In the 1950s usually sometime between February to April the
Duncan YoYo man would come to Salisbury and the Delmarva area to give demonstrations of his YoYo
talent. The YoYo was an early Filipino
weapon (4 lb yoyo studded with spikes on a 20’ cord) and when Don Duncan Sr
(previously known for introducing the Good Humor ice cream bar) introduced it to the USA in 1929 he had a
group of Filipino men demonstrate it. YoYo
in Tagalog means Come-Come. In most all cases the demonstrator for Duncan were
Filipino men. Other yoyo makers used non-Filipinos.
The one that came to Salisbury
most often was Ceferino Ringor (Bob) Rola. Mr.
Rola was a Columbia University Graduate, a World War two veteran and a Captain
in the Philippine Army. He would go to
schools, TV Stations and movie theaters (Think the Saturday matinee with 500 screaming 10 year olds, a western movie, cartoons and Mr. Rola on stage showing his skills) to put on yoyo demonstrations and judge yoyo contests. The contestants would show their skill at “Walk the dog”, “Rock the Cradle”,”Loop
the Loop,” “Rock the baby”, and “Around the Word.” In 1965 the Duncan Yoyo company went bankrupt
in a trade name lawsuit over the name yoyo and the company was acquired by a larger company;
Flambeau inc. About 1969 Bob Rola
stopped demonstrating yoyos.
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