Gallery Show in Defense of Disney : Art: Howard Lowery hopes his exhibit of sketches will help dispel accusations leveled against the animator in a recent biography.

Ol’ Grumpy would probably change his tune--and his name--if he knew how much a portrait of him and the rest of the Seven Dwarfs is worth these days.

And that evil witch who tried to kill Snow White would have a good cackle at the idea of her picture fetching $100,000.

But of all the pieces at the Howard Lowery Gallery, which specializes in animation art, the hand-sketched drawing of Mickey Mouse has perhaps the greatest value to people like Howard Lowery and Chris Harris.

Drawn by Walt Disney for a young boy he met in 1941, the sketch is proof-positive, say Lowery and his publicist, that Disney really was the man they remembered from their youth: Uncle Walt, lover of children, bringer of happiness, not the “dark prince” depicted in a recent book.

“He was a caring individual” who was concerned not only about his studio, “but his employees and people he met along the way,” Lowery said.

“This attempt to paint him in these dark and morbid tones is just sensationalism. . . . It’s a way to gain publicity and sell books.”

Earlier this year, author Marc Eliot released an unauthorized biography of Disney that depicted the legendary animator and studio mogul as a bigot who was uncaring and detached from his family and employees and who was an informant for the FBI. The book unleashed a war of words between Eliot and Disney family members. Disney’s daughter, Diane Disney Miller, described the book as a “character assassination” that “veers more into fantasy than my father’s work ever did.”

Although the family has publicly spoken out against such a characterization of Disney, Lowery and Harris see the art as a way to further contradict what they say is sensationalism.

“It’s time for people to come out and let the family know how much they appreciate this man,” said Harris, who described himself as a longtime friend of the family. “There are positive stories about him from people around the world.”

Eliot and his publisher were unavailable for comment.

At the art gallery in Burbank on Friday, Lowery unveiled the sketch “Mickey and Friends” and other Walt Disney memorabilia that offer a “a very personal look” at Disney.

One is a note that Disney wrote to an animator complimenting him on his drawing for the film, “The Practical Pig,” a follow-up to Disney’s “The Three Little Pigs,” Lowery said.

The note reads: “Harry--This Looks Good--Walt.”

“The book described Walt as being detached from those people,” Harris said. “There are notes that compliment them on their work. Those are things you don’t have to do, but he did.”

The exhibit also includes the hat of a soldier that was signed by Disney and other studio workers just before the former employee went off to war and a personal autograph book that includes Disney’s signature beneath a sketch of Mickey Mouse. The sketch of Mickey was done by Disney and other animators in 1941 while the group was on a ship returning from a visit to South America, Lowery said.

Drawn on the back of ship stationery, the picture is a simple depiction of Mickey Mouse’s head with the inscription: “To John Adrian: Hoping that he will be able to draw better than this--Walt Disney.”

Another page includes sketches of Donald Duck, Pluto and other characters drawn by other animators.

“He probably was as happy as any boy could be,” Lowery said of Adrian.

The drawings “indicate that Walt Disney did in fact draw Mickey Mouse,” Harris said. In “Dark Prince,” he said, Eliot charged that Disney did not and could not draw Mickey Mouse, but delegated the work to other animators.

Lowery, who has specialized in Disney cels and animated art for 20 years, will hold an auction that will include the Mickey sketch at the end of the month. It is expected to bring $8,000 to $12,000, Lowery said.

The exhibits are even more important “given all the adverse publicity that’s been bandied about,” he said.