Guide to the Art Linkletter Collection
Finding Aid Authors: Ellen E. Jarosz.
© Copyright 2007 Special Collections & University Archives. All rights reserved.
2007-12-10
5500 Campanile Dr. MC 8050
San Diego, CA, 92182-8050
URL: http://library.sdsu.edu/scua
Email: scref@rohan.sdsu.edu
Phone: 619-594-6791
Guide to the Art Linkletter Collection
1940/2005
Special Collections & University Archives
Overview of the Collection
Collection Title: Art Linkletter Collection
Dates: 1940-2005
Bulk Dates: 1960-1979
Identification: MS-0391
Creator:
Linkletter, Art, 1912-
Physical Description: 16.78 linear ft
Language of Materials:
English
Repository:
Special Collections & University Archives
5500 Campanile Dr. MC 8050
San Diego, CA, 92182-8050
URL: http://library.sdsu.edu/scua
Email: scref@rohan.sdsu.edu
Phone: 619-594-6791
Biographical Information:
Arthur Gordon Linkletter was born July 17, 1912, in Moosejaw, Saskatchewan. He was abandoned by his parents immediately after
his birth, and adopted as an infant. He moved to Lowell, Massachusetts with his adoptive parents, and then migrated to California
at the age of three. Linkletter attended high school in San Diego, where he was a star basketball player and swimmer. He
graduated when he was 15, and subsequently spent 3 years drifting from state to state, working as a bus boy, meatpacker, and
sailor until he was 18 years old. In 1930 he returned to California to attend San Diego State College. He participated in
a wide number of extracurricular and athletic activities while at State, and graduated in 1934 with degrees in English and
Psychology.
KGB, a local radio station, offered Linkletter a job as a radio announcer during his junior year at San Diego State. During
the 1930s he participated in hundreds of radio programs, including one of the nation’s first man-in-the-street programs, which
in turn led to one of the first live audience shows in radio. He was eventually promoted to Chief Announcer at KGB, and in
1942 decided to move to Hollywood and explore other opportunities in the radio and entertainment industries. While there
he met John Guedal, with whom he partnered to create two of radio’s most memorable and popular productions –
House Party and
People Are Funny.
In the early 1950s Art Linkletter adapted both
House Party and
People Are Funny to the small screen, thus embracing the new medium of television, while continuing to air the programs on the radio.
House Party ran on CBS for 25 years, and
People are Funny aired on NBC for 19 years. Throughout these years he created several hare-brained audience participation shows, including
Inside Beverly Hills (1955) and
The Art Linkletter Show (1961). He was especially adept at interviewing children, whose unrehearsed and sometimes painfully honest remarks formed
the basis of several popular shows including the television adaptations of
House Party and
People are Funny. These long-standing stints on radio and television have given Linkletter a trustworthy, easygoing, and honest image, which
has made him an ideal spokesman for a variety of consumer products including breakfast cereals, canned foods, tobacco, and
even new neighborhoods in suburbs across America.
Throughout his career, Linkletter has published books, articles, websites, and speeches on various subjects. He has written
over 26 different books, the first of which appeared in 1947 and is eponymous with his most popular show,
People Are Funny. His more recent interest in senior health and well-being prompted the book,
Old Age is Not For Sissies, which was published in 1988. He has published two autobiographies,
Confessions of a Happy Man (1960) and
I Didn’t Do It Alone (1980). Linkletter’s most popular book,
Kids Say the Darndest Things, has illustrations drawn by Charles Schultz, the creator of the Peanuts cartoons.
Art Linkletter is often referred to as “America’s Grandfather” and is renowned and trusted for his work with children because
of the carefully constructed questions and lighthearted interviewing style that endeared him to many Americans during his
long career in show business. His own family began with his marriage to Lois Foerster in 1935. Linkletter always credits
his family (which now includes 8 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren) as the primary joy of his life. He and his family
have borne tragedy with the premature deaths of two of his children. His daughter's death in 1969 prompted him to begin national
and international dialog about the reasons for drug use and abuse in our everyday lives.
Linkletter sat on the boards of directors for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Western Airlines, and Kaiser Hospitals. In 1979 he served
on the President’s National Advisory Council for Drug Abuse Prevention, the Presidential Commission to Improve Reading in
the US, the National Coordinating Council on Drug Abuse Education and Information, was the Ambassador of Goodwill Abroad for
the US Department of Commerce, and a member of the US National Commission for UNESCO.
Later in life, Linkletter owned and ran at least eight businesses, built and managed public storehouses, office buildings,
livestock operations, real estate development, and cattle and sheep stations in Australia. Linkletter Oil Enterprises has
operated throughout South America and the US. He sat on the YMCA's board of directors, the Boy Scouts of America's public
relations committee, chaired the John Douglas French Foundation for Alzheimer's Disease board, and served as the United Seniors
Association's National Spokesman. He passed away in 2010.
