"Lady and The Tramp" (1951;1991) [Series] - Harry Holt Sketch

Part of the "Lady and The Tramp" series.

"Lady and The Tramp" has appeal on a variety of levels. It seems like the classic "good girl meets bad boy" story with the kind of domesticated ending that doesn't happen too often in real life (human real life, that is...).

The Bella Notte Scene behind Tony's is probably the most discussed and collectible segment of the film. So, when Disney started its program of having an artist "custom draw" a classic Disney scene for a park visitor, this "Lady and The Tramp" scene was one of the templates that was used.

Harry Holt "Lady and The Tramp" Drawing

I was looking over some of the art when I realized that I had two drawings by Harry Holt -- one from "Lady and The Tramp" and one from "Little Mermaid." (Here's the link to the longer posting on Harry Holt.) These drawings were not actual representations from the movie, but rather provided a scene that represented the essence of the moment.

I was fascinated by the responses I received after posting the Harry Holt material (here's a link to all the Harry Holt postings). Many of these small custom drawing locations were staffed by competent artists that saw the job as a step into the Studio. Harry, on the other hand, was an accomplished animator that not only enjoyed drawing, but enjoyed meeting the people that stopped by his station. As I recall, his conversations were easy and friendly. And, if you showed some real interest, it was like a light switch was thrown on and Harry would shift into top gear to talk about the process and the people he worked with over the years. A number of folks wrote me to say that their encounters with Harry started them collecting animation artwork. And most were surprised to learn about Harry's extensive background at Disney.

While there is little monetary value in Harry's drawings, there a more personal link. One person wrote me saying that they framed Harry's piece and it always reminded them of the great time they had at the Disney World. Now that they know more about Harry, they see the piece as a much more valuable snapshot of their time at the Park and that they now realize that there is much more to some of the folks that work there than they had imagined. Much like the new media star Susan Boyle, you can't always judge a book by it's cover... or the person by their job.

----- DATABASE NOTES -----

From “Lady and the Tramp” (1951; 1991). Lady and the Tramp "sketch" that was drawn at Disney World. "With greetings & best wishes to our friends -- Jenny & Bob -- Lady and the Tramp -- Harry Holt” [Item: 12"W x 9"H] Acquired 1991. SeqID-0670 9/22/2005

Harry Holt, an influential Disney animator, died on April 14. Cause of death was not released. He was 93. In 1936, Holt applied for an artist position with Disney. During his try-out period, he wrote and illustrated stock Disney characters into comic strip storyboards. The company was so impressed with his talent that Holt was hired as an apprentice. He eventually worked his way up to designing several legendary scenes in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Lady and the Tramp." After 20 years with Disney, Holt took a brief hiatus to work in television production and art direction in Chicago. He returned to Los Angeles a few years later and joined Hanna-Barbera Studios to animate "Flintstones" and "Tom and Jerry" cartoons. In the 1960s, Holt rejoined Disney as a designer of sculptural forms. He sculpted the original models of characters for the Country Bear Jamboree and Haunted Mansion rides at Walt Disney World, and developed attractions at Epcot and Disneyland in California and Japan. Until his retirement in the early 1990s, Holt greeted guests and signed drawings at the Disney/MGM Studio Preview Center in Orlando.

Posted on April 26, 2004 11:06 PM http://forum.bcdb.com/forum/Disney_animator_designer_Harry_Holt_dies_93_P24316/

Harry Holt Images

It was one of those weird things. I saw a nice drawing of Ariel in DeviantArt and looked through some of my Little Mermaid images. I noticed a sketch that was done by an older gentleman while we were at Disney World. I looked at the signature and what I had written in my database. I realized that I had done my searching on the wrong name!

When I searched again, I was amazed to learn more about this man's great background. When we met him, he was unassuming, kind and interested in what we collected.

Harry Holt's "Little Mermaid" (1990)

So, I was reading his obit and then started reading some of the messages left by others. It was really amazing how many people trace their interest in collecting animation art to encounters with Mr. Holt.

Then I read one entry that talked about his "Lady and the Tramp" piece that they valued. "Wait a minute..." I thought. I opened my LadyTramp folder and saw another sketch. My jaw dropped... I had not realized that they were both drawn by Holt. The Lady and the Tramp piece was a year later -- evidently a few months before he left for a full retirement.

Harry Holt's "Lady and the Tramp" (1991)

Here's the entry from the The Big Cartoon Forum:

Harry Holt, who worked for over a half a century as an animator, designer and art director for Walt Disney Studios, has died at 93.

