Arthur Holch

Who was Arthur Holch?

Arthur Everett Holch, Jr. [pronounced Holtsch] was an American television documentary filmmaker whose works in the early days of television covered controversial topics relating to race relations and political issues in the United States. Holch earned an Emmy Award for a 1991 documentary broadcast on HBO documenting the life of a German man who had been a member of the Hitler Youth and then turned against the Nazis.

Holch was born on March 13, 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska. Raised in Denver, he earned his undergraduate degree there from the University of Denver and was awarded a master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. During the Korean War, Holch served in the United States Army, stationed in Tokyo. He started in the news field as a reporter at the Rocky Mountain News before heading east. Moving to New York City, Holch was hired by CBS Radio and then for the NBC television network.

Establishing Round Hill Productions for his own independent work, Holch wrote the script for the hour-long documentary Walk in My Shoes which was produced and directed by Nicholas Webster. The film, nominated for an Emmy Award, was broadcast on ABC television in 1961, though some stations in the South pre-empted the show, with a Chattanooga, Tennessee station choosing to air a Billy Graham program in its place. The documentary featured profiles of African American life across social classes in New York City as seen through the eyes of such individuals as taxi divers, comedian Dick Gregory and lawyer-turned-politician Percy Sutton. The New York Herald Tribune credited "Walk in My Shoes" with providing "an infinitely deeper understanding and sense of concern for an appalling American problem" and said it was "one of the finest documentaries ever offered on television". Television critic Jack Gould of The New York Times called Walk in My Shoes "nothing short of an unforgettable visit to the world of the Negro in the United States" providing "a viewer the sobering experience of living for a moment in the Negro's world and sharing the frustration that is his lot" that was captured "to a degree never before achieved in TV documentary".