If you run into a glitch - try again but be sure you use the www.ripjwt.blogspot.com web address. if that doesn't work - send an email to ripjwt@gmail.com and we'll tell you where you can send a check.
I was at good old JWT from 1982-1989...can't believe it was 20 years ago. I too still have my cooler from the Saddle & Cycle party. JWT was that type of place...you just knew somehow, that when you left, it would always be a part of you...you had to keep not only the memories but a piece of that place.
After reading these posts the memories of the most wonderful "working days" of my life flooded back. I started when I was 21 and so naive. Living behind the John Hancock in a tiny studio on Walton. (It was bascially a JWT dorm.) A lowly secretary in 1982 for Tom Goettsche, Franz, Jody Solomon, Bill Minor, Cathy Warga, Cindy Longbottom (didn't she use an alias??) Steve Weiss, Rick Anderson...probably forgetting a few. They piled the work up high. But were so very good to work for...patient, kind, mentors. And the parties were so damn good...you'd work 24/7 to stay at JWT.
Myrtis Washington was a friend and mentor of another kind! Can you even imagine! I looked about 16 and right out of a Sears catalog...and Myrtis was the one who taught me A LOT! (Her coffee was soooo good!) Downtown Nancy Brown...yeah, I went to a few of those parties. Ed Huerta, you were such a dear! And my dear friend Dor-o-thy...where are you? She wouldn't go to "those skanky par-teys".
Moved into media planning a year later, worked on Kraft, Kellogg, Quaker (I still have my KnB watch!) To be 22 and working on such big name accounts under the tutteledge of John Bredemann, Elaine Bickel, Maggie Noonan, Steve Buerger, Chris Thompson, Sue German, Barb Coughlin, Anita Baker, and many more. What a blast! Lunch at Remington's...2 for 1's after work at Bootleggers.
Never forget the welcoming smile of Grace and Walter. Mike Lynn spouting "I love my job" every few hours. Working with such fun, warm, people who truly were my family...we did everything together...worked hard played hard.
Not to be outdone by the guys, we had a blast on the ladies softball team...Jeanette Hunt, Kim Ford, Diane Marshall, Joanne Tamulewicz, Gretchen Baker, Donna Sclafani (God Bless her), Laurie Runyan, Dorie, and so many I'm sure I've forgotten. Celebrating til all hours at Elliot's Nest, then Kronies. Upside down maragaritas! Major crush on Craig Opfer (who didn't have one??)
The people you don't forget because they were like your family. You worked all day and played all night. Brian Quinn, John Zeman, Kathy Litwack, Lisa (Ms. Barrington...damn what was her last name pre 4-carat engagement?), Kwas (Lisa Kwiatkowski), Miriam Birch...our hippie..so dear. Barb Coughlin, and so many more.
Hope I can make the reunion...it's sure to be another memory from JWT we'll all never forget.
Laura Menezes Howe -- OMG you'd better come!! Email me rocklink1@comcast.net and btw, it was Lisa Hendrickson :) Hope you come to the reunion!!!! Kathy Litwack Rocklin
Check out the updated list at www.ripjwt.blogspot.com to see who's coming.
We are extending the deadline to next Monday August 17, after which we'll be closing the PayPal option on the website. So sign up if you haven't already. We will be accepting payment at the door the night of the party, but it will be $100 cash or check only.
There will be more emails coming regarding directions, drink tickets, parking and transportation.
450! This is going to be great fun. Can't wait to see everyone again. It is amazing the impact JWT had on my life, and as I read the comments, most everyone felt the same. Thanks to the team that is putting this together. I wish Mary Pat, Marion, Sally Augustiny and Barb Harriman could be with us. I bet they will be.
Love the hilarious stories on this blog! One of the funniest ever was the time Jackie Butler (or whatever her name was at the time) checked into The Four Seasons Hotel in Houston and was accidentally given the key to an occupied room. I really can't tell it here (but OMG!), so be sure to ask her to share it with you at the reunion.
Well, I lost my first post somewhere in that celestial place called cyberspace. I think the muse left with it. So much for selecting a profile.
Where was I? Ralph Rydholm hired me. I couldn't believe it. I think I flew home that night to Hinsdale, because I don't remember the train ride. This was the company and these were the people that would make me who I am today. I began on the 28th floor of the Hancock Building. It was a journey I'll never forget and I continue to thank those who saw promise and talent in a copywriter from a small town in Illinois
Working in the Chicago office was... well, it didn't get any better. The place was magic. Ideas flowed down the halls 24 hours a day and there was a constant flurry of thought and exchange that was, at times, overwhelming. That was my first exposure to the phrase, "The Big Idea." It became a mantra, a brass ring, and I, like many other copywriters and art directors, spent many a night and weekend in search of "The Big Idea."
Jones, Ebel, Tim Cronin, my long-time partner Bobby Garland. I learned so much and then I learned so much more. It was all about the idea. And once you found it, it was all about making it better, bigger and memorable. I'll never forget Burt Manning saying, "That's not quite it."I knew we were in for a long night.
There were so many others that helped and mentored me along the way - Alan Webb, Mike Lollis, Jeff White, John Furr, Derek Norman, Carol French, Carolyn Kroll, John Donch (remember "The One and Only Peanut Buzzer, John?) and a whole lot of others. Thank you. Thank you one and all.
I also recall working late in the studio with Johnny Z making yet another voiceover. "Can you lay that down again, Wyner. You popped a 'P' in that last line. You got one more in ya'. Come on." I loved doing voiceovers.
I was an anomaly because I also loved working with the suits. Learned from them as well. Brian Squires, Dan Roman, Bob Westerfield, Jack Tukey, Lloyd Stein, Bill Minor, Will Howard, Jill Beach, Mike Apple and the infamous Bob Norsworthy - scared the crap out me. All were great teachers.