Access Terms
This collection is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Corporate Name:
San Diego State University -- Alumni and alumnae -- Biography -- Sources
Family Name:
Linkletter, Art, 1912- -- Archives
Genre/Form of Material:
Audio Recordings
Personal Papers
Photographs
Publications
Video Recordings
Personal Name:
Cable, John Rufus -- Mental health
Topical Term:
Entertainers -- United States -- Biography -- Sources
Radio programs -- United States
Television programs -- United States
Administrative Information
Conditions Governing Use:
The copyright interests in these materials have not been transferred to San Diego State University. Copyright resides with
the creators of materials contained in the collection or their heirs. The nature of historical archival and manuscript collections
is such that copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine. Requests for permission to publish must be
submitted to the Head of Special Collections, San Diego State University, Library and Information Access. When granted, permission
is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission
of the copyright holder(s), which must also be obtained in order to publish. Materials from our collections are made available
for use in research, teaching, and private study. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including
but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials.
Conditions Governing Access:
This collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation:
Identification of item, folder title, box number, Art Linkletter Collection, Special Collections and University Archives,
Library and Information Access, San Diego State University.
Arrangement of Materials:
I. Subject Files, 1939-2005
II. Scrapbooks
III. Photographs
IV. Memorabilia
1. General
2. Keys to Cities
3. Plaques and Certificates
V. Media
Scope and Contents
The
Linkletter Collection documents Linkletter's professional career as a radio and television personality, author, and public figure. The papers
date from approximately 1940-2005, with the bulk of documents created in the 1960s and 1970s. The collection consists of
subject files, scrapbooks, photographs, and memorabilia, and includes items in several differing media. The collection is
divided into five series:
Subject Files,
Scrapbooks,
Photographs,
Memorabilia, and
Media. The
Memorabilia series includes three sub-series:
General,
Keys to Cities, and
Plaques and Certificates.
The
Subject Files are arranged alphabetically by file title, and date from 1939-2005. These files document numerous television and radio programs
that Art Linkletter was involved with, including
The Art of Positive Thinking,
House Party, and
People are Funny, as well as other projects he involved himself in throughout his career. The series contains few records from Linkletter's
very early career, or from his very late career, but is strong in documenting the middle of his career. The series includes
scripts, teleplays, all correspondence in the collection, some marketing and promotional materials, and press clippings.
The
Scrapbooks document Linkletter's advertising career, and the interaction between Linkletter, his family, and the media. One scrapbook
documents Linkletter's anti-drug work, consisting of letters written to Mr. Linkletter from elementary school children in
Appleton, Wisconsin, thanking Mr. Linkletter for speaking at their school. The scrapbooks are arranged numerically by scrapbook
number.
The
Photographs document Mr. Linkletter's varied career, including images of him shooting television specials with children, with Ronald
Reagan, or Richard Nixon, and appearing on
Great American Game Show. Most of the images are undated, and most individuals are unidentified.
The
Memorabilia are arranged in three separate sub-series:
General,
Keys to Cities, and
Plaques and Certificates. The
General Memorabilia sub-series documents Linkletter's involvement in numerous community events, including the Pasadena Tournament of Roses and
Friars Club. The
Keys to Cities sub-series includes keys Linkletter was gifted from large and small cities and towns across the United States, and the
Plaques and Certificates subseries includes numerous awards, certificates, plaques, honorary degrees, and other special recognition Linkletter received
over his long career.
The
Media series includes materials in various non-paper-based media. Several LPs, as well as books on tape and DVD's are included
which document several of Linkletter's television, radio, and film performances throughout his career, as well as his subsequent
career as a writer.
Detailed List of Contents
Box 1, Folder 2
America: Cavalcade of a Nation
September 1940
Box 1, Folder 3
Art of Positive Thinking
1978-1979
Box 1, Folder 4
Positive Thinking - Distributors
Box 1, Folder 5
Positive Thinking 1980 Demo Copy and 1981 Fact Sheet
1980, 1981
Box 1, Folder 6
Art of Positive Thinking Index/Cues
Box 1, Folder 7
Art of Positive Thinking Scripts Masters
Box 1, Folder 8
Art of Positive Thinking Scripts Masters
Box 1, Folder 9
Art of Positive Thinking Program Titles
Box 1, Folder 10
Art of Positive Thinking Week 1-27
Box 1, Folder 11
Art of Positive Thinking Scripts Week 1-16
Box 1, Folder 12
Art of Positive Thinking Scripts Week 17-28
Box 1, Folder 13
Art of Positive Thinking Scripts Week 29-39
Box 1, Folder 14
Art of Positive Thinking Week 40-52
Box 2, Folder 2
General Electric (GE) Theatre - Badge of Honor
Box 2, Folder 3
Calendar of Art's little links
1980
Box 2, Folder 4
Cavalcade of the Golden West Script
Box 2, Folder 5
Closing Day Ceremonies on Treasure Island
Box 2, Folder 6
Correspondence and miscellaneous documents
January 1989 - May 1989
Box 2, Folder 8
Father of the Bride - Play
Box 2, Folder 10
Hello, Australia Hello, New Zealand
Box 2, Folder 13
General Electric House Party
Box 2, Folder 14
House Party Program Promotion
Fall 1953
Box 2, Folder 16
KECA (radio station) dedication
Box 2, Folder 18
Kids are Funny: Chevy Special
Box 2, Folder 19
Kids Say the Darndest Things!
