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Profile in Pizazz - Jerry Harris

February 2009

By Amanda Newton

“He got some of his beer drinking buddies that were supposed to be artists - they did signs for beer - to look at (my work),” Harris recalled. “They said I had talent. It seemed like there would be more profit in doing art work than in upholstering furniture. That’s the way I made the decision.”

After six months of art school, Harris was good enough to start freelancing for the instructor and got practical experience. A year and half short of graduating, a fellow art student said he had worked for Paramount studios in California and he could get Harris a job out there. So, off to California he went.

“Me and another fellow went out there and were supposed to meet him and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of him since school,” Harris said with a laugh. “I don’t know what happened to him. Here I am stuck in California and looking for a job.”

Harris went to an employment agency but wasn’t having a lot of luck. A woman at the agency had a book on her desk, “The Power of Positive Thinking,” by Norman Vincent Peale. She told Harris she was going to send him to another place and she wanted him to go in there like he could do it. No matter what the job, to be positive and act like he could do it.

“She drummed that into my head,” he said.

The job, drawing ads for one of the largest independent furniture stores in the nation, had gone to someone else. However, a few days later the man in charge of hiring contacted Harris and said he wanted him to work for him. After two and a half years of doing furniture ad work, Harris decided to go home to Dallas.

Harris decided to make himself valuable to people by learning all aspects of artwork and production. He took a job for a company that produced ads, but soon saw an ad for a position doing fashion art, something new to Harris.

“I had never done that but it was still in my mind that this lady out in California said I could do anything,” Harris said. He applied and learned the position was for the Shreveport office of Goldring’s, a large regional clothing store. They flew him to Shreveport and offered him the job, but they wanted him to write copy, too. Harris said he didn’t write copy and turned down their offer of $98 a week, even though they were begging him to take it.

He got to thinking that if they had begged him to take the job, then artists must be in short supply in the area. After a local person in the business saw Harris’ portfolio and said he wouldn’t have a problem finding work, Harris moved to Shreveport in the early 1960s.

He worked for a few ad agencies and also did freelance work. For awhile, he was art director for Gym Dandy, a Bossier company that made playground equipment.

“I got to where I could draw these kids on gym sets blindfolded; I did so many of them,” he said.

Before long he started his own agency and it was one of the fastest growing in the area, he said. One year, the company won 23 awards for creativity, and they also won several national awards over the years. The ad business bored Harris after awhile and he diversified and started doing promotional products. He still has two or three ad accounts that have been with him a long time.

Several years ago Harris got involved with the Municipal Auditorium and he has really enjoyed that. Harris, who has been drawing portraits for many years, has drawn over 300 portraits of country music legends.

“You can’t name a legend that I haven’t drawn,” he said. “I have one poster in there that has 175 portraits on it of people that go all the way back to Jimmy Rogers.”

Harris had donated some of his country legend portraits to the auditorium and they wanted to involve him even more in the operations there. He was approached about running the gift shop at the Municipal Auditorium and he decided to buy it and run it.

“I like country music and I like the history of it,” Harris said. “I got involved.”

That might be an understatement. There are currently 103 portraits of country legends in the museum that Harris drew: those that appeared on the Louisiana Hayride and those who were under contract with the Hayride.

Just recently, Harris created 42 portraits of military heroes for a new exhibit at the auditorium, The Hall of Heroes. He researched the history of each subject.

“I developed a real appreciation for those guys and girls that did some very brave acts. I came away with a real appreciation for them.”

Harris plans to continue doing two to three portraits a year to donate to the Municipal Auditorium. Harris is not paid for the portraits, he donates all of them.

He feels like too few people know what a gem the Municipal Auditorium is and works to spread the word about it. In fact, his work with the auditorium is what he is most proud of.

“I love that building and what it stands for. It is sad to me that a lot of people don’t appreciate that building. People from out of town will come in and say it is the highlight of their trip and people who live in Shreveport say it is the best kept secret. I am most proud of (my work there) and, according to what people tell me, it will live on after I pass away. The portraits will live on.”

The framed portrait of Elvis Presley in the photo was drawn by Harris. Copies of the print will be auctioned to raise money for a statue of Hank Williams and to refurbish other statues at Municipal Auditorium.