Tommy Bartlett

Thomson "Tommy" Bartlett (July 11, 1914 – September 6, 1998) was an American showman and entertainment mogul from Wisconsin. He is most often associated with the water skiing thrill show based in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, known as Tommy Bartlett's Thrill Show. The success of this and other traveling water ski shows led to Bartlett's induction into the Water Ski Hall of Fame in 1993. His shows have toured the United States, the Far East, and four World Fairs, and have seen 50 million spectators.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Bartlett began his career in entertainment by becoming a broadcaster at radio station WISN at the young age of 13. After moving to Chicago, Illinois, he became a staff announcer at the CBS-owned WBBM radio station. He continued here until the outbreak of World War II, when he learned to fly and subsequently became a flight instructor for the United States Army Air Corps. In 1945, he returned to radio, hosting a show called Meet Tommy Bartlett. In 1947, he hosted the Tommy Bartlett Show and Welcome Travelers.

During his WBBM tenure, Bartlett was popular as host of two transcribed daily shows catering to housewives, Meet the Missus and The Missus Goes to Market. Both shows would become the top-rated local daytime radio shows in the Chicago market, and were sponsored by Fitzpatrick Brothers, manufacturers of Kitchen Klenzer, Big Jack Soap and Automatic Soap Flakes.

In 1949, Bartlett went to the Chicago Railroad Fair, where he witnessed a water skiing show on the Chicago lakefront. After seeing several more such shows over the course of the fair, Bartlett decided to create and produce his own traveling water ski show using surplus equipment that he bought from the performers. The "Tommy Bartlett Water Ski & Jumping Boat Thrill Show", as it was first called, was highly successful. In 1953, after the show called at Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, Bartlett was asked by the local Chamber of Commerce to keep the show in the city permanently. Bartlett agreed to the request, keeping one arm of the show at Wisconsin Dells for daily performances on Lake Delton, while four additional road groups continued touring in cities across the United States. The success of the shows led the United Service Organizations (USO) to ask Bartlett to send the show overseas to entertain U.S. soldiers in the Far East, launching a branch of the tour in Asia. Bartlett had a long-term partnership with motor manufacturer Mercury Marine's owner Carl Kiekhaefer.

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