Remembering Jennings Osborne at Walt Disney World
posted at the official Disney Parks blog on July 28th, 2011 by John Phelan, Show Director, Disney Creative Entertainment
Jennings Osborne, the creator of the Osborne Family Spectacle of
Dancing Lights, passed away on Wednesday and we extend our condolences
to the family. His creativity has influenced many guests, cast members
and fans of Walt Disney World, and that includes me. In fact, I
consider the years I worked with the Osborne family the highlight of my
career.
Christmas time and the holiday season at Walt Disney World
can be a truly wondrous time, so many sights and sounds to fill you
with the Spirit of the Season. Back in 1995, I was part of a creative
team charged with developing such a holiday experience for Disney’s Hollywood Studios
(called the Disney-MGM Studios back then). I remember sitting in a
staff meeting when I was told that a vice president had seen a brief
news report about a businessman in Little Rock, Arkansas who had a
Christmas lights display so big that his neighbors took him to court to
have it turned off. He fought it all the way to the Arkansas Supreme
Court and lost. I was asked to contact him and find out if he would
like to bring his display to the Studio and put it on Residential Street
on the backlot. I tracked down his business phone number and gave him a
call. Little did I know that was the beginning of a 16 year magical
holiday ride for me, the Studio and millions of our guests.
The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights has become a holiday
tradition to rival any experience at Walt Disney World. The display was
the vision and passion of Jennings. In 1986, his daughter, Breezy,
asked for some Christmas lights. He put up 1 million. When his next
door neighbors complained, he bought their houses and put lights on
them, too. With the support of his wife, Mitzi, and to the delight of
Breezy, the display was THE holiday experience in all of Arkansas and
beyond….until he had to turn it off. And that’s when Disney stepped in
and Jennings could say, “I’m going to Disney World!” As it turned out,
Jennings, Mitzi and Breezy were huge Disney fans and had visited the
parks many times.
Indeed, they bought the nativity scene that is in the display to this day at the Italian Pavilion in Epcot.
All the original icons are still part of the display: the giant globe,
the 100 flying angels, the twirling carousels, the flying Santas and
reindeer, the red canopy of lights, the 70 foot tree and all the other
figurines of elves, snowmen and carolers.
Now, you may think that a man who creates such a spectacular display
on his house would be an extrovert and over the top. Jennings was the
opposite. He was a quiet man although there was certainly a twinkle in
his eye. He and his family came to Disney every year at Christmas time.
He would spend hours on the street, talking to guests and chatting
with the crew. The local press in Arkansas is calling him a great
philanthropist, and indeed, he was. He donated holiday light displays
to over 20 towns in Arkansas. He decorated hospitals, museums and the
local zoo. He threw giant charity barbecues that fed 2,000 people at a
time or more. He was a great proponent of committing “a random act of
kindness.” As he used to say to me, “John, I like creating memories
that people won’t soon forget.”
I think that was his driving force, creating memories. I remember
standing underneath the red canopy with him one year. I asked him how he
came up with the idea for it. He said, “I want the people to feel like
they are inside the lights, looking out at the world.”
May we all be Christmas lights that shine for all the world to see. Thanks, Jennings. I will miss you, big guy!
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