Box 2, Folder 20
Kids Say the Darndest Things!
Box 2, Folder 21
Linkletter on Success, Happiness & Positive Thinking
Box 3, Folder 14
TIME - 1951 Year in Review
2001
Box 3, Folder 18
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Box 4, Folder 2
Scrapbook 2, loose materials
Box 5
Aborigines reacting to the sprinkler system at Anna Plains
Box 5
"No damper like that at the Waldorf, mate!"
Box 5
New Year's Eve party in Esperance wool shed
Box 5
John Hagon's truck going to Esperance
Box 5
Serious Sketch - Anna Plains Homestead
Box 5
Progress on the eighty mile beach
Box 5
Head shearer entering personal limousine at Esperance
Box 5
"Chucks us out when the cheques cut out" - shearing crew on bender
Box 5
Jeep and greyhound pursuing emu
Box 5
"One kangaroo and a heap of dirt"
Box 5
The rabbit hunter and her dingo
Box 5
United States plutocrat blowing cigar smoke at Esperance ram
Box 5
Converting the telegraph line to fence line
Box 5
Aborigines studying telegraph line
Box 5
Serious sketch - first school house at Esperance
Box 5
Formal sketch - entrance to Linkletter's Place
Box 5
Hagon's original homestead at Esperance - "Does it look like the Rockefeller Estate?"
Box 5
Broken down tractor and the relaxed driver at Esperance
Box 5
Two Hollywood Pioneers pursuing the plow and waiting for the seed to come up
Box 5
Starting the plows at Esperance
Box 5
Three Aussies and Allan Chase - "you gonna turn this town into a thrivin' metropolis?"
Box 5
American experts arrive at Anna Plains
Box 5
"We're one shy on the fencin' team"
Box 5
"'ands up all those that want soup!"
Box 5
Ladie's Dart Night - Junction race Meeting
Box 5
"People are bloody funny" - Arrival of Hollywood Pioneers at Darwin
Box 5
Barmaid - "make up your bloody mind!"
Box 5
Serious sketch of a Northwest Hotel
Box 5
Chase on Condingup - "There you are Art! That's all yours!"
Box 5
Esperance Beach - a sketch
Box 5
Art and the DC-3 - "in that"
Box 5
Mustering '67 (puncher and dog on Italian skooter)
Box 5
Man under the "bottle" tree
Box 5
Rice (Machine Gunner - "Go on, just one more grain!"
Box 5
Rice (Dive Bombing Geese)
Box 5
Rice (Planter with Buffalo, Croc, and Goose)
Box 5
Nor-West Waterhole (a serious sketch)
Box 5
Native animals looking over the fence at the lush fields of Linkletter's Place
Box 6
Scrapbook: 60 Years of Advertising
Box 7
Linkletter with Richard Nixon
Box 7
Linkletter sitting at a desk
Box 7
Linkletter with Richard Nixon
Box 7
Linkletter with Richard Nixon
Box 7
Lois Linkletter with Richard Nixon
Box 7
Linkletter blindfolded with showgirls
Box 7
Linkletter with Pat Nixon
Box 7
Linkletter at 1973 Inauguration
Box 7
Linkletter diving into swimming pool
Box 7
Linkletter in his older days
Box 7
Linkletter sitting and posing
Box 7
Linkletter sitting and posing
Box 7
Caricature of Linkletter with drama mask
Box 7
Linkletter with Richard Nixon
Box 7
Linkletter with Thomas H. Moorer, Chief of Naval Operations
Box 7
Linkletter with Richard Nixon
Box 7
Linkletter with Richard Nixon
Box 7
Linkletter with Richard Nixon
Box 7
Linkletter with Richard Nixon
Box 8
Photo of Linkletter and companions at a ski retreat
Box 9
Grand Marshall Ribbon for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses
Janaury 1, 2003
Box 9
First Place Medal for 55-PLUS Competition
Box 9
"Linkletter" brand plastic closure bottles (4)
Box 9
Card for Eaton International Corporation
Box 9
Pin from Pineville, Louisiana
Box 9
Badge for Texas Department of Public Safety Officers Association
Box 9
Pin for Grand Marshall of Rose Parade
2003
Box 9
Membership card for Friar's Club
Box 9
Art Linkletter Hollywood cards (2 copies)
Box 9
Presidential Sports Award for Swimming
Box 10
A collection of keys awarded to Linkletter from various cities.
