WALT HOWARTH

By Derek Wilson

Walt Howarth was born on 1^st January 1928 in Bolton, Lancashire, and in his own words "he is older than Micky Mouse". His talent for drawing faces was noticed as early as 4 years of age, and at 13 he was offered a scholarship at Bolton Art School. This was when children left school at 14 to go to work and Britain was in the turmoils of a World War.

His first piece of professional artwork was for the cover of "Bolton's Salute to the Soldier Week" programme in 1946. An avid fan of Bolton Wanderers FC, he realised his work could improve their programme covers too. He sent in a drawing of a programme cover and Walter Rowley, the manager, sent for him and he met all the players. Soon Walt was drawing all the programme covers and also getting five bob (25p) a time for caricatures of the players.

Later, in 1953, he did a cartoon of the whole team which earned him tickets for the Wembley Cup Final, between Bolton Wanderers and Blackpool, known as the Stanley Matthews Final.

For those who are interested, Bolton Wanderers were 3-1 up with 22 minutes to go, but with the genius of Matthews, who was 38 at the time, the final score was 4-3 to Blackpool!

Walt studied at Bolton Art School for 3 years before getting a job at Industrial Art Services Ltd., in Manchester, and it was here that his true talent for recreating famous faces was spotted.

John Pemberton, who owned World Distributors Ltd wanted a good likeness of John Wayne for an Annual cover. Walt states modestly: "I just drew him, it wasn't difficult."

He continued to be employed by Industrial Art Services, but all his work was being sold to WDL.

From 1950-1959 he painted six of the John Wayne Annuals and seventy-seven of theeighty-three John Wayne Comic covers. He even produced small illustrations to accompany text stories inside the annuals, as well as peripheral artwork such as endpapers, title/contents pages, and the odd feature or game/quiz page.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, WDL published Annuals with the distinctive yellow spines and Walt painted most of them, including:

Lone Ranger (1959-66)

Bronco Lane (1959-64)

Bonanza (1963-69)

Cheyenne (1960-64)

Tenderfoot 1-2

Billy the Kid (1953-61)

Rawhide, Maverick (1961-62)

Western Roundup, Cisco Kid, Gene Autry 1958

Gunsmoke 1958

Rawhide 1963-67

Wells Fargo, Range Rider, Roy Rogers 1952-56

Wagon Train 1960-67

TV Favourites 1-4

As well as the John Wayne covers

During the late 1960s this expanded to include:

Superman (1966-69)

Batman (1966-69)

Tarzan (1963-69)

Green Hornet, Bewitched and High Chaparral 1969

Other comic covers he produced as well as these were:

Billy the Kid Adventure Magazine 1953-59

Cisco Kid Comic Book Nos. 1-51

Cisco Kid Comic Albums Nos. 1-3

Lone Ranger Comic Nos. 1-66

Lone Ranger Comic Albums 1953-56

Roy Rogers Comic Nos. 1-100

Phantom Ranger Comic 1953-55

Western Tales 1955

Western Roundup Comics Nos. 1-40

Cheyenne TV Story Book 1962

Maverick TV Story Book

Rawhide TV Story Book

Television Favourites Comics Nos. 1-18

Wagon Train Comic Album 1-4

Wells Fargo Comic Album 1-2

Mainly he worked from photographs as it was essential to have an accurate likeness, but Walt states that he wished that video recorders had been available in earlier years, so that he could have just "freeze framed" and drawn from the TV screen.

Walt could name at least 80 Indian tribes, studying their costumes and weapons. His knowledge on the subject of Westerns ensured that his paintings were totally authentic.

Regrettably, most of his original art was destroyed when WDL ceased trading in the 1970s. All art pages were placed in a skip and disposed of. As a consequence only a small portion of his considerable output still exists today.

One of the few pieces of art he has managed to save is an unused Wagon Train Annual cover. Walt explained why this was never printed. "I used to do these covers in September and they were printed in January. Ward Bond (the lead actor in Wagon Train) died in November, so I had to do a fresh cover with just Robert Horton on it."

The large cast shows like Bonanza did not appeal to Walt, because he was paid the same fee for a cover with five portraits as he was for one. His favourite was the Lone Ranger, and in 1958 Clayton Moore, the actor who played the character, visited Manchester to promote the Annuals and the TV series.

He was staying at the Midland Hotel and Walt took his son Gary along to see him. Walt knocked on the hotel room door and a voice shouted "Just a minute!" The door opened shortly after, and the Lone Ranger himself was stood there. Nobody was ever allowed to see him without his mask on. Walt still has the photograph to commemorate this meeting.

Over the years, Walt has painted all of the TV and Movie Annuals and Jigsaw puzzles, including:

The Saint 1968

The Avengers

Coronation Street

Dan Dare

The Beverly Hillbillies

The Addams Family

The Munsters

Dangerman 1965

Steptoe and Son

Dr Kildare

James Bond 1965-66

Space Family Robinson

Tarzan

The Beatles

He also did a Beatles Scrapbook for Woolworths

Industrial Art Services Ltd closed down, and rather than accept the offer to move to WDL full time, Walt decided to go freelance, going on to do paintings for the Hope Jigsaw Company, with such covers as:

Space 1999

Rupert The Bear

Noddy

Wacky Races

Barney Bear

Scooby Doo

And Yogi Bear

He also painted several Walt Disney characters including Mickey Mouse, and became one of Disney's accredited artists.

For Purnell he painted the Terrahawks 1983, for which he received a letter from Gerry Anderson saying that they were the best illustrations he had ever seen. The BBC commissioned him for jigsaws of: The A-Team 1988, Neighbours and Dempsey & Makepeace 1987, but prior to this the BBC had been so taken by his work that he became the sole artist for Dr Who, and he went on to paint all the Dr Who and Dalek annuals from 1965-1970.

He did cameos in some of his work, and in the jigsaw “Daleks in Westminster”, the man in the car is Walt and his son is on the back seat. Also, on the cover of “Our Own Schoolgirl” annual, one of the girls is Walt’s daughter There may be more!

Just before he retired, he was commissioned by Ladybird Books to paint a series of four Batman books. He did all the art and the quality of his work is as fresh and inspired as in his earlier days.

Heart problems forced Walt to retire in 1993 but in 2000 he rekindled his love affair with art. He worked from home even while he was landlord of a pub called “The House with No Name” in Harwood, Lancashire, where his paintings adorned the walls. His work is still highly regarded by collectors throughout the UK and overseas. In the USA one of his original paintings sold for over $2,000.

Today he lives in Halliwell, Lancashire, with his wife of 55 years, and he has two sons and one daughter. He is still recreating scenes for individual commissions and producing sketches to raise funds for the Bolton Hospice. Demand for his work is such that small runs of limited edition signed prints are available. They are of exceptional quality and in great demand. All print runs are restricted in numbers, making them great additions to collections as well as a good investment.

There are only two dealers in the UK who stock these prints, and they can be viewed and purchased via the website at www.purenostalgia.co.uk which is operated by Steve Penny. Individual commissions can be arranged by contacting Gary Watton at garywatton@garywatton.fsnet.co.uk.

Acknowledgments: Thanks to Gary Watton and Steve Penny