Douglas Leigh (May 24, 1907 – December 14, 1999) was an American advertising executive and lighting designer, and a pioneer in signage and

outdoor advertising Out-of-home (OOH) advertising, also called outdoor advertising, outdoor media, and out-of-home media, is advertising experienced outside of the home. This includes billboards, wallscapes, and posters seen while "on the go". It also includes pla ...

. He is famous for making New York City's

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

the site of some of the world's most famous

neon signs In the signage industry, neon signs are electric signs lighted by long luminous gas-discharge tubes that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They are the most common use for neon lighting, which was first demonstrated in a modern form in Dece ...

, or electric

billboards A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

. Leigh also designed the colored lighting scheme for the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...

Biography

After financing his education at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

by buying the exclusive right to sell advertising for the yearbook, Leigh became a top salesman for a sign company in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. In 1929, he moved to New York and got a job at the General Outdoor Advertising Company, but quit in 1933 to strike out on his own. Leigh then designed a sign for the St. Moritz Hotel in exchange for the right to live there and to use the hotel's address at 50

Central Park South 59th Street is a crosstown street in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan, running from York Avenue and Sutton Place on the East Side (Manhattan), East Side of Manhattan to the West Side Highway on the West Side (Manha ...

for his business. From there, Leigh proceeded to transform the signs at Times Square. His first eye-catching creation was a billboard for A&P, advertising the store's

Eight O'Clock Coffee Eight O'Clock Coffee is an American brand of coffee products currently manufactured by the Eight O'Clock Coffee Company, a subsidiary of Tata Consumer Products, which is headquartered in Mumbai, India; its coffee production plant is in Landover, ...

with clouds of steam emanating from a large cup of coffee. A

Camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

billboard blew smoke rings from a steam generator, while one for Kool cigarettes featured a blinking penguin. One for

Ballantine Beer P. Ballantine and Sons Brewing Company was an American brewery founded in 1840, making Ballantine one of the oldest brands of beer in the United States. At its peak, it was the 3rd largest brewer in the US. The brand is currently owned and ope ...

had clowns tossing

quoits Quoits ( or ) is a traditional game which involves the throwing of metal, rope or rubber rings over a set distance, usually to land over or near a spike (sometimes called a hob, mott or pin). The game of quoits encompasses several distinct vari ...

on a peg. The

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

sign at

Bryant Park Bryant Park is a public park located in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Privately managed, it is located between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas ( Sixth Avenue) and between 40th and 42nd Streets in Midtown Manhattan. The e ...

gave an ever-changing weather forecast (featuring a house and pictures of sun, rain, snow, etc.) along with the slogan "Thirst knows no season" (Leigh paid a tenant's weekly laundry bills to stop her from hanging her laundry on her clothesline in front of the sign). Leigh's design creation of a large illuminated snowflake, which was 17 feet wide by 14 feet tall and had 12,000 crystals, is hung at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street every holiday season. Many of Leigh's creations have been replaced with newer signs, for which Leigh set the bar. Leigh also lent his talents as a consultant for outdoor displays and spectaculars to

Freedomland U.S.A. Freedomland U.S.A. (usually called Freedomland) was a theme park dedicated to American history in the Baychester section of the northeastern Bronx in New York City. Operating from 1960 to 1964, Freedomland was built on marshland owned by the W ...

, a New York City theme park, during its 1960 debut. He is featured in the book, ''Freedomland U.S.A.: The Definitive History'' (Theme Park Press, 2019). He was the step-grandfather of

Prince Lorenzo Borghese Lorenzo Borghese ( it, Don Lorenzo dei Principi Borghese; born June 9, 1972) is an Italian-American businessman, television personality, and member of the Borghese family. Borghese is a cosmetics entrepreneur and animal rights advocate. He was ...

References

External links

* Current Biography 1940, pp 489–91.
Douglas Leigh archives
at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Bio
at Smithsonian website * NP
"Douglas Leigh Obituary"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leigh, Douglas Neon lighting Neon artists 1907 births 1999 deaths People from Anniston, Alabama Businesspeople from New York City University of Florida alumni 20th-century American businesspeople