There will never be another place like JWT Chicago or another group of people like those who made it what it was and still is in the hearts of all who worked there. I can't wait to see all 450 or more of you! The faces, the voices, the good times and the disappointments, the experiences, the clients, the meetings, the work... yes, the work. It all comes back and now we are coming back to reconnect, to recollect, to laugh, to say how fortunate we all were to work at place called JWT Chicago.
If you think reading these postings has jogged your memories of JWT Chicago, wait for the big rush on Friday night August 28th.
Visit the official Screening Room at the party where you will see commercials from major campaigns from the last 40 years, films from every decade including the Welcome to the Hancock production starring men in suits and fedoras and women in miniskirts. It's the original Mad Men, before anyone knew that title!
Also on view on big screen TVs will be Jeff York's chariacatures and all the photos posted on this website. So please send in more of your photos for the party presentation.
Thanks to the hard working committee who are making this all possible!
I will never forget my introduction to JWT Chicago in the summer of 1979. I had just been hired in New York as the new Director of HR reporting to Wayne Fickinger. Since this job was a North American responsibility, and I came in from the outside (General Foods), some people in the Chicago office thought Bob Lattimore should have been promoted into the position from JWT/C. I was encouraged by Wayne to fly out to Chicago and meet the folks there. I walked into a conference room interrogation by Wally O'Brien, Bill Ross, Ralph Rydholm, John Furr and others regarding my credentials and plans from NY that might impact the Chicago folk in any way. It was daunting, but very impressive to see how protective the Chicago management team was of the JWT/ C office culture. I continued in my role until 1983 when I left to start my own consulting practice (interviewedge.com). The pride and spirit of JWT/C was always obvious to me as I met Linda Fite then many Chicago alumni around the world including: Joe O'Donnel, Ron Kovas, Robin Restall, Larry Olshan, Ron Burns and Gary Moss. The demise of JWT Chicago is more surprising to me than the collapse of General Motors.
Only 4 years earlier, I had no idea what advertising was. 3 1/2 year later, I think it was January, half way through my senior year at Michigan State, J. Walter Thompson Company actually wanted me to fly to Chicago! 2nd plane ride . . .ever. They hire me anyway.
Dream come true, August '74 I begin as an assistant AE.
Then these people I didn't know, adopted me, helped me to grow up, and turned all the ad facts into ad knowledge I could share with someone. I have never experienced that kind of care and concern anywhere other than home. I had no brothers or sisters until JWT - Chicago. Thank you
Hats off to the Committee for putting this site together and all who shared their thoughts and memories.
In my view, JWT/Chicago's success and specialness over its long history was due to a very simple formula being followed - put more work hard, play hard IQ points in one place than any other agency could assemble - and then let it loose.
The posts are evidence the formula was always in place. Next Friday should seal the deal.
I was so sad to hear that JWT Chicago is closing. How different my life would have been if I had never come to Chicago in September 1988 when Jack Tukey rang me in London and asked if I would like to go and work with him in Chicago for 18 months. Of course I said yes and six and a half years later…..
Jack was always a delight to work for on his regular visits to JWT London and became like a father to me. He did me the honour of walking me down the aisle when I married Alistair Clark in Cirencester in 1999. He and Margot have been so central in my life and I consider them to be like family. They introduced me to “It’s A Wonderful Life” for goodness sake which I’d never seen before. How can you go through life without seeing that film? I remember how Jack used to spoil us at JWT Chicago with lunches at the Chicago Yacht Club as well as in the Drake Hotel’s “soup kitchen” where we had clam chowder to die for. Thank you so much Jack.
I started with the Kellogg Worldwide Management Group and later moved on to the Kraft General Foods Management Group. We had a great team and a lot of fun. As I write this in my kitchen in little ol’ England, Joan Buerk is sitting right beside me. We rang Jack and had a good catch up. Susan Richter Beckley was also so kind to me when I first arrived and as Jack had asked her to “keep an eye on me”, she used to take me down to the Hancock Center’s basement for lunch and generally show me around. When I asked her if she remembered doing that, she replied “Yes - every fricking day!” Randall Tallerico was great fun too and used to call me Babouschka after I first started the Balkan dancing. Jane Wilson (now Mathews) was another English girl at JWT Chicago for a while and we used to have a lot of fun getting to grips with life in the USA. Alistair and I hope to visit her Down Under this coming November. See you soon Bat Breath! How great that Joan, Jane and Randall were able to come over for our wedding.
Kathy Nicho ls is another good friend who has been to stay with us and in fact recently visited Oxford for the day (as you do!) where we had a fun day together. She, like everyone else at JWT Chicago, was always so helpful and professional. Rick Anderson gave me two sofa tables he no longer wanted to help me furnish my apartment and here they are in our house in Farmington!
If I had never gone to JWT Chicago and met such wonderful people, certain other things would never have happened either such as Balkan dancing which is such a huge part of my life and which I now teach in Oxford every week. Many great friends were forged as a result with a couple of20visits to Bulgaria which I doubt I would have ever done otherwise. Jack, remember the Soccer World Cup in 1994 when I danced in the opening ceremonies?!...
I remember moving to the Bloomingdale Building and the blue mug we were all given showing our block of offices being removed from the Hancock Center and slotted into the Bloomingdale building - I still have it and it always makes me think about those great years at JWT Chicago. Being at JWT really was like belonging to a family.
Chicago has to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I have returned three times and will certainly be back some time, sadly not for the Reunion Party. I loved the long, hot summers as well as the freezing winters clinging on to ropes so as not to be blown over! It’s hard to think of Chicago without also thinking of J. Walter - in fact it’s virtually impossible to do so. I hope everyone has a wonderful time at the Reunion and I’ll drink a glass to you all from here!
Thanks for all the great memories and for making me feel so at home. It was very hard to leave when my visa finally expired. Sorry this is so rambling and not in chronological order, but there are just so many memories. Have fun at the party!
I am Jane Mathews - was Wilson, and I worked on the Kraft account 1988-1990, fresh off the plane from Oz.
