Los
Angeles County
Biographies
WALTER CURTIS HOLT
A
delightfully determined young man with dancing feet and a ready wit, Curtis
Holt came West alone at the age of twenty-one.
Now at thirty, with a varied theatrical background behind him, and with
surely notable experience to come, he has opened the Curtis Holt Dance Studio
at 127 South Garfield Avenue in Monterey Park.
One of the most remarkable characteristics of Curtis Holt is that he is
literally not standing still, but is constantly seeking more education, more
experience, to round out and make the most of his natural talents.
Every
step of Mr. Holt’s background seems to have been calculated to lead to his
success in the field of dance and drama, even to being born into the right kind
of family. The seventh child in a
musical family of eight children, Curtis Holt was born on February 5, 1931, in
Mayodan, North Carolina, the son of Walter B. and Eliza L. Holt. All the members of the family played some
instrument and loved singing, but with all his piano lessons and dance
training, Mr. Holt admits that most of his rhythm went to his feet. The second well-calculated step was Mr.
Holt’s education; this has not come all in one piece, but is being acquired
gradually, as necessary, even to this present year. Mr. Holt attended grade school in Mayodan and
Madison, North Carolina, and graduated from Madison High School with honors in
June, 1949, as Salutatorian of the Senior Class. After a two-year interruption in his
education, which proved to be significant in his choice of career, Mr. Holt
studied drama for a year, 1951-1952, at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, of which Thomas Wolfe once wrote, “it beats all other places all
hollow”. While at the University of
North Carolina Mr. Holt was a member of the Men’s University Glee Club. After another interruption, which involved
Mr. Holt’s decision to come to California, he resumed his education at Los
Angeles City College in 1953, and from 1956 to 1959 attended the Los Angeles
Institute of Traffic, studying rates and traffic management. In 1960 – 1961 Mr. Holt attended East Los
Angeles College and acquired more acting experience.
Simultaneous
with his education Mr. Holt managed to amass quite a wealth of experience. After completing high school he took his
first job in the Washington Mills Company located in his home town; he then
went to work for Roadway-Express, Incorporated, in Winston-Salem. Even when he was too young to drive it was
not unusual to find Curtis Holt aboard a bus headed for some place where a
favorite theatrical production was in session, “The Lost Colony” at Manteo,
North Carolina, held annually, “Unto These Hills” at Cherokee, North Carolina, or
any place that he could travel to on a weekend.
With friends in the casts he soon was seen frequently on sets, at
rehearsals, and at cast parties. This
was what encouraged him to enroll at the University of North Carolina in
September, 1951, to major in drama.
However, it was while he was still employed at Roadway that plans began
to form about going West; a very persuasive friend finally succeeded, while Mr.
Holt was at North Carolina University, in convincing him to come to California
to live, and after several delays the friend found that he would be unable to
go, but Curtis Holt, having made his decision, came West alone.
Arriving
in California in 1952 Mr. Holt’s first job was with Edith Small Originals, one
of the state’s leading wholesale dress manufacturers. After four years with that company he became
an instructor at the Veloz and Yolanda Dance Studios
of Hollywood. In July, 1956, he became
employed in the traffic department of the Western Transportation Company in Los
Angeles where he is presently employed during the daytime, teaching dancing at
his studio in the evenings and on weekends.
July
3, 1961, marked two celebrations for the Holt’s. This date was Mr. Holt’s parents’ golden
wedding anniversary, and also the day he opened the Curtis Holt Dance
Studio. Classes as well as private
lessons are offered in ballroom, tap, ballet, ballet and tap combined, modern
jazz, Hawaiian, baton, acrobatics, pre-school combinations, plus a chorus line
– precision and choreography – for high school girls. Capably assisted at the dance studio by Miss
Leona Hurley, it is Mr. Holt’s sincere wish that the Curtis Holt Dance Studio
will add greatly to the community of Monterey Park in training youth and adults
in dance education.
Other
than in the field of dance, Mr. Holt has studied music, drama, speech and play
directing; he has had experience in little theater workshops, light opera,
musical comedy, radio, and summer stock.
He has appeared in such productions as “It’s a Date”, “Of Thee I Sing”,
“A Ready Made Family”, “Plain and Fancy”, “Separate Tables”, and “Aunt Minnie
from Minnesota”; he has also played the lead in “Bashful Bertie”. He appeared with the East Los Angeles College
theater arts production of “Look Homeward, Angel” in January, 1961. Mr. Holt has appeared locally in night clubs,
the Capri in Los Angeles and the Palm Room of the Miramar Hotel in Santa
Monica, as well as dancing in many charity revues, notably the Christmas
Benefit Show at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, held annually. In July of this year he performed at the
Second Annual Aquacade in Monterey Park.
Since
taking up residence in Monterey Park in 1958 Mr. Holt has become very
definitely identified with the community.
He is a member of the Community Methodist Church of Monterey Park,
serving on the commission of missions; he is a member of the Monterey Park
Chamber of Commerce and a member of its committee for the Rose Parade float as
well as being assistant to Mrs. Marguerite Alstrom
for the Monterey Park Rose Parade Queen candidates. Dance director at the Monterey Park Community
Center, Mr. Holt is also a member of the National Association of Dance and
Affiliated Artists and is a past president of “The Merrymakers” a
co-educational club of the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Christian Associations
in Los Angeles. He is also affiliated
with Ramona Masonic Lodge Number 457 in Monterey Park.
The
former Miss Joan Doris Hecker of Amboy, Illinois,
became Mrs. Holt on May 26, 1956, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Santa
Monica. They were married a year after
their first meeting at Catalina Island on July 16, Mrs. Holt’s birthday. Their daughter, Laurie Ann, was born on May
3, 1960. Acting, travel, and photography
fill whatever spare time is left from Mr. Holt’s many activities; he derives
real pleasure from home movies.
Mr.
Holt remembers his first impression of the Golden State in 1952. He became a bit frightened while passing
through Tehachapi the day after the severe earthquake; on his arrival that
night in downtown Los Angeles in a downpour of rain, with streets flooded and
sand bags all along the sidewalks, “I thought I was in a flood . . . But when
the sun shines I wouldn’t trade it for anything. To me, California ‘beats all other places all
hollow’.”
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 729-732, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN
NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES