TristanWingfield
Dancing Lights
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2013
Thanks Tristan for the update!
Could you answer a somewhat unrelated question that I've always wondered about?
Does the family retain any say in how, or where, the lights are used or does Disney have sole discretion? Other than coming from the Osborne family, I don't know a lot of the story. I don't want to bother you with having to write too long a response, but I'd love to hear the story of how they ended up going to Disney and if there were any terms that the family presented that governed their use. I remember seeing them the first year they went up and it's one of the must-do's for our travels.
Thanks
Lets see if I can answer your question:
The contract that the family signs each 5 years is simply for the family name. (I've only seen the contract in passing, and I've never had the chance to read it.) But from what I've witnessed it's a pretty simple 2-3 page contract. I know they don't consult us each year that the lights are added. (Since Jennings passed away, those questions would be pointed to my wife Breezy and her mother Mitzi, and since Mitzi tells us about everything I think we'd be privy if she was being consulted.) As far as if Jennings was consulted, I do know that in the first year of the lights Jennings sent (on his own dime) a few of the guys that originally hung the lights in Little Rock, to help them figure out how all the props and such worked and were put together. Since that first year I'm unsure that he ever had any say.
I'd be pretty assured that since that in past years they used the families likeness(s) and name on many products for sale at the lights that maybe Jennings was consulted or at least the families PR people were consulted. (But I'm not concrete on this.)
As far as the lights going to Disney: Jennings neighbors were worried that emergency vehicles couldn't make it through to their homes when the lights were on. I remember being a kid and seeing the lights and when people say that there would be miles of traffic, they we're exaggerating, there was easily 2-3 miles of cars going each direction to see the lights. The courts forced Jennings to hire additional police officers (he already had 5 or 6 officers there to help with security) to direct traffic so that cars that simply wanted to pass by could do so (his home was on a 4 lane road, so the officers simply made everyone wanting to look stay in the outermost lanes.)
The neighbors still complained, this time about how bright the lights were, so the courts forced Jennings to shut the lights off at a predetermined time each night I believe 9pm. (the lights were generally turned off at around 10-10:30 each night. There is a video of Jennings explaining this whole deal in which he states "The Judge told me that if one bulb of the display was left on after 9pm he'd face a $10,000 dollar fine, well one night a little girl and her family had driven up just after the lights were turned off and said they'd driven for over an hour to see the lights and the little girl was upset that they were turned off for the night, so I turned them back on so that the little girl would be happy, it was the best $10,000 dollars I ever spent." (I'll try to find the video and post it.)
After a few more complaints the case made it to the supreme court and Jennings was forced to take his display down. (Although he still kept a few items up each Christmas, but no where near the magnitude of the original display. It drew very little traffic.)
Jennings was friends with a lot of very famous people and decided to see if they'd want there home towns decorated, and they did, sot he lights toured most of the major cities in Arkansas, he lit up Graceland (Elvis's home) a few times, he even lit a very close personal friend, President Jimmy Carters home town. He did this on his own dime each time, and never once charged a dime to any one.
Word got to Disney's John Phelan that the lights were a sight to be seen, and he began trying to contact Jennings and Jennings thought the calls were a prank, Jennings and his family had been going to Disney each year for a long time, and he never thought of his display as being "Disney-Caliber". Finally John Phelan got through to Jennings that it wasn't a prank and they really wanted the lights and the story of the lights at Disney. That year 12 mayflower 18 wheeler semi trucks showed up to the home of Jennings and picked them up!
Jennings had smaller displays that he kept using for local towns in Arkansas, and he even still had an all blue light display put up at Graceland each year until the early 2000's.
I hope this answers some of the questions.
My apologies for my delayed response as I've been out of the country.