Bill Perkins ran the account, the elegant Anne, Bob Ravasio, George Schott, Janine Davis, Cathy Liepe, Alan Webb, Malachy, Nikki Pope, lovely Jeanene Kroetch, Mary Wall, Carrie, Priscilla, Regina etc were all in the group. Everyone was so kind to me, even if no one understood a word I said for the first two weeks. Like Stephanie, Jack Tukey was a father figure to me, and also came to my wedding in England. I fondly remember sneaking off to see the Cubbies, lunch at the "soup kitchen" at the Drake Hotel, going to a charity lunch on my first day at work, and watching my neighbour's face as I innocently asked them who the guests of honour - Oprah Winfrey and Mike Ditka - were...locking horns with Nat Stein, (and locking other parts of my anatomy with a very handsome art director, now I think of it). Work was fun too...
I am so jealous that you are all in lovely Chicago (although its not so bad here!) and please have a drink or twelve for me.
Hi Everyone !! It's Marcia. Remember me? Traffic? Yes, JWT 1976-1998. This is such fun and I just can't wait until Friday, just can't wait. I'm at the biggest little agency on the other side of the lake ARS Advertising, Inc. St. Joseph, MI Still doing what I love - Traffic... I just can't wait to see you all !!! Love, Marcia
I've bought a ticket for the gig on Friday but it seems that I'm now unable to attend... SO... if somebody would like to go but was unable to buy a ticket, please do take mine. I'd like to see it go to use. I only ask that you drop me an email and tell me how it went.
Better late than never. I will be attending the reunion tonight.
What a gift to read all of your memories.
I first learned about JWT during a special libraries tour of its Information Center while I was finishing my master's in library science at the University of Chicago. When I viewed Ed Strable and Roberta Piccoli in action, I knew that I wanted to work there.
I was hired by Mary Pat through Louise Sanders and Peggy Studney as the Creative Librarian from '82 to '90, working first at the Hancock and then in Bloomingdale's. I knew each of you by helping you build your new business pitches, account histories and agency profiles through the library's collection. I also came to know a lot about you by digging through your sofas for the missing tapes!
I learned advertising from the top down -- dissecting and analyzing thousands of commercials in order to index them into our computer database which was one of the first of its kind. It was created by Dennis Kelley in the New York office who was brilliant.
For a short time Louise had me teach some of you how to use the new computers we had set up in the hallways at the Hancock for word processing and database building. I remember Max Ranft telling me that computers would never replace his beautiful, hand-drawn storyboards.
I left JWT in '90 to pursue a research career at various tv shows and production companies in Chicago. I ended up producing and my projects have won a Midwest Emmy, a National Emmy, a Freddy and a Telly.
I will never forget my wonderful years at Thompson. Mary Pat Hutton made our workplace a joy. It was a golden time, not only at the agency but in Chicago as well. There was a continual sense of endless growth and opportunity, sometimes resulting in unbelievable excesses. I was paying attention to your work (not to mention your antics) and I will continue to admire your creative brilliance.
Am now back in Vermont having had a great time Friday night.
So once again, my thanks to everyone on the Committee who worked so hard to put the event together - just one more example of a very good JWT Chicago idea, wonderfully executed.
I also want to thanks all of you who came up and said hello, rekindling many memories long ago burried somewhere in my atrophied gourd.
I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to have had a shared experience with so many of you during a four year stretch I will always fondly remember.
You werre a special group then. You remain a very special group now.
So good to read so many endearing memories. I am sorry that I could not make the reunion...I had a long term prior commitment. But I am eager to read how the event went!
I will never forget being hired by Bob Irvine summer of '78 with the help of Sheri Wall who accidentally "interviewed" me while heading down the escalator on my way out of the Hancock. Finding out that I had been hired was one of the happiest days of my life! Working in Media under the direction of Nadine Martins on the Kraft account was fantastic. The first week on the job, I was invited to attend the launch of LIFE magazine at Navy Pier. I had to pinch myself. I was 18 years old and had my dream job!
My coworkers at JWT quickly quickly became my pals-John Bredemann, Steve Buerger, Corine Sanders, Kayn Lanahan, Kathy Case, Claire Haggerty, Tim Schlax, Gary Martin, Bill Hebel, Mike Rice, Mark Ford, Maggie Noonan, Barb Stone, Gary Mueller, Bill O'Neal, Maggie Knoll. Working under Robin Sperling Lampert, Donna Tidd, Ken Ohr, Phil Gerber, Mike Lynn, Hugh O'Brien...legends in their own time.
I remember meeting Linda Fite while she was recruiting down at U of I and thinking I had never seen a more composed, professional woman in my life.
After 4 1/2 years, I transfered to Account Management which began a whole new adventure working on Sears, Northern Telecom, Jobes Spikes plant food, followed by Oscar Mayer. My favorite folks-- Bill Minor, Will Howard, Rudy Nadillo, Don Peterson, Laura Frerichs, Doug Rothrock, Patrick Bachlor, Jennifer Lord Blum, John McGrath, Frans Stevens, to name a few. How about the greatest creative folks--Tom DeMint, Pat O'Hara, and Derek Norman.
It is great to know that so many of you treasure the same time spent at 875 N. Michigan Avenue. Nothing since comes close.
Please feel free to contact me, I would love to hear from you.
To all who planned and executed the JWT party last Friday evening....thank you for a fantastic event! I think everyone who attended had the same reaction throughout the party..."this is incredible...this is unbelieveable,etc.". Every time I turned around I saw someone else I wanted to see from one of the most memorable times of my life. Thank you all for making this evening possible.
As others have stated, thanks to all those that worked hard to get everything together. It was a big success and a great reminder on why JWT was so special. Nothing will ever be like "those good ole days". It will be an event I shall always remember. And thanks to all those that posted pictures. That will make it easier to remember.
As someone mentioned earlier...what a place to be.