Box 11
A collection of keys awarded to Linkletter from various cities.
Box 12
Young Men's Christian Association of Hollywood Certificates of Recognition as a Member of the Handball Team (2)
June 1947, June 1948
Box 12
"House Party" - 22nd Anniversary of Gateway Arch
Box 12
Scripps Memorial Hospital - The Mcdonald Center
January 11, 1984
Box 12
11th Annual Achievement Award for Humanitarian Efforts on Behalf of Alternative Living for the Aging
June 11, 1992
Box 13
Honorary Citizen Certificate for Dallas, Texas
May 19, 1988
Box 13
Overseas Flight Certificate
July 31, 1949
Box 13
NBC Network Certificate for Appointed Honorary Professor at the College of Musical Knowledge
August 21, 1946
Box 13
Grand Marshal Plaque for the Long Beach Veterans Day Parade
November 11, 2000
Box 13
Armand Arabian Leaders in Public Servce award
Box 13
Hearts Across the Valley pioneer award
February 6, 2004
Box 14
Salvation Army Humanitarian Award
Box 14
Certificate of Appreciation from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
August 2001
Box 14
Grand Marshal of the Pacific Palisades Americanism Parade
July 4, 2002
Box 14
Los Angeles County Award of Honor
June 1971
Box 14
Special Presenter at the 50th Annual Lulu Awards Show
April 25, 1996
Box 15
World War II Veterans Committee California Donor Certificate
2004
Box 15
University of Redlands Citation
Box 15
Appreciation plaque from SDSU
The Disney Legends Award
2005
Box 18
The Art of Positive Thinking, Service Reel #22
Box 18
The Art of Positive Thinking, Service Reel #28
Box 18
The Art of Positive Thinking, Service Reel #29
Box 18
Art Linkletter, Jack Linkletter, Merv Griffin, 3 Inch Reel
July 22, 1971
Box 18
Gene Autry's "Merry Texas Christmas, You All!", 10 inch Record
Box 18
Art Linkletter in "How Jerry Jalopy got his Horn", 10 inch record
Box 18
Art Linkletter in "Pets are Funny", 10 inch record
Box 18
Principles for Successful Living, 12 cassette tapes
Box 18
Interview with Bob Hope - "The Women in My Life"; Interview with Art Linkletter - "The Secret World of Kids", double-sided
12 inch record
Box 18
How to Bend a Twig, 12 inch record
Box 18
Art Linkletter narrates The Bible, 12 inch record (2 copies)
Box 18
Art Linkletter narrates the story of Where Did You Come From?, 12 inch record
Box 18
Let's Play Games with Art Linkletter, 12 inch record (2 copies)
Box 18
Christmas with Art Linkletter, 12 inch record
Box 18
Request Performance to Art Linkletter, 12 inch record
Box 18
Linkletter audio recordings on CD
Scope and Contents
Files:
81yearsold.mov
81yearsold.wav
aging-3ages.mov
aging-3ages.wav
book-kids say.mov
book-kids say.wav
Business.mov
Business.wav
funniest1.mov
funniest1.wav
funniest2.mov
funniest2.wav
SDSU Aging.mov
SDSU Aging.wav
spend_timewithyour_child.mov
spend_timewithyour_child.wav
split1.mov
split1.wav
split2.mov
split2.wav
split3.mov
split3.wav
split4.mov
split4.wav
split5.mov
split5.wav
split6.mov
split6.wav
Box 19
CBS at 75, DVD
November 2, 2003
Box 19
Kids Say the Darndest Things, Funniest Moments Series
Box 19
Kids Say the Darndest Things! starring Art Linkletter
Box 19
Art Linkletter's House Party, 4 Promotion reels and 2 slides
Fall 1953
Box 20
The Art of Positive Thinking, Reel 1
Box 20
The Art of Positive Thinking, Reel 2
Box 20
The Art of Positive Thinking, Reel 3
Box 20
The Art of Positive Thinking, Reel 4
Box 20
The Art of Positive Thinking, Reel 5
Box 20
The Art of Positive Thinking, Reel 6
Box 20
The Art of Positive Thinking, Reel 7
Box 20
The Art of Positive Thinking, Reel 8
Box 20
The Art of Positive Thinking, Reel 9
Box 20
The Art of Positive Thinking, Reel 11
Box 20
The Art of Positive Thinking, Reel 13
Box 20
The Art of Positive Thinking, Reel 17
Box 20
The Art of Positive Thinking, Reel 18 (2 copies)
Box 21
The Art of Positive Thinking, Film reel
Published Works (magazines, books, miscellaneous)
