This 94-Year-Old Hula-Hooper Is the Subject of a New Documentary

The drama that forged the Hula-Hoop craze is apparently much more cutthroat than one might think. That story finally gets told in an upcoming short documentary (featured in the Tribeca film festival, which kicked off on Wednesday), called Hula Girl.

Directed and produced by married couple Amy Hill and Chris Riess, Hula Girl’s main subject is 94-year-old Joan Anderson, who, along with the late Wayne Deforest Anderson (surprisingly intense middle name) was the very person to transport a bamboo Hula Hoop to the United State from her native Australia.

According to Deadline, the documentary focuses on a “gentleman’s agreement” the couple made with a Wham-O executive in 1958. Though a friend at the time of the alleged non-contractual handshake, that executive turned out to be the couple’s great enemy after deciding to manufacture and profit off of the hoop without giving them any credit for it.

Now Joan is telling her side of the story, and according to Deadline (where you can watch the trailer), is still hula-hooping.