Looking through all the posts, there definately seems to be ONE common thread among everyone - JWT was a great place to work! My feeling is no different. While my time at JWT was a while ago ('84 - '89), it has by no means been forgotten. Being my first job right out of college, I thought "wow...if this is what the workplace is like, I have no complaints!" The people, events, experiences, successes, will never ever be forgotten. It was by far the best place to work, and I miss it greatly. Like many of you, the stories of JWT can go on forever. It seems that no matter what department you were in, everyone had their own unique JWT experiences. For me, I was in Media (Honora Dee's group), and these are just some of the memories that will always stay with me:
Bar Bowling (Remingtons, Lodge, Dearborn Social Club, or whereever there was a machine!)
Wednesday Softball afterparties
Lunches at Louie's (BIG drink...$1, the chewy-gooey chicken, Louie himself)
Having lunch on a rep (of course) at the Palm and comimg back to the office with the empty Lobster shell and putting it in Kayne Lanahan's desk as a surprise...)
the annual Sunset Magazine Lunch
Newsweek golf outing
Tempo and Burgerville restaurants with Z-Dog at 2 in the morning...
the $0.99 egg-shell special
Kellogg's and Ameritech
And of course, all the wonderful people that I met and who were a part of JWT. While the industry has certainly changed over the years, the memories and experiences I encountered will never be forgotten!
I'm so glad to have found this website, and hope that another JWT reunion is on its way!
I work for JWT From 1967 to 1976 I was hire by ward weist In I work with rich shirlry Al cossieand harry mun. And joe rychiski.in.When I started I work in the in Wrigley building.Then we moved to handcock building.Then there was dour schmit red wilson.Red wilson Ruth and they got married.I rembmer when dog and coach the womons baseball team in south ben Ind.after the game we party at waseside inn.Larry Wilkes was there.thease years have was best memoryes. if any wants e-mail at busulovich@att.net jim
I never worked at JWT or anywhere else in advertising. I am an architect. I met Bill Ross under an umbrella sipping white wine while we sat at a table at the Northstar at Tahoe swimming pool in the early seventies. Bill and his wife Helene had bought a condo in this ski resort and we had just finished building a house. For the next number of years we always partied together, went to the better restaurants around the lake, and best of all, cooked together. Bill taught me some of my favorite recipes which I still do today. (We call one of these "Veal a la Rosses") Unfortunately we lost touch, I got divorced, he went to New York. That's the way life is. I have no idea where Bill Ross is today but wherever he is, if he reads this I would like him to know how much I liked him, enjoyed laughing with him and admired him. Bill Ross was a quality person, someone you were lucky to have known. I was lucky to be one of these.
Even though I never worked in the JWT Chicago office, I do have fond memories of their gracious staff. As coach of the JWT Detroit softball team we had some memorable annual encounters in Kalamazoo, Michigan as we did battle with Chicago's finest - male and female - on the field and later in the local bars.
My first Ford "Punt, Pass & Kick" gig out of the Sales Promotion Department was at a Bears/Lions game at Soldier Field. A few JWT-ers showed us around downtown the night before the game. Probably the wildest ... oh well.
Also met up with some Chicago juniors at Delevan, Wisconsin during a brutal James Webb Young weekend seminar. Never had a chance to sneak off to the Playboy Club down the road as Joe O'Donnell kept us at bay with some wicked overnight projects. Gotta love Joe!
For everyone that used to work with my father back at JWT...I am his daughter he always talked about working for JWT how proud he was even though left the company. As of December 31,2011 my mother and I have losted My father. Please if you all worked with wants to get in touch with my mother and I. Busulovich@att.net or heather12us@yahoo.com. My father name is James Busulovich..
Thanks to all of you for your posts about my dad, Louie of Louie's Cantonese Cafe in Chicago. He passed away 7/4/2011. It is these posts and your memories of him and his restaurant that warm my heart.Cannot thank you JWT folks for the relationships and memories that you gave him. If you happen to have any photos of my dad from the good old days, that you can send along, would be so appreciated, can be emailed to me, karen at lollygagger60647@yahoo.com
For those of you who were at the Wrigley Building and then the Hancock Center during the "good old days" I just wanted to let you know that my father, George Hnatt, passed away early this morning just a week after his 90th birthday. I know he loved working at JWT and had a lot more fun than he ever told me about! His obituary will be in this Sunday's Daily Herald. He is with all his good friends, Bob Heydt, Antonicci, Mary Pat, and all the rest who made Louie's restaurant a safe haven for a 3 martini lunch.
I've been researching JWT from 1965-1987 to learn a bit more about my Dad, Ron Kovas who died three years ago in April 2016. I stumbled on this decade old blog. Please know that many of your names are familiar, and he echoed your sentiments. His years at JWT were the best years of his life. Charlie Kovas cakovas@hotmail.com
237 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 237 of 237It's August 10 and I tried several times to buy a ticket - there's a glitch.
I left in 2001, but I still bleed Thompson blue, and still think of JWT Chicago as "we."
Can't wait to see all y'all on the 28th.
KFC
1985-2001
If you run into a glitch - try again but be sure you use the www.ripjwt.blogspot.com web address. if that doesn't work - send an email to ripjwt@gmail.com and we'll tell you where you can send a check.
I was at good old JWT from 1982-1989...can't believe it was 20 years ago. I too still have my cooler from the Saddle & Cycle party. JWT was that type of place...you just knew somehow, that when you left, it would always be a part of you...you had to keep not only the memories but a piece of that place.
After reading these posts the memories of the most wonderful "working days" of my life flooded back. I started when I was 21 and so naive. Living behind the John Hancock in a tiny studio on Walton. (It was bascially a JWT dorm.) A lowly secretary in 1982 for Tom Goettsche, Franz, Jody Solomon, Bill Minor, Cathy Warga, Cindy Longbottom (didn't she use an alias??) Steve Weiss, Rick Anderson...probably forgetting a few. They piled the work up high. But were so very good to work for...patient, kind, mentors. And the parties were so damn good...you'd work 24/7 to stay at JWT.
