International Autograph Auctions Ltd.
Lot 78
DISNEY WALT: (1901-1966) American Animator, Academy Award winner. A wonderful original bold pencil drawing signed by Walt Disney, to a feint ruled page contained in an 8vo notebook with plain green paper covers, the image depicting the head of Mickey Mouse, signed by Disney immediately below the drawing with his name alone. The notebook dates from November 1946 and contains several pages bearing pencil and ink notes in shorthand, compiled by the previous owner, journalist Sally Holloway, during various interviews etc., which she undertook, including one with Walt Disney at the Savoy Hotel in London on 19th November 1946. Holloway’s notes made at the interview, which she has also transcribed in longhand over four pages within the notebook, record that Disney arrived ‘grinning like a small, rather embarrassed boy’ as he was met by one of ‘the largest gatherings of pressmen ever to meet a Hollywood personality’. She also details the announcement that Disney was hoping to begin a production of Peter Pan early next year, the animator joking that ‘Peter is a very difficult person to get hold of you know’, Holloway further observing that ‘Critics howled when he s[ai]d t[ha]t Alice in Wonderland, wh is also on his list, wd probably have an Alice speaking American English’ and that Disney quipped ‘Well – can anyone tell me how to speak real English?....Everyone speaks a diff[erent] way’, also explaining that his staff of 900 would try to retain John Tenniel’s style as far as possible and further denying that he was not going to produce any more cartoons featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse (otherwise they would be divorced). Holloway also notes that Disney concluded his interview by stating that his trip to Ireland would start the following Friday and last two weeks during which time he hoped to get a sense of the atmosphere for a new leprechaun film but declined to provide any further details. Disney’s drawing appears to the right side of the centre pages of the notebook and is superbly executed and signed. There is some extremely minor, light show through from a blue crayon drawing to the verso in an unidentified hand, although clearly that of a juvenile – perhaps belonging to one of Holloway’s young children in an attempt to copy Disney’s own drawing. Authentic original drawings of Mickey Mouse signed by Disney are extremely rare and highly desirable and the present example is accompanied by exceptional provenance. Some light age wear to the notebook and a few creases to the paper covers, otherwise VG Sally Holloway (1926-2010) English Journalist, one of the first female news reporters to be employed by the BBC. Born Sylvia Gray (the name she also used during the earlier part of her career), the journalist reported on the V-E Day celebrations in London and was also one of a team of four who covered the 1948 London Olympics for the Press Association. In the early 1950s she married fellow reporter David Holloway and around the same time was recruited by the BBC’s news division to replace Audrey Russell, the only woman previously to hold a reporter’s job. She left the BBC in 1954, although maintained an interest and career in journalism for the rest of her life, writing a column for the News Chronicle and freelancing for The Observer and the BBC’s Woman’s Hour. Holloway’s obituary in The Daily Telegraph refers to her meeting and interviewing various personalities including Winston Churchill and Walt Disney. Whilst we have unfortunately been unable to locate a published copy of the interview Sally Holloway (or Sylvia Gray, as she would have been at the time) conducted with Walt Disney at the Savoy Hotel on 19th November 1946 there is an image of Disney accessible on the internet taken by photographer Bill Jones at the same event. Remarkably, Disney is almost certainly seen holding the present notebook and, seated at a circular table, the animator holds a pencil as he prepares to make a drawing in the notebook – almost without doubt the drawing of Mickey Mouse which he made for Sally Holloway and which is offered here at auction for the first time.
