April 14 - Harry Holt

Image courtesy allears.net

On this day, in 2004, Harry Holt passed away in Casselberry, Florida. Born on April 11, 1911, Harry never had any formal art training, he was just a kid who loved to draw and did it constantly. In 1936, he was visiting his mother in Southern California when a friend showed him a newspaper advertisement for artists needed at the Walt Disney Studio. It was the height of the Great Depression, Harry was unemployed and he figured he had nothing to lose by applying. His talent was enough (or as he might put it, the studio’s need was enough) to secure him a job as an apprentice in the animation department.

Image copyright Disney

Harry’s first assignment was as an inbetweener on the Silly Symphony Woodland Café. Once he’d satisfactorily cut his teeth, he was quickly moved onto the studio’s main project at the time, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, again as an inbetweener. One specific scene that Harry worked on is of the Evil Queen in her old hag disguise rowing down the river. By the studio’s next feature, Pinocchio, he’d become an assistant animator working directly under Eric Larson, one of Walt’s Nine Old Men.

As World War II ramped up, Harry was kept busy at the studio working on training films for the Navy. Not only did the work provide his living, it also granted him deferments from being sent to the battlefront. By the time all his deferments ran out, his 31^st birthday had passed and he could no longer be drafted under rules Congress had also just enacted. Content to remain in Southern California, safely churning out films for the military, Harry became a full-fledged animator in 1943. Over the next thirteen years, he worked mainly in the shorts department creating memorable moments for both Pluto and Donald Duck.

Image courtesy lambiek.net

During the latter half of the Forties, Harry brought in extra cash by moonlighting as a comic book artist. Working under Benjamin Sangor at the American Comics Group, he drew comedic animals for the Merry Go-Round Comics label and had his own feature under the Barnyard Comics brand, Blackeye and Blubber.

By 1956, Harry could see the writing on the wall for the Shorts Department and he decided to leave Disney under his own power. He took a job offer with Fred Niles Communication Center in Chicago, Illinois. Now working for the largest producer of television commercials in the eastern half of the United States, Harry was made art director of both the company’s live action and animated efforts. He enjoyed his work for four years, but couldn’t stand the icy winters and moved back to Southern California in 1960.

Image copyright Hanna-Barbera

Disney had just released Sleeping Beauty, but had also laid off three fourths of its animation staff and was seriously considering not making anything other than live action films. With no chance of returning to his old job, Harry took a position with Hanna-Barbera. For the next few years he lent his talents to such classic cartoons as The Flintstones, The Jetsons and Top Cat. During this time he also worked over at MGM on the Tom and Jerry series.

In 1966, Harry returned to Disney to start the second phase of his career with the Mouse. This time he was hired over at WED Enterprises (the department that eventually became Imagineering) and he spent his time turning artist’s sketches into three dimensional models, known as maquettes, which would in turn be developed into full sized Audio-Animatronic figures. Harry helped develop the look of characters in the Country Bear Jamboree, the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan’s Flight, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, and the Mickey Mouse Revue.

By 1976, Harry was made Art Director in charge of Quality Control and Product Design, which basically meant he was in charge of the look of the merchandise sold at Walt Disney World. One of the highlights of this phase of his career was the creation of the Amerikids figurines in 1979, his American answer to the European styled Hummel figures.

Image copyright Disney

In 1980, Harry was assigned to the team working on all the plans for Epcot Center. Again he spent most of his time creating maquettes for the attractions, although some of the Aztec style art that made it onto the front of the pyramid in the Mexico pavilion of World Showcase was done by his hand. The following year, Harry moved to Japan for several months, working his usual magic for the installation of several attractions and shows for the company’s first international theme park, Tokyo Disneyland. Many of the molds that had been used for figures and props in Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom had fallen into disrepair and needed Harry’s expertise in making them functional again.
Then in 1982, shortly after his return from Japan, Harry officially retired from the Walt Disney Company. Spoiler alert: like so many of the guys who’d been around since the Thirties, his retirement didn’t stick. In 1987, Harry was asked to take up residence in a little nook of the Disneyana Collectibles Store on Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom. His job was to sit at an animator’s desk, interact with guests and complete sketches of some of his most famous characters to give away. It started out as a promotional stunt for the upcoming Disney-MGM Studios, which was going to feature its own animation department. Harry proved so popular with guests (most of whom had no idea who he actually was) that he enjoyed his part time gig for seven years, only stopping when the work became too much for his then 83 year old body. For the next decade, he lived quietly at home in Central Florida with his wife of 27 years, still drawing nearly every day, until passing away a few days after turning 93.