Myrtis Washington was a friend and mentor of another kind! Can you even imagine! I looked about 16 and right out of a Sears catalog...and Myrtis was the one who taught me A LOT! (Her coffee was soooo good!) Downtown Nancy Brown...yeah, I went to a few of those parties. Ed Huerta, you were such a dear! And my dear friend Dor-o-thy...where are you? She wouldn't go to "those skanky par-teys".
Moved into media planning a year later, worked on Kraft, Kellogg, Quaker (I still have my KnB watch!) To be 22 and working on such big name accounts under the tutteledge of John Bredemann, Elaine Bickel, Maggie Noonan, Steve Buerger, Chris Thompson, Sue German, Barb Coughlin, Anita Baker, and many more. What a blast! Lunch at Remington's...2 for 1's after work at Bootleggers.
Never forget the welcoming smile of Grace and Walter. Mike Lynn spouting "I love my job" every few hours. Working with such fun, warm, people who truly were my family...we did everything together...worked hard played hard.
Not to be outdone by the guys, we had a blast on the ladies softball team...Jeanette Hunt, Kim Ford, Diane Marshall, Joanne Tamulewicz, Gretchen Baker, Donna Sclafani (God Bless her), Laurie Runyan, Dorie, and so many I'm sure I've forgotten. Celebrating til all hours at Elliot's Nest, then Kronies. Upside down maragaritas! Major crush on Craig Opfer (who didn't have one??)
The people you don't forget because they were like your family. You worked all day and played all night. Brian Quinn, John Zeman, Kathy Litwack, Lisa (Ms. Barrington...damn what was her last name pre 4-carat engagement?), Kwas (Lisa Kwiatkowski), Miriam Birch...our hippie..so dear. Barb Coughlin, and so many more.
Hope I can make the reunion...it's sure to be another memory from JWT we'll all never forget.
Laura Menezes Howe -- OMG you'd better come!! Email me rocklink1@comcast.net and btw, it was Lisa Hendrickson :)
Hope you come to the reunion!!!!
Kathy Litwack Rocklin
We have almost 450 people coming to the party.
Check out the updated list at www.ripjwt.blogspot.com to see who's coming.
We are extending the deadline to next Monday August 17, after which we'll be closing the PayPal option on the website. So sign up if you haven't already. We will be accepting payment at the door the night of the party, but it will be $100 cash or check only.
There will be more emails coming regarding directions, drink tickets, parking and transportation.
This will be a night to remember.
The Committee
450! This is going to be great fun. Can't wait to see everyone again. It is amazing the impact JWT had on my life, and as I read the comments, most everyone felt the same. Thanks to the team that is putting this together. I wish Mary Pat, Marion, Sally Augustiny and Barb Harriman could be with us. I bet they will be.
Cynthia (Brower) Kenny
Reading all these comments again....great. Thanks to the committee who is putting this gala together. I can't wait.
Cynthia Kenny (Brower)
Love the hilarious stories on this blog! One of the funniest ever was the time Jackie Butler (or whatever her name was at the time) checked into The Four Seasons Hotel in Houston and was accidentally given the key to an occupied room. I really can't tell it here (but OMG!), so be sure to ask her to share it with you at the reunion.
Well, I lost my first post somewhere in that celestial place called cyberspace. I think the muse left with it. So much for selecting a profile.
Where was I? Ralph Rydholm hired me. I couldn't believe it. I think I flew home that night to Hinsdale, because I don't remember the train ride. This was the company and these were the people that would make me who I am today. I began on the 28th floor of the Hancock Building. It was a journey I'll never forget and I continue to thank those who saw promise and talent in a copywriter from a small town in Illinois
Working in the Chicago office was... well, it didn't get any better. The place was magic. Ideas flowed down the halls 24 hours a day and there was a constant flurry of thought and exchange that was, at times, overwhelming. That was my first exposure to the phrase, "The Big Idea." It became a mantra, a brass ring, and I, like many other copywriters and art directors, spent many a night and weekend in search of "The Big Idea."
Jones, Ebel, Tim Cronin, my long-time partner Bobby Garland. I learned so much and then I learned so much more. It was all about the idea. And once you found it, it was all about making it better, bigger and memorable. I'll never forget Burt Manning saying, "That's not quite it."I knew we were in for a long night.
There were so many others that helped and mentored me along the way - Alan Webb, Mike Lollis, Jeff White, John Furr, Derek Norman, Carol French, Carolyn Kroll, John Donch (remember "The One and Only Peanut Buzzer, John?) and a whole lot of others. Thank you. Thank you one and all.
I also recall working late in the studio with Johnny Z making yet another voiceover. "Can you lay that down again, Wyner. You popped a 'P' in that last line. You got one more in ya'. Come on." I loved doing voiceovers.
I was an anomaly because I also loved working with the suits. Learned from them as well. Brian Squires, Dan Roman, Bob Westerfield, Jack Tukey, Lloyd Stein, Bill Minor, Will Howard, Jill Beach, Mike Apple and the infamous Bob Norsworthy - scared the crap out me. All were great teachers.
There will never be another place like JWT Chicago or another group of people like those who made it what it was and still is in the hearts of all who worked there. I can't wait to see all 450 or more of you! The faces, the voices, the good times and the disappointments, the experiences, the clients, the meetings, the work... yes, the work. It all comes back and now we are coming back to reconnect, to recollect, to laugh, to say how fortunate we all were to work at place called JWT Chicago.
If you think reading these postings has jogged your memories of JWT Chicago, wait for the big rush on Friday night August 28th.
Visit the official Screening Room at the party where you will see commercials from major campaigns from the last 40 years, films from every decade including the Welcome to the Hancock production starring men in suits and fedoras and women in miniskirts. It's the original Mad Men, before anyone knew that title!
