If you haven't read "The Complete Book Of Frisbee", 1998, by Victor Malafronte yet, you should. He did considerable research during the 90's and his book has corrected much of the misinformation perpetuated earlier. (I suspect that at least some of the tales were made up innocently believing that "cute" toys should have "cute" stories. I find the accounts written for kids to be most guilty of this attitude.) I have continued the research with Victor along with independent sources including old Pipco letters and correspondence with Fred Morrison (yes, he's alive and kicking in Utah at the age of 83!)

Here are some parts of your story which I believe need to be changed:

1. Fred never was near the Frisbie Pie Company in Bridgeport, CT. Nor did he ever even hear of them or any other organized pie throwing activity. He's told me, "That pie business...never happened!" Remember, he was on the West Coast and any alleged organized pie tin throwing was probably confined to the East Coast: drivers at the Frisbie bakery in the 1920s & 1930s, and possibly on a few New England colleges. There simply was much less national communications in the 40's about such matters and much less travel between the coasts. Word of trivial things like local organized pie tin throwing would not have spread fast...especially with a war on. Fred remembers having a boyhood interest (like most children) in flinging paint can tops, cookie tin tops, etc. If he ever tossed a pie tin, he doesn't remember it.

2. He first conceived the IDEA of a commercially produced flying disc-like object soon after returning from WWII where he served as a combat fighter pilot. (He's always been big on flight!) There is a copy of a design drawing he made in 1946 in Victor's book on page 71 for a disc he called the Whirlo-Way. However, he wasn't able to act on his idea until 2 years later when he teamed up with Warren Franscioni to form the business called Pipco (Partners In Plastic). Fred had the idea, Warren came up with the money. They experimented in Warren's basement with several crude prototypes of hard plastic before contracting Southern California Plastic (SCP) to do the molding. They stuck with the Whirlo-Way design but renamed it the Flyin Saucer to take advantage of the public excitement generated by the Roswell, NM U.F.O. event and the ensuing coining of the term "flying saucer", both of which occurred in 1947. (NOTE the spelling of Flyin Saucer...no apostrophe!)

3. The "invisible wire" story seems to be authentic. Fred with a partner (sometimes his wife) did the selling, while Warren ran the business. (I think you spend a bit too much time and drama on this part of the story?)

4. In 1950, a promo deal with Al Capp (of Li'l Abner cartoon fame) turned sour and Al Capp demanded $5,000 to prevent a lawsuit. That put Pipco out of business and the partners parted.

5. In 1953, SCP received permission to mold more of the discs. They continued to market these themselves without a mold change until the late 1950's, when they finally removed the Pipco name and added their own logo. Most of these they marketed themselves, paying royalties to Warren & Fred, but about 2,000 of the first run in 1953 were taken by Fred who put a label on them with the name of his own brand new company, American Trends.

6. In late 1953 or early 1954 (Fred can't remember the exact date), he completely designed from scratch a new disc, the Pluto Platter. It is quite different from his first disc and had been dubbed the forerunner or prototype for the modern disc (remember, in 1964 the Pluto Platter mold was retooled into the #1 mold Professional model!)

7. In (probably) 1955 the Wham-O boys caught sight of Fred hawking his Pluto Platters and made him an offer, which was finalized sometime in 1956. (They didn't leave much of a paper trail in those days!)

8. In January 1957, Wham-O began selling a Pluto Platter identical in design with the exception of replacing the American Trends name underneath with Wham-O (on a raised esker strip) and adding one small Wham-O on the front. As a marketing ploy, these Period One PPs were seeded among East Coast colleges to spark sales.

9. It appears that some time that Spring, on a reconnoitering trip East, Wham-O began to HEAR the previously generic term "frisbie, frizbie, frisbee, frizbee" being applied to the Pluto Platter. (Read Victor's book for his fascinating, but speculative "The Frisbee Conspiracy" chapter.)

There's many other bits of details here and there which enrich the history of our passion, but I've tried to lay down the correct chain of major events as I've been able to piece them together. More will undoubtedly be discovered! 

3 Other points I forgot to address:

1. The first 2 mold versions of the Flyin Saucer (between 1948 & 1950) were made of butyrate...a plastic so hard that it would easily shatter on contact when it got a little cool. Pipco lost a big sales contract when a bystander got hit and sued the store. Evidently, too, the vanes protruding from the top of the disc were quite painful if you caught a hard throw. (I don't dare throw either of mine...2 of only 6 known to exist!)

2. The 1953 version by SCP was the very first disc to be molded in polyethylene...the soft flexible plastic used to this day for most discs. Fred used poly for his Pluto Platters. (I also don't dare throw either of my American Trends Pluto Platters...also 2 of only 6 known to exist)

3. Fred said he never had any part with using the name Frisbee, was never consulted and, I personally believe, thought the name was silly, although he certainly never argued with Wham-O's success in marketing the disc (and the royalty checks he's received to this day!)