H. Alice Howell was the matriarch of the Red Cross canteen in Neufchateau, France. Walt Disney and Howell struck-up an endearing friendship, which lasted until Howell's death in 1944.
H. Alice Howell, seated center, first row, (red underline). This image originally appeared in a 1915 University of Nebraska "Cornhuskers" yearbook.Howell had a deep sense of public duty. The head of the dramatic arts department at the University of Nebraska had tried several times to get to France, offering her assistance to a multitude of service organizations, including the YMCA, before she was finally accepted by the Red Cross. Despite her successful application however, Howell still had to pay her own way to Europe - she sailed to France aboard the transport Niagara, along with a group of Red Cross nurses and several companies of fighting men.
H. Alice Howell. Official portrait. Courtesy The Johnny Carson School of Theater and Film, University of Nebraska, Lincoln.Walt Disney had fond recollections of Howell:
"Mrs. Howell ran this canteen. [She was] a wonderful woman from Omaha, Nebraska. [She was] a very close friend of [General] Pershing. She was respected by everybody and she was decorated. She was given the Croix de Guerre for her work in Nancy during the bombardment. She had a wonderful canteen...when the boys got off the train, they could go in there...and take a bath and throw their old underwear away...she gave them new underwear and things.
A May 13, 1934 newspaper article detailed Howell’s wartime association with Disney. The article read in part:
Even today Mr. Disney still refers to Miss Howell as his ‘boss’ at Neufchateau. Pals on the battlefield – they remain closest of friends here at home, although hundreds of miles separate them. Frequent letters, interspersed with drawings and elaborate Mickey Mouse dolls, serve to keep war experiences alive in the minds of both people.
It was at Neufchateau, France, immediately following the Armistice that Disney was appointed as Miss Howell’s chauffeur. It was his duty to drive her across the battlefields to the hospitals where she, as the head of one of the Red Cross canteens, had charge of delivering doughnuts and other refreshments to the sick and injured.
This cartoon of Howell and Disney appeared in the May 13, 1934 edition of the Lincoln Sunday Journal. The illustration was created by a staff artist at the newspaper.
The university woman laughs now and says that although she never realized then that her chauffeur would become so popular, she realized that he had a talent for drawing even at that early age. His cartoons then were mainly ways of passing spare time and were drawn on his truck and other accommodating places."
In the article Howell mentioned her association with General John “Blackjack” Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force in France. The article indicated Howell “knew General Pershing intimately in Lincoln…the university instructor says she saw him innumerable times in France, sometimes reviewing American troops and again at various public meetings.” Pershing graduated from the University of Nebraska with a law degree in 1893. He also taught courses on military tactics at the university between 1891-1895.
In 1915 Pershing’s wife and three daughters died in a horrible fire, which consumed most of the top floor of their residence, located on the grounds of The Presidio in San Francisco. Warren was pulled from a top floor window with serious injuries, while Pershing himself was away at Fort Bliss, Texas.
The newspaper article recounted Warren Pershing’s visit with Howell at Neufchateau:
"One day, she recalls, the general sent his young son Warren, then a mere youngster, to stay with her all day. Mr. Disney…drove Warren and Miss Howell to a quiet spot for an afternoon’s picnic."
General John "Blackjack" Pershing and his son Warren. Pershing earned his nickname while in charge of a troop of so-called "Buffalo Soldiers" with the 10th Cavalry Regiment. The Regiment was composed of African American soldiers commanded by white officers.
Disney remembered the day Warren Pershing stopped by for a visit:
"One day…a big excitement. General Pershing was sending his son Warren down to visit Mrs. Howell. They cleaned-up the canteen. The whole place was spruced-up.
I had this old canteen car…wide seat for four…a siren…roll-up curtains. It was a junky looking old thing. Up comes this big locomobile with this Sergeant driving and in the back is sitting this little 10-year old boy in uniform…a duplicate of his father’s uniform. [We] were going on a picnic. There was a little town outside of Neufchateau called Domremy, the birthplace of Joan of Arc. They had a shrine…they had picnic places.
A lot of the canteen girls and some of these soldiers that were stationed there…went along. [Warren] wouldn’t ride in anything but that damned canteen car. It ended-up these buck Privates that were going along rode in the locomobile. They all ploughed in with Warren sitting there and I let him drive the car. I had my feet over the pedals, but Warren got to drive this little old Ford as we went on up to Domremy. [We] had this picnic and drove on back. He was 10 years old…it was a big day, you know?"
Two stories, which to my knowledge have never been reproduced elsewhere, also appeared in the May 1934 newspaper article:
"One day while Disney and his University of Nebraska ‘boss’ were driving over the battlefields taking cake and ice cream to the wounded in hospitals, they came upon a French messenger who had been struck by a truck while riding his motorcycle. Severely injured, Disney and Miss Howell jumped from their truck and approached the man. With his last strength, Miss Howell says he pulled the message from his pocket and asked her to deliver it. The man died shortly after."
The second previously undocumented story dealt with a doughnut delivery:
"At another time, one of the few when the cartoonist became furious, Miss Howell and Disney had left their truck to deliver doughnuts at a hospital. When they came back to the automobile they discovered all of the rest of their cookies, about 500 of them, had been taken by American officers. ‘Walt and I were furious,’ she stated, ‘for we wanted them for the other soldiers.' "
Howell spoke fondly of Walt Disney as well and her quote in the article showed her attachment to the fellow mid-westerner:
"[Disney] was so very nice. Everybody liked him because he was always willing to do things. He was lovable and all the girls around him were fond of him.
Miss Howell visited Europe not long ago and stayed for a time with the French family with whom she had roomed part of the time during the war. A small son of one of the daughters began telling her of his Mickey Mouse storybook.