Also on view on big screen TVs will be Jeff York's chariacatures and all the photos posted on this website. So please send in more of your photos for the party presentation.
Thanks to the hard working committee who are making this all possible!
See you soon!
I will never forget my introduction to JWT Chicago in the summer of 1979. I had just been hired in New York as the new Director of HR reporting to Wayne Fickinger. Since this job was a North American responsibility, and I came in from the outside (General Foods), some people in the Chicago office thought Bob Lattimore should have been promoted into the position from JWT/C. I was encouraged by Wayne to fly out to Chicago and meet the folks there. I walked into a conference room interrogation by Wally O'Brien, Bill Ross, Ralph Rydholm, John Furr and others regarding my credentials and plans from NY that might impact the Chicago folk in any way. It was daunting, but very impressive to see how protective the Chicago management team was of the JWT/ C office culture. I continued in my role until 1983 when I left to start my own consulting practice (interviewedge.com). The pride and spirit of JWT/C was always obvious to me as I met Linda Fite then many Chicago alumni around the world including: Joe O'Donnel, Ron Kovas, Robin Restall, Larry Olshan, Ron Burns and Gary Moss. The demise of JWT Chicago is more surprising to me than the collapse of General Motors.
Jim Kennedy
Only 4 years earlier, I had no idea what advertising was. 3 1/2 year later, I think it was January, half way through my senior year at Michigan State, J. Walter Thompson Company actually wanted me to fly to Chicago! 2nd plane ride . . .ever. They hire me anyway.
Dream come true, August '74 I begin as an assistant AE.
Then these people I didn't know, adopted me, helped me to grow up, and turned all the ad facts into ad knowledge I could share with someone. I have never experienced that kind of care and concern anywhere other than home. I had no brothers or sisters until JWT - Chicago. Thank you
I can't wait. Julius Dorsey '74 - '76
Hats off to the Committee for putting this site together and all who shared their thoughts and memories.
In my view, JWT/Chicago's success and specialness over its long history was due to a very simple formula being followed - put more work hard, play hard IQ points in one place than any other agency could assemble - and then let it loose.
The posts are evidence the formula was always in place. Next Friday should seal the deal.
Hi guys - remember me? I was the “London girl”!
I was so sad to hear that JWT Chicago is closing. How different my life would have been if I had never come to Chicago in September 1988 when Jack Tukey rang me in London and asked if I would like to go and work with him in Chicago for 18 months. Of course I said yes and six and a half years later…..
Jack was always a delight to work for on his regular visits to JWT London and became like a father to me. He did me the honour of walking me down the aisle when I married Alistair Clark in Cirencester in 1999. He and Margot have been so central in my life and I consider them to be like family. They introduced me to “It’s A Wonderful Life” for goodness sake which I’d never seen before. How can you go through life without seeing that film? I remember how Jack used to spoil us at JWT Chicago with lunches at the Chicago Yacht Club as well as in the Drake Hotel’s “soup kitchen” where we had clam chowder to die for. Thank you so much Jack.
I started with the Kellogg Worldwide Management Group and later moved on to the Kraft General Foods Management Group. We had a great team and a lot of fun. As I write this in my kitchen in little ol’ England, Joan Buerk is sitting right beside me. We rang Jack and had a good catch up. Susan Richter Beckley was also so kind to me when I first arrived and as Jack had asked her to “keep an eye on me”, she used to take me down to the Hancock Center’s basement for lunch and generally show me around. When I asked her if she remembered doing that, she replied “Yes - every fricking day!” Randall Tallerico was great fun too and used to call me Babouschka after I first started the Balkan dancing. Jane Wilson (now Mathews) was another English girl at JWT Chicago for a while and we used to have a lot of fun getting to grips with life in the USA. Alistair and I hope to visit her Down Under this coming November. See you soon Bat Breath! How great that Joan, Jane and Randall were able to come over for our wedding.
Kathy Nicho ls is another good friend who has been to stay with us and in fact recently visited Oxford for the day (as you do!) where we had a fun day together. She, like everyone else at JWT Chicago, was always so helpful and professional. Rick Anderson gave me two sofa tables he no longer wanted to help me furnish my apartment and here they are in our house in Farmington!
If I had never gone to JWT Chicago and met such wonderful people, certain other things would never have happened either such as Balkan dancing which is such a huge part of my life and which I now teach in Oxford every week. Many great friends were forged as a result with a couple of20visits to Bulgaria which I doubt I would have ever done otherwise. Jack, remember the Soccer World Cup in 1994 when I danced in the opening ceremonies?!...
I remember moving to the Bloomingdale Building and the blue mug we were all given showing our block of offices being removed from the Hancock Center and slotted into the Bloomingdale building - I still have it and it always makes me think about those great years at JWT Chicago. Being at JWT really was like belonging to a family.
Chicago has to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I have returned three times and will certainly be back some time, sadly not for the Reunion Party. I loved the long, hot summers as well as the freezing winters clinging on to ropes so as not to be blown over! It’s hard to think of Chicago without also thinking of J. Walter - in fact it’s virtually impossible to do so. I hope everyone has a wonderful time at the Reunion and I’ll drink a glass to you all from here!
Thanks for all the great memories and for making me feel so at home. It was very hard to leave when my visa finally expired. Sorry this is so rambling and not in chronological order, but there are just so many memories. Have fun at the party!
Love
Stephie (Bowles) Clark
G'day from Sydney Australia.
I am Jane Mathews - was Wilson, and I worked on the Kraft account 1988-1990, fresh off the plane from Oz.
