The Versatile Whoopee Cushion

I introduced my son to the United States intellectual property protection system years ago. We noticed that our self-inflating whoopee cushion was patented!

But innovation never rests! It turns out that the self-inflating whoopee cushion is the subject of intense research and development.

What is the Whoopee Cushion?

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Firstly, what is the whoopee cushion?

The whoopee cushion has reportedly been used since ancient times. Roman Emperor Elagabalus was said to enjoy practical jokes at his dinner parties and often placed whoopee cushions under the chairs of his more pompous guests. The 10th-century Aghlabid emir of Ifriqiya, Ziyadat Allah III, is said to have enjoyed hiding inflated animal bladders under the cushions of his palace for unsuspecting guests to sit on.

Detail: The Business End of the Whoopee Cushion

The modern rubber whoopee cushion was invented in the 1930s by the JEM Rubber Co. of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, by employees who were experimenting with scrap sheets of rubber. The company’s owner approached Samuel Sorenson Adams, inventor of numerous practical jokes and owner of S.S. Adams Co., with the newly invented item; however, Adams thought that it was “too vulgar” and would never sell. JEM then offered the idea to the Johnson Smith Company, which sold it with great success. Adams later released its own version, calling it the Razzberry Cushion.
Wikipedia / Photo by Grombo – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

Elder G weighs in:

WLBOTT: Has the inventor of the whoopee cushion ever been considered for a Nobel Prize?

Elder G: The inventor of the whoopee cushion has not been considered for a Nobel Prize—at least not in the traditional categories of Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, Peace, or Economic Sciences. The invention, while culturally impactful, doesn’t quite align with the Nobel criteria of advancing human knowledge, resolving global conflicts, or addressing serious scientific questions.

Elagabalus – a Supposed Early Adopter of the Whoopee Cushion

What can go wrong when you put an idiot into the highest office on Earth?

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, c. 204 – 13 March 222), better known by his posthumous nicknames Elagabalus and Heliogabalus, was Roman emperor from 218 to 222, while he was still a teenager. His short reign was notorious for religious controversy and alleged sexual debauchery.

His behavior estranged the Praetorian Guard, the Senate, and the common people alike. Amidst growing opposition, at just 18 years of age he was assassinated and replaced by his cousin Severus Alexander in March 222.

Edward Gibbon, notably, wrote that Elagabalus “abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures with ungoverned fury”. According to Barthold Georg Niebuhr, “the name of Elagabalus is branded in history above all others; […] “Elagabus had nothing at all to make up for his vices, which are of such a kind that it is too disgusting even to allude to them^[1]“
Wikipedia / Image by Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany – Marble bust of Roman emperor Elagabalus, ca. 221 AD, Capitoline Museums

^[1] Please don’t leave this up to our imaginations.

Appropriate and Inappropriate Uses of the Whoopee Cushion

While the inappropriateness of a whoopee cushion is part of its charm, knowing your audience is key.

The Wedding Proposal

This can go in many directions. We hope to enumerate the possibilities, to save our visitors from any future embarrassment.

Confusion

Oddly, decapitation is a recurring theme with whoopee cushions.
See the section below on Anne Boylen and Henry VIII

It Might Work

It Doesn’t Work

Romance? You Betcha’!

Yes! The Successful Whoopee Cushion Proposal!

The Mischievous Anne Bolyen

Anne Bolyen was a real prankster! She tried to lighten the courtly mood with a whoopee cushion on Henry VIII’s throne. It did not go well, but the London Tower Gift Shop now carries a full line of Anne Bolyen Whoopee Cushions.

The Prankster

We Are Not Amused

The End

Things did not end well for Anne (right)

Beauty in the Whoopee

There is a certain beauty and dignity in the historic representations of Anne Bolyen and the “cushion.” (images curtesy of the WLBOTT Museum of Fine Arts.)