Bob Walbaum: This One is About Me (Part 2)
Page 1 of 1
Bill Justice was the guest of honor at a NFFC
Mid-West Chapter meeting hosted by Greg Shelton in Indianapolis, Indiana on
October 6, 1990. Note the character-decorated paper plate in the front row, one
of Bill's artistic specialities.
This One is About Me
Part II – A Tale of Three Men
If you missed it, Part One is still available
Many talented people have worked for Walt Disney. One of those most talented was Bill Justice, who had the most remarkable career of anyone I’ve ever met.
Like many artists, Bill started as an inbetweener, working on the first animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He was quickly promoted to animator, contributing to such classics as Pinocchio, Bambi, Fanatsia, Dumbo, and Cinderella. One of his most beloved scenes was Bambi’s “Bambi and Thumper on ice�? sequence.
Bill is probably best known as the “father�? of Chip ‘n Dale; he animated virtually all their scenes after they became established characters. In all, he received a credit on 80 shorts.
Bill then became a cartoon director, ably assisted by Xavier “X�? Atencio. The result was Academy Award nominations for Best Short for A Cowboy Needs a Horse (1956), The Truth About Mother Goose (co-director, 1957), Noah’s Ark (1959), and A Symposium on Popular Songs (1962). Bill also directed the animated opening sequence of “The Mickey Mouse Club�? TV show.
Bill was also an expert in stop-motion animation, contributing to Mary Poppins (note the “Tidying up the Nursery�? scene) and Babes in Toyland.
When Walt decided someone with animation experience should program theme park audio-animatronic figures, Bill received the call, programming most of the major shows at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. These included “Pirates of the Caribbean,�? “The Haunted Mansion,�? “Country Bear Jamboree,�? and “Hall of Presidents.�? Bill not only programmed the original Walt Disney World attraction “The Mickey Mouse Revue,�? he also designed it! I could go on and on…
If you think Bill’s life would make an interesting book, you’re way ahead of me. Bill’s autobiography Justice for Disney was published by Tomart in 1992 in a signed limited edition of 1000. How this book came to be is the real story of this series of columns.
Since two people were involved – Bill and publisher/Disneyana expert Tom Tumbusch (you may have heard of Tomart Publications) – there are at least two versions of the story. Tom told his side in a “Collecting Disneyana�? column he wrote for the June-July 1992 issue of StoryboarD/The Art of Laughter magazine:
… The project developed at a NFFC World Chapter convention at Walt Disney World in 1989. Bill and I were both on the program, me as the warm-up act and Bill as the star. I never miss a chance to watch one of the classic Disney animators in action. So I joined the audience. During his presentation, Bill joked that I might want to publish a book on his career. Afterwards I approached him to seriously consider the project because he was the only animator I knew of who did film animation, stop motion animation and audio-animatronics programming for theme park attractions.
Then the fun began.
Bill called me about a week after he returned home with his thoughts. He wanted to try it, but, he had never written anything like a book. We talked about how he might approach the project and some basics from Creative Writing 101. I thought I might have made it sound too much like work, but he said he’d think about it.
Over two months later I got a phone call.
“I’m on page 44 of the manuscript and things are going great. I’ve interviewed ten of my old co-workers so far and have appointments with…�?
“Hello,�? I responded, “Is this Bill?�?
So Bill reacted with characteristic enthusiasm, and the project was a go. But even though the acclaimed series of Tomart’s Illustrated Disneyana Catalogs and Price Guides had already been published, Tomart was a very small company at this point. There was Tom plus an executive assistant who handled everything from reception to bookkeeping. Other than occasional help from Tom’s son Thomas N., who was a full-time college student then, that was it. The company was located on the second floor of a former residence above a dentist’s office. There were two small rooms and a half bath. To say things were cramped was an understatement; the “shipping department�? was a tape dispenser in that bathroom. On top of that, Tom was transitioning from a successful career in advertising to publishing, and he had retained some advertising clients to provide a steady income. So someone was needed to pull the Bill Justice project together.
Enter me. As mentioned in Part I, I had met Tom in 1986. We were both charter members of the NFFC’s Mid-West Chapter and saw each other regularly at chapter meetings. So by 1990 he knew I was retiring from the Air Force. Tomart’s circumstances didn’t yet permit hiring more staff, so we worked out a deal: I would become Tomart’s “Author in Residence�? (I always liked that title!), and would take on book projects for royalties. My main qualification? Being in the right place at the right time.
Like Walt Disney, Tom had a vision for his fledging company. A major part of this plan was publishing a series of books by key contributors to the Disney empire. Bill Justice’s book would be one. Van Arsdale France, one of Disneyland’s first employees and as founder of the University of Disneyland had developed the park’s training programs, had already submitted a manuscript. I got the chance to read Van’s work while I waited for Bill’s. Unfortunately Van went in a different direction; his excellent book Window on Main Street came to fruition through a different publisher. But Tom’s vision is still alive; his book on Walt Disney is near publication, with future titles in various stages of creation.
Meanwhile Bill was working away and we soon had a first draft. A general editor’s comment: having read several manuscripts by this time, I noticed a pattern. Aspiring authors in situations like this are terribly afraid of boring their audience. To them, being on the inside and working with Walt Disney was simply part of their seemingly dull, everyday routine. So they tried to enliven their stories with little anecdotes about what they did on weekends, practical jokes they pulled, and so forth. It can take them awhile to realize that what to them is a normally boring routine is precisely what we fans are most interested in, and this is what they should explain.
Such was the case with Bill. Further, Bill understandably concentrated on what was freshest in his mind: his post-retirement activities. Bill did have some fascinating projects after he’d stopped working full time. For example, Bill designed the program for the 1985 White House Easter Egg Hunt, and even contributed a wooden egg decorated with Disney characters. He did such a great job he was invited to attend and it became a Disney publicity event. Stories like this were certainly worthy of inclusion, but from that first draft it was also clear that more detail was needed about that everyday studio routine. Tom initiated a series of interviews in several mutually convenient locations (sometimes with me, sometimes not), Bill continued to interview old co-workers, and there were many telephone calls and mailings as more detail was added and the manuscript was further refined.
Next Time: Part III – It’s a Book!
Bob Welbaum is a longtime Disneyana fan and NFFC member from the Dayton, Ohio area. He worked at Tomart from 1990 until 2005.
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-- Bob Welbaum
Bob Welbaum is a longtime Disneyana fan and NFFC member from the Dayton, Ohio area.
-- April 24, 2007