Bill Perkins ran the account, the elegant Anne, Bob Ravasio, George Schott, Janine Davis, Cathy Liepe, Alan Webb, Malachy, Nikki Pope, lovely Jeanene Kroetch, Mary Wall, Carrie, Priscilla, Regina etc were all in the group. Everyone was so kind to me, even if no one understood a word I said for the first two weeks. Like Stephanie, Jack Tukey was a father figure to me, and also came to my wedding in England. I fondly remember sneaking off to see the Cubbies, lunch at the "soup kitchen" at the Drake Hotel, going to a charity lunch on my first day at work, and watching my neighbour's face as I innocently asked them who the guests of honour - Oprah Winfrey and Mike Ditka - were...locking horns with Nat Stein, (and locking other parts of my anatomy with a very handsome art director, now I think of it). Work was fun too...
I am so jealous that you are all in lovely Chicago (although its not so bad here!) and please have a drink or twelve for me.
Love
Jane
Hi Everyone !! It's Marcia. Remember me? Traffic? Yes, JWT 1976-1998. This is such fun and I just can't wait until Friday, just can't wait. I'm at the biggest little agency on the other side of the lake ARS Advertising, Inc.
St. Joseph, MI Still doing what I love - Traffic... I just can't wait to see you all !!! Love, Marcia
HI all.
I've bought a ticket for the gig on Friday but it seems that I'm now unable to attend... SO... if somebody would like to go but was unable to buy a ticket, please do take mine. I'd like to see it go to use. I only ask that you drop me an email and tell me how it went.
Thanks,
Lynn Dangel
lynn@dangeladvertising.com
Better late than never. I will be attending the reunion tonight.
What a gift to read all of your memories.
I first learned about JWT during a special libraries tour of its Information Center while I was finishing my master's in library science at the University of Chicago. When I viewed Ed Strable and Roberta Piccoli in action, I knew that I wanted to work there.
I was hired by Mary Pat through Louise Sanders and Peggy Studney as the Creative Librarian from '82 to '90, working first at the Hancock and then in Bloomingdale's. I knew each of you by helping you build your new business pitches, account histories and agency profiles through the library's collection. I also came to know a lot about you by digging through your sofas for the missing tapes!
I learned advertising from the top down -- dissecting and analyzing thousands of commercials in order to index them into our computer database which was one of the first of its kind. It was created by Dennis Kelley in the New York office who was brilliant.
For a short time Louise had me teach some of you how to use the new computers we had set up in the hallways at the Hancock for word processing and database building. I remember Max Ranft telling me that computers would never replace his beautiful, hand-drawn storyboards.
I left JWT in '90 to pursue a research career at various tv shows and production companies in Chicago. I ended up producing and my projects have won a Midwest Emmy, a National Emmy, a Freddy and a Telly.
I will never forget my wonderful years at Thompson. Mary Pat Hutton made our workplace a joy. It was a golden time, not only at the agency but in Chicago as well. There was a continual sense of endless growth and opportunity, sometimes resulting in unbelievable excesses. I was paying attention to your work (not to mention your antics) and I will continue to admire your creative brilliance.
Pat Lofthouse
Creative Librarian
Okay, Harold and I want to know who are still up partying?
Great party.
Looking forward to comments, stories and uploaded photos.
The buzz continues.
Kalasunas
Am now back in Vermont having had a great time Friday night.
So once again, my thanks to everyone on the Committee who worked so hard to put the event together - just one more example of a very good JWT Chicago idea, wonderfully executed.
I also want to thanks all of you who came up and said hello, rekindling many memories long ago burried somewhere in my atrophied gourd.
I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to have had a shared experience with so many of you during a four year stretch I will always fondly remember.
You werre a special group then. You remain a very special group now.
Joe O'Donnell
So good to read so many endearing memories. I am sorry that I could not make the reunion...I had a long term prior commitment. But I am eager to read how the event went!
I will never forget being hired by Bob Irvine summer of '78 with the help of Sheri Wall who accidentally "interviewed" me while heading down the escalator on my way out of the Hancock. Finding out that I had been hired was one of the happiest days of my life!
Working in Media under the direction of Nadine Martins on the Kraft account was fantastic. The first week on the job, I was invited to attend the launch of LIFE magazine at Navy Pier. I had to pinch myself. I was 18 years old and had my dream job!
My coworkers at JWT quickly quickly became my pals-John Bredemann, Steve Buerger, Corine Sanders, Kayn Lanahan, Kathy Case, Claire Haggerty, Tim Schlax, Gary Martin, Bill Hebel, Mike Rice, Mark Ford, Maggie Noonan, Barb Stone, Gary Mueller, Bill O'Neal, Maggie Knoll. Working under Robin Sperling Lampert, Donna Tidd, Ken Ohr, Phil Gerber, Mike Lynn, Hugh O'Brien...legends in their own time.
I remember meeting Linda Fite while she was recruiting down at U of I and thinking I had never seen a more composed, professional woman in my life.
After 4 1/2 years, I transfered to Account Management which began a whole new adventure working on Sears, Northern Telecom, Jobes Spikes plant food, followed by Oscar Mayer. My favorite folks-- Bill Minor, Will Howard, Rudy Nadillo, Don Peterson, Laura Frerichs, Doug Rothrock, Patrick Bachlor, Jennifer Lord Blum, John McGrath, Frans Stevens, to name a few. How about the greatest creative folks--Tom DeMint, Pat O'Hara, and Derek Norman.
It is great to know that so many of you treasure the same time spent at 875 N. Michigan Avenue. Nothing since comes close.
Please feel free to contact me, I would love to hear from you.
Corrine Sidler Donewald
cdonewald@aol.com
'78-'86
helllll oooooo!
just a giant mushroom cloud of love joy and inspiration is what that was!
so wonderful to see and talk with sooo many happy shiny TALENTED people. I'm convinced that greater good will come of this event.
look for a few pics at photo gallery (if you're still taking them).
Sandy Matonic/Millman
To all who planned and executed the JWT party last Friday evening....thank you for a fantastic event! I think everyone who attended had the same reaction throughout the party..."this is incredible...this is unbelieveable,etc.". Every time I turned around I saw someone else I wanted to see from one of the most memorable times of my life. Thank you all for making this evening possible.
