Contact: Tim Walsh
c/o The Playmakers
PMB 180 5342 Clark Road
Sarasota, FL 34233-3227
941) 926-8004
tim@theplaymakers.com WHAM-O's Iconic toy Slip 'N Slide was Invented by a Father and Son
Sarasota, Florida (June 4, 2009) – Celebrate Father's Day with a toy story of innovation and a Father's love for his son. Toy historian and author Tim Walsh shares the Slip 'N Slide story in his WHAM-O Super-Book, available now from Chronicle Books.
In 1961, WHAM-O introduced us to a young father's invention that made backyard belly flopping the summer silliness of choice. It all started the summer before, when Robert Carrier came home to see a most unusual sight. His 10-year-old son Mike and a friend had a hose running on their slick and painted Lakewood, California driveway, and both boys were sliding down it like otters.
"Mike Carrier told me the tale" Tim said. "He said that he lived with his father and grandfather in 1961 and his garage was carpeted so that he and his buddy could get a good running start. They'd take off running and hit this slick driveway and slide along until they almost reached the street... sliding on their backs... on concrete! His dad came home and said 'Jeez, you guys are going to kill yourselves doing this,' but Mike and his friend were just having a blast."
Mike Carrier's father just happened to be an upholsterer and to save his son from certain injury, he brought home a roll of Naugahyde and sewed together an ingenious contraption that used a garden hose to make a homemade water slide. The older Carrier looped one edge over a garden hose, sewed spaced stitches down the length of it and sewed the other end of it closed. When the water was turned on it filled the tube, and the resulting pressure forced the water out between the stitches, lubricating the slide's surface. Viola! Instant Water slide. When Robert couldn't get Mike and his friends off the slide and when more and more kids kept showing up to play, Robert knew he had a big idea.
Carrier contacted WHAM-O and in 1961 a deal was struck to bring the WHAM-O Slip 'N Slide to the world. It was an immediate hit and remains today, 48 years later, WHAM-O's most profitable toy, bigger than Frisbee and Hula Hoop.
Contact Tim Walsh for a sample his book and to schedule a great Father's Day interview.