Holt, of Casselberry, Florida, helped design scenes for such classic Disney features as Snow White and Lady and the Tramp. He died April 14, said his wife of 27 years, Barbara.

"He was a very simple man, very quiet and modest, but he knew his trade," she told the Orlando Sentinel.

The many series for which he was an animator included Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles, The Herculoids, Challenge of the Super Friends, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo and Smurfs. He was also an animator for 1964's Hey There, It's Yogi Bear (Hanna-Barbera's first feature film) and the hour-long 1977 NBC special A Flintstone Christmas.

Despite Holt's extensive involvement with Hanna-Barbera, the lion's share of his career was with Disney, where he began in 1936 by applying as an artist. The studio tested his skills by asking him to write and illustrate a script for each major Disney character in comic-strip fashion.

Pleased with his work, animators tried him out. Holt trained for two weeks, then started as an apprentice and moved up the ladder quickly, helping develop Snow White. He was an animator for the Donald Duck shorts Donald's Diary (1954) and Chips Ahoy (1956).

After 20 years with Disney, Holt left to work in TV production and art direction. He spent two years in Chicago, then moved back to Los Angeles. There, he joined Hanna-Barbera Studios to worked on The Flintstones and Tom and Jerry cartoons.

In the 1960s, Holt came back to Disney, such as plans were starting to develop Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. He worked alongside the entertainment giant's founder, Walt Disney, and his "Nine Old Men" of longtime animators.
An unfinished work of art was the creation of Jungle Book sculptures to be set in the background for a promotional documentary narrated by Walt Disney. But Walt died before they were used.

Rising to the rank of chief designer, Holt had the job of interpreting and designing Disney World sculptures for the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. He sculpted "maquettes," the original models, of characters for such well-known rides and other attractions as Pirates of the Caribbean, Country Bear Jamboree, Snow White, Peter Pan and the Haunted Mansion. The sculpture department then used these models as references to make life-size animatronic characters.
Holt's responsibilities as art director and sculptor also led him to develop attractions at Disneyland in California and Japan.

While art director in charge of merchandising at Disney World, Holt was asked in 1979 to design for Goebel, the firm which makes Hummel figurines. He produced "Amerikids," a set of 32 figurines representing American children.

Holt retired in the early 1990s. His last job at Disney was greeting guests at the Disney/MGM Studio Preview Center in Orlando and signing replicas and photocopies of his Disney character sketches.

"Disney was his life. He used to show animators in the art department how to draw characters. It took 12 drawings to have a character raise an arm from his side to an up position," recalled Barbara Holt.

She remembers his talent as being natural: "He always drew. That was part of him."

Harry Holt is also survived by daughter Renee and son Craig, both of California, and by a grandson.

Collison's Howell Branch Funeral Home of Winter Park, Florida is handling the arrangements.

Harry Holt (2 of 2)

When I first started to "blog," I didn't know what to expect.

I've have been very surprised by some of the unexpected results from my postings -- some of the images in the Collection are now part of a Disneyland attraction, featured in several new books, used by other web sites (most provide a credit and several pass the images off as their own), and I've met a number of very interesting people from all corners of the globe.

A number of comments have come back as a result of my Harry Holt posting. It would seem that may folks trace the start of their collecting journey to Harry. And a number have expressed very warm feelings about their encounters with him.

I thought you might be interested in an email I received from Ross Anderson...

I enjoy reading your blog. Thank you for sharing items from your collection, but a special thank you for the research work and putting the items in context for us.

I remember seeing Harry Holt at WDW and thinking he was just another talented local crew member. I had no idea of his pedigree, which is only becoming available now…as a consequence of generous folks such as yourself. I found a photo I took of Harry back in 1991. In case you don't have one, you may want to include it in the file with his drawings.

Regards,

Ross Anderson, Brockville, ON Canada

You might be able to see some of the artwork he produced by enlarging the items on the wall.

I'm pretty sure this was taken at "Tony's" just inside the park -- which is were we picked up 1 of his items. It seems like we picked up the other drawing from another location, but I can't seem to remember which of the 2 or 3 other locations might have been his work area.

Ross, thanks so much for sharing your recollections we me -- and "Thanks" for letting me share your email and photo with those that read this blog....

Bob

Harry Holt [1 of 2] - Harry and the Meaning of Life

After posting the preceding item, I was driving to the drug store and started to think about how much time had passed between Mr. Holt's death, my post and the follow-up comments from many people about the impact he had made on their appreciation of animation.

I thought it was pretty amazing that these thoughts would surface at a later time. Mr. Holt may have had some idea that his interpersonal interactions and art would have some kind of impact, but my guess is that he would be surprised...