Gary Martin
As others have stated, thanks to all those that worked hard to get everything together. It was a big success and a great reminder on why JWT was so special. Nothing will ever be like "those good ole days". It will be an event I shall always remember. And thanks to all those that posted pictures. That will make it easier to remember.
Bill Hebel
Bill.Hebel@comcast.net
As someone mentioned earlier...what a place to be.
Looking through all the posts, there definately seems to be ONE common thread among everyone - JWT was a great place to work! My feeling is no different. While my time at JWT was a while ago ('84 - '89), it has by no means been forgotten. Being my first job right out of college, I thought "wow...if this is what the workplace is like, I have no complaints!" The people, events, experiences, successes, will never ever be forgotten. It was by far the best place to work, and I miss it greatly. Like many of you, the stories of JWT can go on forever. It seems that no matter what department you were in, everyone had their own unique JWT experiences. For me, I was in Media (Honora Dee's group), and these are just some of the memories that will always stay with me:
Nicknaming (Mr. Chenary, Z Dog, Chip, Squirm Dog, Frenchy, Juanita, Frankie, Reebs, etc)
Bar Bowling (Remingtons, Lodge, Dearborn Social Club, or whereever there was a machine!)
Wednesday Softball afterparties
Lunches at Louie's (BIG drink...$1, the chewy-gooey chicken, Louie himself)
Having lunch on a rep (of course) at the Palm and comimg back to the office with the empty Lobster shell and putting it in Kayne Lanahan's desk as a surprise...)
the annual Sunset Magazine Lunch
Newsweek golf outing
Tempo and Burgerville restaurants with Z-Dog at 2 in the morning...
the $0.99 egg-shell special
Kellogg's and Ameritech
And of course, all the wonderful people that I met and who were a part of JWT. While the industry has certainly changed over the years, the memories and experiences I encountered will never be forgotten!
I'm so glad to have found this website, and hope that another JWT reunion is on its way!
Hope evertyone is well...
Rich Hianik
rhianik@comcast.net
I'm looking for anyone who knew Marty Levin during his days on the Schlitz "Great American Beer Test" which broadcast live in the 1981 SuperBowl.
Also anyone who knew Marty when he worked at Leo Burnett and IF he worked on the live Sears lawnmower ads of the early 70s?
Please contact vidaddy at gmail.com if you have knew Marty in those periods.
I work for JWT From 1967 to 1976 I was hire by ward weist In I work with rich shirlry Al cossieand harry mun. And joe rychiski.in.When I started I work in the in Wrigley building.Then we moved to handcock building.Then there was dour schmit red wilson.Red wilson Ruth and they got married.I rembmer when dog and coach the womons baseball team in south ben Ind.after the game we party at waseside inn.Larry Wilkes was there.thease years have was best memoryes. if any wants e-mail at busulovich@att.net jim
I never worked at JWT or anywhere else in advertising. I am an architect. I met Bill Ross under an umbrella sipping white wine while we sat at a table at the Northstar at Tahoe swimming pool in the early seventies. Bill and his wife Helene had bought a condo in this ski resort and we had just finished building a house. For the next number of years we always partied together, went to the better restaurants around the lake, and best of all, cooked together. Bill taught me some of my favorite recipes which I still do today. (We call one of these "Veal a la Rosses") Unfortunately we lost touch, I got divorced, he went to New York. That's the way life is. I have no idea where Bill Ross is today but wherever he is, if he reads this I would like him to know how much I liked him, enjoyed laughing with him and admired him. Bill Ross was a quality person, someone you were lucky to have known. I was lucky to be one of these.
Even though I never worked in the JWT Chicago office, I do have fond memories of their gracious staff. As coach of the JWT Detroit softball team we had some memorable annual encounters in Kalamazoo, Michigan as we did battle with Chicago's finest - male and female - on the field and later in the local bars.
My first Ford "Punt, Pass & Kick" gig out of the Sales Promotion Department was at a Bears/Lions game at Soldier Field. A few JWT-ers showed us around downtown the night before the game. Probably the wildest ... oh well.
Also met up with some Chicago juniors at Delevan, Wisconsin during a brutal James Webb Young weekend seminar. Never had a chance to sneak off to the Playboy Club down the road as Joe O'Donnell kept us at bay with some wicked overnight projects. Gotta love Joe!
Thanks JWT Chicago for being there.
For everyone that used to work with my father back at JWT...I am his daughter he always talked about working for JWT how proud he was even though left the company. As of December 31,2011 my mother and I have losted My father. Please if you all worked with wants to get in touch with my mother and I. Busulovich@att.net or heather12us@yahoo.com. My father name is James Busulovich..
Thanks to all of you for your posts about my dad, Louie of Louie's Cantonese Cafe in Chicago. He passed away 7/4/2011. It is these posts and your memories of him and his restaurant that warm my heart.Cannot thank you JWT folks for the relationships and memories that you gave him. If you happen to have any photos of my dad from the good old days, that you can send along, would be so appreciated, can be emailed to me, karen at lollygagger60647@yahoo.com
For those of you who were at the Wrigley Building and then the Hancock Center during the "good old days" I just wanted to let you know that my father, George Hnatt, passed away early this morning just a week after his 90th birthday. I know he loved working at JWT and had a lot more fun than he ever told me about! His obituary will be in this Sunday's Daily Herald. He is with all his good friends, Bob Heydt, Antonicci, Mary Pat, and all the rest who made Louie's restaurant a safe haven for a 3 martini lunch.
I've been researching JWT from 1965-1987 to learn a bit more about my Dad, Ron Kovas who died three years ago in April 2016. I stumbled on this decade old blog. Please know that many of your names are familiar, and he echoed your sentiments. His years at JWT were the best years of his life. Charlie Kovas cakovas@hotmail.com
This man saved me from the Chicago's alleys. Heaven is his.
Dwpjr?
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