Do you know Mickey Mouse? I asked. Sure, he replied and drew me a picture of Mickey immediately. I sent the picture to Disney when I returned home and at Christmas time, so I learned later by a letter from my French friends, Walt had sent the boy a Mickey Mouse – the twin to the one I have. I think this shows his generous nature.
The cartoonist always writes Miss Howell on Christmas. He sent her a picture of himself in uniform standing by the truck the two used in delivering doughnuts after the war, another recent picture of himself, which he autographed and a large Mickey Mouse doll dressed in the brightest of colors. On the back of one of the pictures is written – ‘To my boss at Neufchateau, from her chauffeur, Walt Disney.’
Miss Howell remained in France until the following August, fifteen months after the signing of the armistice. Then she came back to Lincoln and took up her work at the university. Looking back on her experience she says:
'That was the highest pointing my life. I don’t suppose I can ever hope to attain such heights again. If there ever is another war I certainly will enlist,' but she added quickly – 'I hope there won’t be another.' "
As a testament to their friendship, Disney sent Howell a Christmas gift in 1939. The following story ran in the Sunday Journal and Star:
"Another person interested in the welfare of Lincoln, Neb., is Walt Disney of Hollywood – for Mr. Disney sent two large boxes of toys, gift, books, etc. to Alice Howell, and she in turn gave them to Social Welfare society."
Nine days after the start of the Second World War, Alice Howell traveled to California. The Sunday Star Journal, detailed Howell’s trip to Hollywood, which included time with Walt Disney at both his studio and socially with his wife Lillian and children Diane and Sharon:
The HOLLYWOOD of which Tourists Dream and which
they Seldom See was Opened to LINCOLN VISITOR
Friends, Who Are Also Studio Officials,
Gave Miss Alice Howell Opportunity
To See Stars, Sets and Scenes
"During the month in Hollywood from which she has just returned, Miss Alice Howell was particularly interested in meeting a young man who was only 17 the last time she saw him. In that year, he was passing himself off as a much hoarier age, but back home in Kansas City he was 17 officially.
When Miss Howell knew him first he was camouflaging helmets, driving her little campion with its load of doughnuts here and there along the battle lines of France, cartooning its canvas sides.
He is, and was, Walt Disney.
As he greeted her, Disney cried: 'Where is your long white veil? I can still see it floating behind you.'
After Mr. Disney had learned his former World War laborer-in-the-cause was in Hollywood, he sent his motor of magnificent proportions and his own chauffeur for Miss Howell. She spent that entire day in the studio, guided by the versatile screen creator of those amusing mites, Dopey, Mickey Mouse, and the ever-violent Donald D.
This image appeared in the September 10, 1939 edition of the Sunday Journal and Star. In the photo Disney shows Howell a Model Department maquette of Pinocchio. While at the Studio, Howell was treated to a private screening of Disney's second full-length animated feature.
During that day, Miss Howell had a world premiere in her honor. In the 'sweat box,' the little studio theater for 'rushes,' she viewed 'Pinocchio,' the enchanting tale of the puppet who longed to be a real little boy. She was especially intrigued by Pinocchio’s conscience, 'Jiminy Crickets' [sic] a lively young cricket all dressed up and probably just as troublesome as any conscience. It is done in lovely color, and probably will be released about the first of the year.
Another film Mr. Disney had previewed for her is a light and delicate fantasy, the dances of the flowers through the seasons. It may never lead the box office lists, but Miss Howell finds it a lovely answer to those who deny the screen can be art. For those with an appreciation of natural beauty, the film carries its great appeal.
Fame, adulation, awards, including the French legion of Honor, recognition from foreign governments, degrees from leading universities have come to Mr. Disney since Miss Howell knew him as a boy with a knack at drawing. But essentially he is unchanged, remaining a very modest, rather shy, gently humorous person, with is studio and his home his two major interest.
When Miss Howell was there, all minds were working out a story, which had a tiny baby and a dog for a beginning. Drawings of unrelated scenes line the walls.
Miss Howell was the guest of Mr. And Mrs. Disney several times at their home in the hills overlooking the studio. It’s much like a pleasant home anywhere, friendly, gracious, simple, with two young daughters, Diane Marie and Sharon Mae, a swimming pool and a barbecue.
On one side of the nursery is a long glass case of dolls, locked most of the time. Miss Howell says the influence of the elder Disney show in his daughters. Rather than asking for a doll, they hunt far and wide through the house for a fairy to come with a key to open the cabinet.
Miss Howell attended the 'Merry Wives of Windsor' in the Hollywood Bowl and The Pilgrimage Play, similar to the Passion Play of Oberammergau, with the Disney’s."
In an email, Diane Disney Miller recalled Howell’s visit with her father and mother at their home on Woking Way, in the Los Feliz / Silverlake district of Los Angeles. On this trip Howell brought the American flag that had flown over the Red Cross canteen at Neufchateau:
"She came to our home with the flag…she presented the flag to dad. Dad was very excited about her visit, and I think he came home from the studio early. I was standing by his side when he opened the door. She brought me a little silver cross on a chain, with "Diana" inscribed on the back. Of course it was a treasure. I still have it. In further correspondence he asks her help in getting General Pershing to sign his book that dad has purchased…and she does."
During World War II, H. Alice Howell again answered the call of service when she became the local secretary of The British War Relief, a group of volunteers that gathered donated goods, which were sent to the war weary residents of England.
Howell passed away on July 8, 1944. Her funeral was held in Lincoln, Nebraska, on July 11, 1944. She was buried in Laramie, Wyoming.
There will be one more post on Disney's time in France. The final post will detail his journey home.
1 comments:
Still another great posting about Disney and The Red Cross. Amazing: all the material that you are able to find - and very interesting too !!
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