Verdugo Views: Recalling the ups and downs of yo-yo contests

By Katherine Yamada

July 13, 2016 3:31 PM PT

For young Tom O’Loughlin, the corner of Kenneth Road and Grandview Avenue in northwest Glendale meant just one thing: the Duncan YoYo contest.

“For years, I had a yellow sleeveless sweater with the Duncan YoYo logo on the front. That was for winning the contest at Kenneth and Grandview. You were judged on how well you did in ‘Walk the Dog’ or ‘Rock the Baby’ or ‘Around the World’ or many more,” said O’Loughlin.

O’Loughlin was in the seventh grade at Toll Junior High, “around 1946,” when he won the contest in front of what was then Person’s Drug Store, now Kenneth Road Pharmacy.

“Person’s was the ‘official’ hangout after high school in those days,” he said. “Just like ‘Happy Days,’ there was a soda fountain.”

Neighborhood yo-yo contests were held all over the area, and the winners went to a movie theater on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena for the championship, O’Loughlin said.

Toys similar to the yo-yo had been around for hundreds of years, but it took Pedro Flores, an immigrant from the Philippines, to introduce a Filipino toy, called a yo-yo, to the United States in 1928, according to the website yo-yos.net where you can click on “The History of Yo-Yos” on the left side.

Flores soon sold to Donald Duncan, a marketing genius who turned the Duncan YoYo into a best-seller by combining contests with local newspaper subscription drives. Entrants were required to sell subscriptions. Newspapers, in turn, provided free publicity and prizes, according to the website. Even newspaperman William Randolph Hearst used yo-yo contests to stimulate his circulation.

“Duncan also tapped into the celebrity culture. Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and Baseball Hall-of-Famers Lou Gehrig and Hack Wilson were all photographed with yo-yos in hand. Paid promotions using popular movie icons such as ‘Our Gang’ were used in the promotion of the ‘Gold Seal’ and ‘O-boy’ yo-yos. If a town was without a visible celebrity, public officials did nicely for publicity shots. Mayors, police chiefs, city health commissioners, all were recruited to promote local yo-yo campaigns,” according to the website. “The annual appearance of the Duncan yo-yo man and his contests became a right of passage for the youth of America.”

O’Loughlin purchased his Duncan YoYo at Duncan’s Variety Store in Kenneth Village, owned by Paul and Elsie Duncan. It was “a 5- and 10-cent store as we called them back in those days,” he said.

Despite the similar names, there was no connection between the two Duncans, according to Don Duncan, son of the variety store Duncans and retired principal of Hoover High. He told me several years ago in a phone conversation from his Canyon Lake home that, although their names were very similar, they weren’t the YoYo people.

“But we sold them at the dime store. They were just part of the stock,” he said.

O’Loughlin, who went as far as the Pasadena contest, recalled the yo-yo contests fondly, but added, “I had no illusions I was destined for greatness as plenty of the contestants beat me hands down.”

Yo-yo contests continue to this day. Cleveland, Ohio, will host the 2016 World Yo-Yo Contest in August with more than 1,000 entrants from more than 30 countries competing for $10,000 in cash prizes.

And, yes, Duncan YoYos are still sold in stores.

Readers Write

Joel Youngquist, who came to Glendale in 1938, emailed to say that he and his wife, Shirley enjoyed the article on the USS Glendale. “I was in the Navy on my way to the Naval Air Station at Coronado and so was able to attend the christening,” he wrote.

Also in the crowd were the Schlichtmans, friends from his church. Youngquist watched as their daughter Shirley, then president of the Glendale Junior College student body, christened the ship with a bottle of California champagne.

Two years later, in 1945, while he was home on leave, Shirley and Joel were married. They celebrated their 71st anniversary this past June. They have lived in their Northwest Glendale home for 49 years.

Carole Wong Sutherland sent a recent email regarding the Nami Ota-Donals columns on Dec. 2, and Feb. 27.

“I can clearly remember enjoying her singing in the lounge of Grandview Gardens, where I worked as a hostess. It was wonderful to learn about her background and what she has been doing since then,” she wrote.

KATHERINE YAMADA can be reached at katherineyamada@gmail.com or by mail at Verdugo Views, c/o News-Press, 202 W. First St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. Please include your name, address and phone number.