Jay Stein, mastermind of the Universal Studios tram tour, dies at 88

“Can you just give me one of your leftover sharks?”

It was early in Jay Stein’s tenacious pursuit to show a throwaway enterprise right into a candy spot for Universal Studios, then owned by Lew Wasserman’s powerhouse leisure agency MCA.

In 1975, Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” was a cultural sensation and Stein wished to capitalize on the film’s success. He requested his colleagues in movie manufacturing for props so his crews may re-create the fictional Amity Island shoreline within the studio’s hilly again lot miles from downtown L.A.

“He convinced them: ‘Can you just give me one of the leftover sharks and I’ll put it on the studio tour, and we’ll get some promotion out of that,’ ” writer Sam Gennawey instructed The Times, recalling Stein’s brilliance and his pioneering use of mental property.

Jay Stein along with his spouse, Connie, in Oregon.

(Connie Stein)

Stein died Nov. 5 at his residence in Bend, Ore., in line with his spouse, Connie Stein. He was 88 and had been affected by issues associated to Parkinson’s illness and prostate most cancers.

“He left a big hole — but he also left a wonderful legacy,” she stated in an interview Sunday. “Not a lot of people have the opportunity to leave a legacy that touches generations. But he’s still making people smile every day.”

The tram tour’s shark assault, which terrified vacationers when it debuted in 1976, has lengthy been a staple. It was amongst Stein’s many theme park enhancements throughout his greater than 30 years as a prime MCA govt, which included Universal’s push into Florida to compete with Walt Disney Co.

The “Jaws” attraction helped cement Universal’s decades-long relationship with Spielberg, a span that would come with such movies as “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “Jurassic Park,” “Schindler’s List” and “The Fabelmans.” It additionally spawned different movie-themed sights that included a “Waterworld” reside present and a “King Kong” experience.

Stein insisted that the ape would spew “banana breath,” his spouse stated.

Within Universal, such jolts and thrives grew to become often known as “JayBangs,” which Gennawey used because the title for his 2016 ebook about Stein’s contributions to the trade, “JayBangs: How Jay Stein, MCA, & Universal Invented the Modern Theme Park and Beat Disney at Its Own Game.”

“Jay wanted to put you in the movie,” Gennawey stated. “He wanted to grab you by the collar and shake you a bit.”

The “Runaway Train” attraction on the Universal Studios back-lot tour, certainly one of its many exhilarating “JayBangs.”

(NBCUniversal Archives & Collections)

Stein was born in New York City on June 17, 1937, to Samuel and Sylvia “Sunny” (Goldstein) Stein.

His father was a watch salesman who moved the household to Los Angeles when Stein was younger. As a youngster, he often skipped faculty to go to Hollywood Park Racetrack to guess on horses. He had finagled some clean report playing cards and used them to deliver residence self-inserted excessive marks.

But the rip-off was revealed when the household briefly moved again to New York and Stein was nearing the top of highschool. His dad and mom had been summoned for a convention, the place they discovered Stein lacked the credit to graduate. Summer faculty remedied that.

The household returned to L.A. Stein attended UC Berkeley, majoring in political science, however he left a few semester shy of graduating.

He served within the Army National Guard and, close to the top of his service, in 1959, started working in MCA’s mailroom. Initially he wished to get into movie manufacturing, however by the mid-Sixties, he was steered into the fledgling tour unit.

The firm had launched the tram tour in 1964 to make a bit of cash from its ample actual property. But some executives considered the endeavor as cheesy. Its prospects seemed dim.

“It started out as two trams and a Quonset hut on Lankershim Boulevard,” Stein instructed The Times in a 2023 interview. “Quite frankly, the tram was considered something that interfered with television production.”

“I worked for the production office and was given the task of trying to coordinate how close we could come on the backlot without interfering. Everyone I worked for said it was an annoyance and disruptive and will not ever be welcomed.”

Stein was in a position “to convince others of the benefits of having the studio tour,” Gennawey stated. “That’s what saved it.”

Early signage promoting Universal Studios as a vacationer attraction.

(NBCUniversal Archives & Collections)

Gennawey considers Stein a key pioneer of U.S. theme parks.

“He was remarkably competitive. He recognized that Disney had its thing — but Universal could create something different and complimentary, particularly in the early days,” Gennawey stated.

Disneyland was, after all, a prime draw.

“But if you are a Los Angeles resident and had relatives coming in town, you knew they [also] wanted to see Hollywood,” Gennawey stated. “But Hollywood was kind of scary, so you took them to Universal Studios.”

Stein’s contributions have solely lately been appreciated, in line with Gennawey. That’s largely as a result of Stein subscribed to Wasserman’s edict that the “stars were the stars,” and executives ought to mix into the background. Stein additionally retired early, leaving Universal by the mid-Nineteen Nineties, after Japanese electronics big Matsushita purchased MCA.

Visitors line up for the studio tour of Universal Studios.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Stein nervous that Universal’s new proprietor (and a string of subsequent consumers) would fail to acknowledge the worth of the theme parks, Gennawey stated, an statement that proved right.

That modified in 2011 when Comcast acquired NBCUniversal and commenced investing closely.

The firm opened its $7-billion theme park, Universal Epic Universe, close to Orlando, Fla., to raves earlier this 12 months.

The theme park unit — which incorporates locations in Los Angeles, Florida, Japan and China — has develop into some of the dependable revenue engines for NBCUniversal. Last 12 months, Universal theme parks produced $8.6 billion in income.

“Jay was the visionary behind Universal’s expansion from the Studio Tour in Hollywood to the creation of our world-class theme park destination at Universal Orlando and beyond,” Mark Woodbury, chairman and chief govt of Universal Destinations & Experiences, stated in a press release.

“He had tremendous creative instincts and defined our style of immersive storytelling, making us the brand that brings great movies to life for generations to come,” Woodbury stated.

Stein is survived by his spouse, son Gary Stein, daughter Darolyn Bellemeur and their spouses, kids and grandchildren, his brother Ira Stein, a nephew, cousins in addition to Connie Stein’s kids and grandchildren.