Jack Lindquist
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Jack Lindquist (March 15, 1927 – February 28, 2016) was an American business executive who served as president of the
Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...
theme park in
Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the tenth-most ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
from 1990 until he retired in 1993. He was a
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
employee from 1955 until his retirement, and was a marketing executive in the theme parks division for almost thirty years, including a stint as the first advertising manager for Disneyland. His eventual reach would extend worldwide, having trained and/or greatly influenced others who would become amusement industry leaders, both inside and outside of the Disney attractions. Among the amusement industry, many have credited Lindquist with founding and greatly expanding the arts and sciences of attraction promotion.


Early years and film roles

Born in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
and a graduate of Hollywood High School, Jack Lindquist was also involved as a child actor who appeared as an extra in several episodes of the ''
Our Gang ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, who also pr ...
'' short film series and appeared in the film '' Best Foot Forward'' with
Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedian, producer, and studio executive. She was recognized by ''Time (magazine), Time'' in 2020 as one of the most influential women of the 20th century for h ...
. He also appeared in the Shirley Temple Black film, '' The Little Princess'', and Laurel and Hardy's '' Nothing But Trouble (1944 film)'', as 'The Kid'. In all, Lindquist spent 15 years acting as an extra in films. After graduating from high school, Lindquist enlisted in the U.S. Air Force where he spent two years. He then attended college at the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
(USC), where he was a member of the Theta Xi Fraternity. Upon completion of his education, Lindquist began working in the field of advertising. At a mid-sized Los Angeles based advertising agency, Lindquist represented the client
Kelvinator Kelvinator was an American home appliance manufacturer and a line of domestic refrigerators that was the company's namesake. Although it is now defunct as a company, the name remains a brand owned by Electrolux AB. It takes its name from ...
appliances, promoting the company's washers, dryers, refrigerators, and other appliances on television and radio. As a sponsor of the Disneyland park, Kelvinator invited Lindquist to view the park during construction, and also later invited back to the Disneyland park on Sunday, July 17, 1955, as a part of the special televised press preview day.


Disney years

Two months after the park's official opening, Lindquist received a phone call from early management at Disneyland (Milt Albright) asking for suggestions of an available advertising manager. Lindquist suggested himself and was in turn offered the job. As one of the initial Disneyland park employees, and as Disneyland's first Advertising Manager, Lindquist assumed increasing responsibilities that aided his growth in the company as one of the lead executives overseeing the Disneyland parks. In 1965, he earned the title, Director of Marketing, and then when
Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an destination resort, entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Wa ...
opened in Orlando, Florida in 1972, he was named Vice President of Marketing for Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Four years later, Lindquist assumed the role of Vice President of Marketing for Walt Disney Attractions. In 1982, with the addition of the park, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, Lindquist was again promoted to Executive Vice President of Marketing and Entertainment, overseeing not only the parks in the United States, Japan and France, but also for the company's outdoor recreation activities.


Advertising innovator

As advertising executive with the Disney company for 38 years, Jack Lindquist pioneered advertising and marketing promotions that were successfully replicated industry-wide. In many ways, the Disneyland park was the test bed and incubator for the establishment of marketing techniques for the increasingly popular concept of modern
amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...
, the Theme Park. Thus, many of the advertising, marketing and public relations techniques used by many in today's outdoor entertainment industry are based on the examples that Lindquist pioneered through the Disneyland experiences and experiments. Likewise, some of the marketing and advertising ideas that were pioneered in the Disneyland park were also applied outside the amusement park field and into the modern day marketing and sales of modern-day live performances and events.


Off-site ticket sales for special events


New Year's Eve

With Disneyland's first New Year's Eve event, Jack Lindquist conceived the marketing and sales of advance ticket purchases that would be sold at local participating stores, outside of the park. To justify the operating cost for a New Year's Eve event, the park would have needed to sell approximately 6,000 tickets. The ability to meet that number of ticket sales from the park gates, the day of the event, was not guaranteed. The solution was to attempt to sell tickets in advance, from local stores. As such, from approximately ten local participating stores located across Southern California, such as Wallichs Music City on Sunset and Vine in Hollywood, and Desmond's upscale men's store in Long Beach, Disneyland was able to pre-sale approximately 5,000 advance tickets. Combining that with approximately 3,500 tickets sold in advance at the park for the New Year's Eve event, the success of the event ticket sales established the template for the future of off-site, pre-sale tickets for special events. The option to pre-sale tickets for upcoming special events has since been used by theme parks, industry-wide. Likewise this has become commonplace practice for event ticket sale opportunities used among the leisure and entertainment industries alike for concerts, theater, and sporting events.


