\u201cMerry and Bright: Christmas Card Designs by Ralph Hulett.\u201d <\/a> <\/p>\nHulett worked on Disney\u2019s very first full-length animated feature \u201cSnow White\u201d in 1937, but not as an animator. He specialized in scenery and backgrounds, and the show includes one of his illustrations of a moonlit winter forest with the silhouette of two dainty deer visible among the tree trunks.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of the artists working at Disney, they did Christmas cards as a side gig,\u201d Mark Hilbert said.<\/p>\n
![\"Christmas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763753890_140_\")
<\/p>\n
Christmas art work from the likes of Norman Rockwell, Ralph Hulett, Gladys, Chuck Jones and various Disney artists on display in Orange.<\/p>\n
(Sarah Mosqueda)<\/p>\n
The show also features a hyperrealistic Santa Clause from Greg Hildebrandt who, along with his brother Tim Hildebrandt, received recognition in the fantasy and science fiction world for epic illustrations.<\/p>\n
\u201cHildebrandt was affiliated with \u2018Lord of the Rings,\u2019 because for years he and his brother did the annual official J.R.R. Tolkien calendar,\u201d said Platt. \u201cHe paints in this very clear, very realistic style, even with fantasy figures, which is why the fantasy fans all love the Hildebrandt look.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHappy Holidays\u201d also contains original art from Disney\u2019s \u201cMickey\u2019s Christmas Carol\u201d and Chuck Jones\u2019s \u201cHow the Grinch Stole Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe original Grinch film is a master work, and it was a combination of Chuck Jones and Dr. Seuss,\u201d Hilbert said. \u201cYou have two geniuses working on the production, and the level of creativity in this picture is just off the charts.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pencil sketch of the Grinch from 1966 is displayed alongside its full-color celluloid counterpart. There is also a Christmas illustration from Dr. Seuss\u2019 children\u2019s book, \u201cHow the Grinch Stole Christmas,\u201d the original source material for the animated film. The book\u2019s 1957 ink work depicts a sleigh stuffed with fully decorated Christmas trees, gifts and wreaths careening down a hill with Max the dog bringing up the rear.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763753891_924_\")
<\/p>\n
A Grinch animation celluloid on view at the Hilbert Musuem in Orange. <\/p>\n
(Courtesy of the Hilbert Museum of California Art)<\/p>\n
\u201cHappy Holidays\u201d is just one of several new exhibitions on view at the Hilbert Museum.<\/p>\n
\u201cBanking on a Dream: Bank of America, the Disney Movies and the Birth of Disneyland\u201d showcases Bank of America\u2019s Centennial in Orange County and its historical support for Walt Disney\u2019s films. Hilbert noted the bank was an original corporate sponsor of Disneyland and had a branch on Main Street U.S.A. at the 1955 opening of the theme park. There are illustrated Bank of America advertisements featuring Disneyland and old deposit slips from the park\u2019s branch.<\/p>\n
Another exhibit, \u201cThe Magic of Sesame Street,\u201d celebrates original paintings and drawings from Sesame Street Magazine, while \u201cSpirits of Earth and Fire: Pueblo Pottery from the Hilbert Collection\u201d focuses on Indigenous potters from the pueblos of the Southwest.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763753892_863_\")
<\/p>\n
A painting of C-3PO from the \u201cStar Wars\u201d franchise by Bradford Salamon greets visitors at the entrance.<\/p>\n
(Sarah Mosqueda)<\/p>\n
Eight galleries in the North Building are dedicated to showcasing a rotating selection of oil and watercolor paintings, prints and drawings of California art from the permanent collection. A life-sized oil on canvas of C-3PO from the \u201cStar Wars\u201d franchise by local artist Bradford Salamon greets museum visitors at the entrance. <\/p>\n
The painting is a nod to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson and scheduled to open on Sept. 22, 2026 in Los Angeles. The Hilbert Museum looks forward to collaborating with the new museum in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen that\u2019s open, we hope to partner with them. Even with that huge museum, [Lucas] can\u2019t show everything he has, just as we can\u2019t show everything we have, \u201d Platt said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHappy Holidays: Selections from the Hilbert Christmas Collection\u201d is on view at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at 167 N. Atchison St. in Orange through Jan. 11. For details about all current exhibitions, visit hilbertmuseum.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A ruddy-faced Santa riding in a sleigh. Snowfall over a quiet town with a frozen lake, prime for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[7625,163,165,164,9261,38572,38573,3588,1341,24294,38571,38566,38565,38570,38568,171,38569,38567],"class_list":["post-64120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-america","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-bank","tag-california-art","tag-chuck-jones","tag-disney","tag-disneyland","tag-drawing","tag-greg-hildebrandt","tag-hilbert-christmas-collection","tag-hilbert-museum","tag-illustration","tag-mary-platt","tag-orange","tag-ralph-hulett","tag-vintage-christmas-card-design"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}