Enjoy the Yo Man

     The world’s most famous yo-yos are probably those made by Duncan Toys located in Middlefield, Ohio, a small village (population about 2,700) 45 miles east of Cleveland that is known for being the center of the world's fourth largest Amish settlement. 
     Duncan has been making yo-yos for decades and they have kept up with the times by producing hi-tech yo-yos. They offer beginner, intermediate, advanced and expert yo-yos with the Rolls Royce of yo-yos being their HaymakerX that cost $120.00. 
     Yo-yos have been around forever...a Greek vase painting from 440 BC shows a boy playing with a yo-yo. In 1928, Pedro Flores, a Filipino immigrant to the United States, opened the Yo-yo Manufacturing Company in Santa Barbara, California and by November 1929, Flores was operating two additional factories in Los Angeles and Hollywood, which altogether employed 600 workers and produced 300,000 units a day! 
     The principal distinction between the Filipino design popularized by Flores and more primitive yo-yos was in the way the yo-yo is strung was wrapped around the axle. His minor modification allowed for a far greater variety and sophistication of motion, thanks to increased stability and suspension of movement during free spin. 
     In 1929, Donald F. Duncan recognized the potential of this new fad and purchased the Flores yo-yo Corporation and all its assets, including the Flores name, which was transferred to the new company in 1932. 
     The name "Yo-yo" was registered in 1932 as a trademark by Sam Dubiner in Vancouver, Canada, and Harvey Lowe won the first World Yo-Yo Contest in London, England. In 1933 yo-yos were banned in Syria, because many locals superstitiously blamed the use of them for a severe drought. 
     I never cared much for the Smothers Brothers who were a hit on television in the late 1960s, but Tommy Smothers was pretty good at yo-yoing...