Grad Night

In response to a high school night the preceding year, in which students were involved in a tragic automobile accident, Jack Lindquist and co-worker, Bill Schwenn, met with several women from local high school Parent-Teacher Association(PTA) groups to discuss the opportunity for a safe graduate evening party within the Disneyland park. Realizing that it would not be operationally feasible to justify opening the park only for the total of 800 students the women represented, Lindquist opened the event to additional area high school graduating classes. To fill the park so that it could afford to adequately staff and run the park for the Grad Night evening, tickets were sold to students from eight Southern California high schools, at a cost of $3.95 per ticket, from which a total of 8,500 attended on the first Grad Night party of June 15, 1961. As a result of the success of this first event, Disneyland's Grad Night became an annual event. By 2012, Disneyland had hosted over five million graduates from thousands of Southern California high schools. In 2013, the Grad Night event moved out of the Disneyland park and into the adjacent
Disney California Adventure Disney California Adventure is a theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Experiences division. The park is themed after Disney's interpretation of California ...
park. The tradition of Grad Night proved so successful that it continued every year since 1961 in Anaheim, and eventually grew to also take place at the parks in Walt Disney World,
Tokyo Disneyland is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Disney park t ...
and
Disneyland Paris Disneyland Paris is an entertainment resort in Marne-la-Vallée, France, located about east of Paris. It encompasses two theme parks, seven Disney-owned hotels, two convention centers, a golf course, an arena, and a shopping, dining and entert ...
. Aside from the annual Grad Night at the Disney parks, many industry parks plan similar annual special events for graduating high school seniors. Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA, the Six Flags theme parks, Universal Studios theme parks and even Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, all promote an annual special event to open the park to graduating high school seniors in the evening hours.


Anniversary tie-ins and giveaways

A popular marketing campaign that Jack Lindquist also pioneered, which is now repeated industry-wide among parks, started with the anniversary tie-in. In a desire to capture some of the millions of visitors attending the 1984 Olympics that were to take place in Los Angeles, Lindquist realized that the year would also be the 30th anniversary of the Disneyland park. While 30th anniversaries are rarely a cause for celebration, it would be marketed, regardless, as a milestone year. The marketing campaign used "presents" and "giveaways" to incentivize visits to the park. Lindquist worked with General Motors, who was a new Disney Participant at the Epcot park at Walt Disney World, Florida, and worked out a deal where the Disneyland park gave away a total of 106 General Motors automobiles throughout the 30th Anniversary year. The success of the Anniversary giveaways drew a total of 12,040,000 people to the Disneyland park that year, around three million more than the 9.2 million who attended the park the previous year. Today, what was started by Lindquist, using anniversaries as a marketing tool, have become a common marketing practice at many other theme parks. Not only do parks celebrate their anniversary, some even celebrate the anniversary of rides and attractions. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the park's BATMAN Ride, the
Six Flags Magic Mountain Six Flags Magic Mountain, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Magic Mountain, is a amusement park located in Valencia, California, northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It opened on May 29, 1971, as a development of the Newha ...
park in Valencia, California, offered to run the 50 mph, 2,700 foot track ride backwards through the spring 2014 season. Similarly, for the celebration of the Pigeon Forge, Tennessee theme park,
Dollywood Dollywood is a theme park that is jointly owned by Herschend Family Entertainment and country singer-songwriter Dolly Parton through her entertainment company, Dolly Parton Productions. It is located in the Knoxville metropolitan area in Pig ...
, the park not only designed a season's marketing campaign around the anniversary, but park namesake and country music performer,
Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...
used the opportunity to promote the park through a televised anniversary special that included popular performers such as
Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( , born Destiny Hope Cyrus, November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and director. Regarded as a contemporary pop icon, Cyrus has been recognized for her evolving artistry and image reinventions. She is ...
, country music performers
Brad Paisley Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His first success came in 1997 as the writer of David Kersh's "Another You (David Kersh song), Another You". After this, he signed with ...
,
Kenny Chesney Kenneth Arnold Chesney (born March 26, 1968) is an American country singer. With 30 million albums sold worldwide, he released his debut, '' In My Wildest Dreams'', in 1994, and has since released 19 follow-ups. His albums spawned 27 singles tha ...
, and
Reba McEntire Reba Nell McEntire ( ; born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music, country singer and actress. Dubbed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Sin ...
, as well as multiple
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
winner
Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (born Kenneth Donald Rogers) (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particul ...
.