So, what kind of impact will we have after it is all said and done?

Will anyone remember us? Will more than a handful care for more than a handful of years?

There was a consultant that I hired to work with me and my company (he later became my COO). I remember having a beer after work and having the typical non-meaningful conversations that take place to fill in the empty sections between sips. I remember nothing about the conversation that took place, but I do remember the topic gradually wandered to headstones and those few words that are carved there. I have no idea what I said, but I was struck by his statement: "He helped others be all they could be." (This was before the commercial for the Marines aired).

It was one of those moments that took only a second, but stuck with me. I remember thinking that it was a pretty damn good "mission statement" (which, in looking back on it, may have been the subject of our discussion). It was short, easy to remember, and pretty clear. Overall, not a bad mission statement for life. Now, I don't know if this was original to Roy and, frankly, I really don't care. What was important was that Roy really lived his "mission statement" and I think that I'm a better person for it... I'll have to give Roy a call, but I'll bet you he won't remember the conversation.

A "thought rock" tossed into the pond sending ripples to all the little inlets and hidden places.

Years later, I was driving my 80 year-old father back to the airport for his flight to Shreveport, Lousiana after a week long stay at our Colorado home. Just the standard idle chat until he started to tell a story. Several months earlier, he started working at a grocery store in Shreveport sacking groceries. He didn't need the money. As he put it, instead of sitting around watching TV or reading a book, he wanted to "be with the living." As Dad unfolded his story, there was another sacker that he worked with and the two of them ate their "brown bag" lunches at the same time. Dad's co-worker was a young black fellow that had recently graduated from high school and started working at the grocery store. Over several weeks, Dad started to tell him about me.

From what I could tell, Dad's story centered around his concern whether I would be able to "make something of myself." My high school career wasn't too bright -- although I graduated in the top 25% of my class. I did work for several "rock" radio stations during my high school years earning minimum wage and a few 45's (when the stations had duplicate copies). He became more concerned when he received my first semester's grades from Colorado State University -- a 0.6 GPA! The only course I passed was Gym and I got a "D" in that course. I worked hard the next semester and my grades improved -- a 1.2 GPA. I should remind you that the 1.2 was just for that semester -- not the moving average... I finally got it together, graduated, picked up a Master's, taught at several universities, worked with NASA on the first two-way TV satellite project, became one of the first to experiment with satellite-based telemedicine, helped a number of healthcare chains start telecommunications programs. And then was laid off...

According to Dad's retelling, when I asked him for a $5,000 loan to start a new business he wrote the check, but didn't have much confidence that he would ever see the money again. Then he started to share with the young man how my company started to grow. How it made the Inc. Magazine "Top 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies" two years in a row. How, after 15 years, I sold the company for $58 million. And how his initial $5,000 (which became a 1% position) had, finally, "amounted to something."

Dad told me that the young man didn't show up for work the next day and he learned that the fellow had quit. The day after, Dad saw him cleaning out his locker and asked what was going on. According to Dad, the young black man told him that he always thought you had to be smart to get into college and to graduate. His teachers had told him that he wasn't smart enough for college so he never applied. But, after listening to Dad's telling of my tale he decided that college was more than just grades -- it had more to do with finding something that was really interesting to focus on. The young man went down to the University of Louisiana, Shreveport campus and found that not only were his grades and test scores more than adequate for admission, he stood a good chance of getting an athletic scholarship. With school starting in a few weeks, he was clearing out his locker and was going to spend the time at the library reading about potential vocations.

I was dumbfounded! Not because of Dad's assessment of my future. But because of two elements. First, it was a "throw away" story. Dad had been in the house for a week and there was never any mention of the story. It seemed like it was only told to fill the silence as we drove down the mountain toward the airport. Second, the story had value to the young man because of my poor grades until I found something I loved. If we didn't have that "down time" while going to the airport I never would have heard to story. At the time, I didn't ask Dad anything about the fellow. When I asked him about it a few years later, he couldn't remember the young man's name. So, it was almost an accident that I learned about this "ripple in the pond." AND it wasn't a ripple created by any direct contact by me -- more like "second-hand smoke."

I'm sure that Mr. Holt impacted many people in his daily interaction with Guests in the park. And the stories about him may also have unexpected impacts.

For me, the bottom line was very Karma-like. Having first-hand experience in how the pond can resonate, I try to create "positive ripples" whenever I can. I'm still not very good at it, but I hope I can create positive ripple more often than not. Any while it's not as elegant as Roy's headstone mission statement, it isn't too bad...

Bob