JERRY DIGNEY

Meet Mr. Jerry Digney, former publicist to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus as well as Bozo the Clown.

Jerry Digney is a partner in SOLTERS & DIGNEY Public Relations and was Ray Charles’ personal publicist and remains the personal publicist for a number of icons, from BB King to The Nevilles to Bob Newhart and many more.

Solters & Digney Public Relations (formerly Solters, Roskin & Freidman) is headquartered in Hollywood, with offices in New York and Washington, DC, specializing in entertainment, sports, hospitality, touring attractions and special events.

Digney, a native Bostonian, first worked for the Solters’ office 30+ years ago, in its flagship New York office, where it specialized in Broadway productions, music and television. He later worked in the firm’s Los Angeles office, as a vice-president, and was also the first ever director of public relations for Feld Entertainment, producer-owner of Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey Circus and Disney on Ice touring productions, where he supervised a staff of marketers and publicists for a half dozen or more touring productions, including the International Circus Spectacular of Monte Carlo.

He rejoined the Solters agency 10-plus years ago, after a decade in entertainment production and licensing. Over the years, Digney has received many awards for his public service works and sits on the boards of several national charities.

He attended the Leland Powers School and Grahm College in Boston and worked extensively as a radio announcer and copywriter in Boston and on national radio networks before entering the public relations arena.

He is also a widely published freelance writer and an accomplished artist-painter and was also a circus ringmaster before stepping behind the spotlight.

Digney and his partner, Lee Solters, a legend among international entertainment publicists, have served as image-makers and confidants to a virtual show biz who’s who, from Broadway theatre impresario David Merrick, to Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand and Michael Jackson. He was the first person to get a female client over 50 on the cover of Playboy magazine and arranged for the Pope (JP II) to be made an honorary Harlem Globetrotter.

His publicity stunts are legendary: from marrying a clown couple atop Philadelphia’s famous LOVE statue to making hermit crabs America’s favorite pets in the 1980s. Digney arranged the first show biz themed U.S. postage stamp, Laurel and Hardy, in the mid-1980s and ran Bozo for president in 1984, an event covered by every major media outlet in America, including Time.

From publicizing two presidential inaugurals and numerous breakthrough films, including “The Graduate,” to promoting Ringling Bros. Circus and Cirque du Soleil, the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jackie Gleason, Whoopi Goldberg, Carol Channing, Whitney Houston, Liza Minnelli, Dolly Parton, Bette Midler, Caesars Palace, the Beverly Hills Hotel, Mattel, Universal Studios Tour, 20th Century Fox film studios, the city of Las Vegas and the many legendary Chrysler-sponsored Golf Tournaments and Bob Hope television specials, SOLTERS & DIGNEY has long been at the forefront of many memorable chapters in entertainment history.