Commercial tie-ins

Commercial tie-ins with Disneyland commenced with the planning and development of the park in the 1950s. With the need to raise money to finance the park, Walt Disney entered into a production agreement with the ABC television network to provide weekly programming in exchange for a line of credit to be used to pay for the park's development, as well as to market the park, itself, through the programming of a weekly program: Disneyland. The weekly show featured themes in keeping with the different themed areas of the namesake amusement park. Jack Lindquist later helped to create one of today's most recognized commercial tag-lines, and celebratory tradition, when the
New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...
won
Super Bowl XXI Super Bowl XXI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...
in 1985, and quarterback
Phil Simms Phillip Martin Simms (born November 3, 1955) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the New York Giants. After playing college football for the Morehead Sta ...
was the first to utter the phrase: "I'm Going to Disneyland." while on the East coast broadcasting feed, the line was: " I'm Going to Disney World."


Disney Dollars

Upon reading of the rise of the British pound in the financial section of a newspaper, Lindquist was inspired to create a real currency for Disneyland and
Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an destination resort, entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Wa ...
. Disneyland, after all, was at that time drawing approximately 12 million people a year and an additional 24 million would visit the Walt Disney World resort; a transient population greater than many small countries. The first Disney Dollars, an "A Series", were released in 1987 in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, Florida. The printing process and special 100% cotton paper was used, to give the currency a look and feel of legal tender. The bills would be used as face value currency within the Disney theme parks, with 870,000 of the original series printed for the May 5, 1987 release date in both the Disneyland and Walt Disney World resort. By 1996, Disney had exchanged approximately $135 million in Disney Dollars. Following the example of the Disney Dollar, Dolly Parton's Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee offers its own form of namesake currency in the form of "Dolly Dollars."


Archive collection

In 1994, Lindquist was named trustee of
Chapman University Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California, United States. Encompassing eleven colleges, the university is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". The school maintains its foundi ...
in
Orange, California Orange is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. It is approximately north of the county seat, Santa Ana, California, Santa Ana. Orange is unusual in this region because many of the homes in its Old Town District ...
and in 2002 received Emeritus status, yet continued to speak twice a year at the university to students studying marketing strategy. In 2013, the university dedicated the "Jack and Belle Lindquist Dream Room and Disney Collection" in the university's Leatherby Library. The room contains two large display cases featuring portions of Lindquist's personal collection of awards and rare memorabilia. The artifacts on display feature only a small portion of the entire collection of awards and rare memorabilia that Jack Lindquist donated to the university for safekeeping and archiving. Other artifacts in the collection are rotated on an ongoing basis.


Legacy

Jack Lindquist's eventual reach was worldwide, having trained three generations of young leaders within Disney, who went on to lead attractions around the globe, both inside and outside of the Disney organization. One example was
Matt Ouimet Matthew Anthony Ouimet (born 1958) is a retired tourism industry executive. Over his 40-plus-year career, Ouimet held leadership positions at both The Walt Disney Company and Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. Early life Ouimet was born in 1958 i ...
, who started his career within Disney, where he learned directly from Lindquist. Ouimet later left Disney to lead other international attraction companies, and is currently president and CEO of
Cedar Fair Entertainment Company Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, or simply Cedar Fair, was an American company headquartered at its flagship Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. The company was a publicly traded master limited partnership that origina ...
, owners of approximately 19 amusement and water parks in the United States and Canada. In an indirect manner, Tom Mehrmann, the current CEO of Ocean Park, Hong Kong, learned indirectly form Jack Lindquist by competing against Lindquist while working at Disneyland rival theme park,
Knott's Berry Farm Knott's Berry Farm is a amusement park in Buena Park, California, United States, owned and operated by Six Flags. In March 2015, it was ranked as the List of amusement park rankings#North America, twelfth-most-visited theme park in North Ameri ...
, in
Buena Park, California Buena Park (''Buena'', Spanish for "Good") is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census its population was 84,034. It is the location of several tourist attractions, including Knott's Berry Farm. It i ...
. Many amusement industry executives credit Jack Lindquist with founding and greatly expanding the arts and sciences of attraction promotion.


