Harry Oliver (April 4, 1888 – July 4, 1973) was an American humorist, artist, and Academy Award nominated art director of films from the 1920s and 1930s. Besides his outstanding work in Hollywood, he is now best remembered for his humorous writings about the American Southwest, and his publication (1946–1964) of the Desert Rat Scrap Book, an irregular broadsheet devoted to the Southwest. He was born in Hastings, Minnesota and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California.
He is known for his Hollywood work as art director on the films 7th Heaven (1927) and Street Angel (1928), for which he was nominated for the very first Academy Awards, as well as set design or art direction on the films Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), Sparrows (1926), Scarface (1932), Viva Villa! (1934), Mark of the Vampire (1935), and The Good Earth (1937).
His life and works
Early years
Harold Griffith Oliver was born in Hastings, Minnesota, April 4, 1888, to Mary Simmons (born in Minnesota) and Frederick William Oliver (born in England). Raised in a Tom Sawyer environment, he associated with trappers, timbermen and steamboat men, and became an expert canoesman, guide, and muskrat hunter while a very young man. His father, Frederick Oliver, ran a general store in pioneer conditions.
Oliver's formal education was scanty. He said, "I attended public school in Eau Claire, Wisconsin until the fourth grade, that's when dad put me to work in a small town print shop in hopes that I would learn to spell."
After working as a bill-poster for the Ringling Brothers circus, Oliver moved with his family to Puget Sound, Washington in 1909. He worked as a scenic painter for the first Seattle World's Fair where he met famous hat-maker John B. Stetson, who gave Oliver his trademark black Stetson hat.
Harry's parents soon settled down on a chicken ranch in Santa Cruz, California where Oliver worked as a burro-driver for the U.S. Forest Service. In 1910 Oliver returned to Minnesota to wed Alice Elizabeth Fernlund, "a pretty little Minnesota bear trapper" who later bore him two daughters, Amy Fern and Mary Alice. Oliver and Alice returned to the chicken ranch in Santa Cruz. Oliver worked odd jobs, including scenic artist with small theaters. "One day a movie company came to town with an opening, and I got the job."
Hollywood years
Oliver worked on various Hollywood productions from around 1911 to 1941, rising from set painter to set dresser to art director. A complete record of all his films is probably not available, but here is a partial list: 1914: The Sparrow 1919: Behind the Door; The Grim Game 1920: Down Home; Below the Surface 1921: The Face of the World 1924: The Hill Billy aka The Hillbilly 1925: Little Annie Rooney; Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ 1926: The Black Pirate; Sparrows 1927: The Gaucho; 7th Heaven 1928: Street Angel 1929: Sunny Side Up; The River; Lucky Star; They Had to See Paris 1930: Liliom; Lightnin'; Song o' My Heart; City Girl 1932: Movie Crazy; Scarface 1933: White Woman; Tillie and Gus; Dancing Lady 1934: The Band Plays On; Peck's Bad Boy; The Cat's-Paw; David Harum; Viva Villa! 1935: Vanessa: Her Love Story; Mark of the Vampire 1937: Make a Wish; The Good Earth; The Californian 1938: Of Human Hearts; Little Orphan Annie 1941: The Outlaw
His architecture
Designing and building structures occupied portions of both the professional and personal life of Oliver. For illustrations of some of these, see the Harry Oliver architecture page.
Oliver built a number of adobe houses for himself and his family, both because he liked the esthetic effect, and because the building materials were extremely inexpensive. The first of these was La Ballona Rancho (named after nearby Ballona Creek), built beginning in 1917 near the old Palms film studios. In 1980 it was still standing at the corner of National and Exposition Blvd. in Los Angeles.
Homesteading at Borrego Springs (see below), Oliver built his Rancho Borego house from 1930 – "a real first class, old time Spanish residence" and "surely a credit to the valley" according to the local newspaper. It was still standing in 2002, "not far from the Pegleg Monument. But I will warn you right now, the current owner does not take to trespassers, and does not want anybody poking around the old place. Seriously."
Moving to San Juan Capistrano in the late 1930s, where he managed a general store–trading post after retiring from Hollywood, he may have built another adobe house for himself, but documentation on this is sparse. And when he finally moved to Thousand Palms, California he built his famous Old Fort Oliver, "as old as the hills, 'cause that's where I got the adobe."