, came from the Phillipines. In the years after the Spanish-American War there was a large migration of Phillipinos to the United States and one of the things those immigrants brought with them as a sort of Good Luck charm to protect them on their long journey and into their new life. In the Depression Years, about thirty years later, a young American man saw Phillipinos in this “toy”, so we have Donald F. Duncan to either praise or blame for bringing the Yo Yo into the place it assumed . Among young people and, then adult performers, many came to use the tiny spool with amazing skill. Duncan controlled the Yo Yo market until his string snarled and he went bankrupt before his death in 1971. From time-to-time we have had attempts to revive the Yo Yo as a “skill toy”, so it returns often. The very name “Yo Yo” means “come back”.
Or course,, it was not inability or sheer laziness which prevented me from become adept at Yo Yo spinning. I just recently learned that there were two types of knots which could be used in tying the string to the dowel between the halves of the top. Beginners were to use one loop and those who advanced in the skill were to use a double looped knot. That important detail may well have been what prevented me from being a yo yo spinner of note.
A.L.M. November 8, 2002 [c633wds]