Recognition

After Lindquist retired, he received a commemorative window on
Main Street, U.S.A. Main Street, USA is the first "themed land" inside the main entrance of the many theme parks operated or licensed by The Walt Disney Company around the world. Main Street, USA is themed to resemble American small towns during the early 20th centu ...
, at Disneyland that reads ''J.B. Lindquist, Honorary Mayor of Disneyland''. In 1994, he was named a
Disney Legend Disney Legends is a Hall of Fame award that is awarded by The Walt Disney Company to individuals who " avemade a significant impact on the Disney legacy." The honor was established in 1987, and was traditionally awarded annually during a speci ...
. In ''Disneyland's Mickey's Toontown'', in the yard of Goofy's Playhouse, there was a pumpkin in the Jack-O-Lantern patch that has the face of Jack Lindquist to pay tribute to him.Shaffer, Joshua C.: ''Discovering the Magic Kingdom: An Unofficial Disneyland Vacation Guide'',2010, AuthorHouse, page 168. Though the pumpkin was removed during the 2023 refurbishment of the area, it was incorporated into a framed Halloween photo of the ''
Goof Troop ''Goof Troop'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Disney Television Animation, Walt Disney Television Animation. The series focuses on the relationship between single father Goofy and his son, Max Goof, Max, as well as their neighbor Pet ...
'' cast inside Goofy's Playhouse.


References


Further reading

* Ablaza, Kendra (August 21, 2013). Disney 'dream room' opens at Chapman University. Orange County Register. * Artifactual: Disneyland Television Series. (May 17, 2013). The Walt Disney Family Museum * Cruz, Sherri (April 2, 2014). A hand in creating Disneyland magic. Orange County Register. * Disney Legend Jack Lindquist. Mouse Meet Pacific Northwest * Disney Legends: Jack Lindquist. D23.com * Disneyland President, Jack Lindquist: In Service to the Mouse." (December 13, 2010). YouTube. * Disneyland Window: Jack Lindquist. FindingMickey.com. * IAAPA 2013 Expo Profile: Jack Lindquist. IAAPA.org. * Keith Mahne (December 15, 2011). A Few Questions with Disney Legend Jack Lindquist. Disney Dispatch. * Lindquist, Jack (2011). In Service to the Mouse. Neverland Media. * Mahne, Keith (June 5, 2014). A Few Questions with Disney Legend Jack Lindquist. Mice Chat. * Niles, Robert (August 7, 2013). Theme Park Insider interview with Disney's Jack Lindquist. Theme Park Insider. * Parfitt, Dave (December 10, 2011). Interview with Disneyland's First President, Jack Lindquist. Adventures by Daddy. * Schmidt, Chuck (June 22, 2011). Disney's jack Lindquist: Master of Fun. SILive. * Skywalker, Mouse (February 15, 2011). Interview with Disneyland's First President, Jack Lindquist. DIS Unplugged. * Top 10 Celebratory Traditions: "I'm Going to Disneyland." (May 17, 2013). Real Clear Sports. * Tully, Sara (August 20, 2012). Disneyland hosts final Grad Night Party. Orange County Register. * Wolf, Scott (2007). Jack Lindquist talks about Before Disney and His Early Disney Days. Mouse Clubhouse. * Wolf, Scott (2007). Jack Lindquist talks about Disneyland's Opening Day and the Bad Press it Received. Mouse Clubhouse. * Wolf, Scott (2007). Jack Lindquist talks about Walt Disney and His Favorite Disney Memory. Mouse Clubhouse.


External links


Lindquist bio at Disney Legends site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindquist, Jack 1927 births 2016 deaths Businesspeople from Chicago Disneyland Resort University of Southern California alumni Walt Disney Parks and Resorts people Disney executives 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople