Before the Whoopee Cushion, there was the Musical Seat, but the latter didn’t have the earthiness of the former. It sounded more like a child crying than a comedic backfire.
The Toronto Star says it was the combined genius of employees at the JEM Rubber Co., in Toronto who should take the credit for inventing the Whoopee Cushion.
Novelty Manufacturer Turns Down Invention
Workers were playing around with bits of rubber off-cuts when that familiar and hilarious sound was produced. That was in 1930, and an article in the Star, “Whoopee Cushion Got First Airing here,” from March 31, 2008 picks up the narrative.
“…Sales reps from JEM toured the novelty industry promoting their new invention complete with the sound. They approached Samuel Sorenson Adams of the S.S. Adams Co. of Asbury Park, N.J. Adams, at the time, was the premier joke/magic trick/puzzle manufacturer in North America.” Apparently, Mr. Adams thought the cushion to be “indelicate” and turned down the opportunity of a lifetime. Johnson Smith & Co., picked up the idea and advertised it in a catalogue of novelty items as giving “forth noises that can be better imagined than described.” Sales took off and, because of the inexhaustible supply of prepubescent boys, continue to be strong.
Science Puts Whoopee Cushion to the Test
Professor Trevor Cox is an expert in acoustics at the University of Salford, in England. During two weeks in March 2009, he carried out an online poll “into what makes flatulence funny.” He carried out the experiment to raise money for the charity group Comic Relief.
Tens of thousands of people were subjected to “six of 20 possible sounds and rated them according to how much they make them laugh.” Some of the results were not what might have been expected:
- “Longer Whoopee Cushion sounds are funnier – the funniest sound is seven seconds long so it is better to sit on a whoopee slowly for maximum effect;
- “Whiny sounds are funnier - three out of the top five sounds scoring full marks for funniness were classified as ‘whiny;’
- “Females find Whoopee Cushion sounds slightly funnier;
- “Whoopee sounds get less funny as you get older;
- “Europe finds Whoopee Cushions funnier than America; and,
- “Sounds get funnier the more you listen to them.”
Professor Cox, who owns the world’s largest Whoopee Cushion (a monster over three metres in diameter), says there is some serious science behind all the giggling. “This research will enable us to engineer the ultimate Whoopee Cushion, and fine-tune the world’s funniest design.” Coming soon: a Whoopee Cushion that delivers a perfect side-splitter every time.
Unfortunate for Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is, of course, known for his exquisite music. He is also known to have been a merciless practical joker, the more scatological the better. It is a tragedy that he died before the invention of the Whoopee Cushion; no one would have enjoyed it more.
Rupert Taylor - Rupert Taylor is the editor of a magazine that provides background to current events.
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