Bob Walbaum: This One is About Me (Part 3)
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The second step was to number the books from one to 1000. This was also mind-numbing work. Tom did some, I did most. I’m just going to leave all the problems we had with this step to your imaginations.
Third was tipping in Marissa’s color picture. This was new territory for all of us. Tom finally decided the best way was to send me to the Kmart down the street to buy some glue sticks. I came back and set to work, spreading the width of the glue stick across the top of the back of the picture, then carefully placing it in the center of the page.
I was about a third of the way through – a couple of day’s worth of work – when Tom was showing my handiwork to a representative from a local printer. Tom picked up one of the first books I had glued, flexed the dedication page, and the picture popped straight up off the page. Oops! Simply gluing the picture in was not going to be reliable enough.
Fortunately, this printer rep got us some double-sided tape with a hand-held dispenser. I simply had to put tape on the top of the back of the picture, give the dispenser a yank to tear the tape, and put the picture in. Of course, we thought it best to pull out all the other glued pictures I had previously put in before they too came loose. I imagine you can understand the problems there.
This entire episode with Marissa’s picture had several unforeseen ramifications. First, to this day I still cringe whenever anyone starts a sentence with “Go to Kmart and buy…�? Second, I really don’t care what anyone thinks about the book as long as they don’t say “The granddaughter’s picture looks crooked.�?
Finally and most bizarre of all, we gave all the unused pictures – a considerable stack -- to Bill. Remember that Bill is a long-time friend of the NFFC (the club for Disney enthusiasts), and was always generous with his time and talent at NFFC meetings and conventions. So the next convention, Bill comes with a box full of these unused pictures, giving them to anyone within arm’s reach. He seemed completely oblivious to the confused looks he was getting in return. This led to the awkward sight of some people smilingly taking a picture with one hand, then transferring it to the other hand to reach behind Bill and slip this unexpected gift back into his box.
With all of this gluing, pulling out, then taping pictures into 1000 books, we were barely ready for the final step. Bill flew to Dayton to spend several days signing the copies. But it wasn’t all signing. We arranged other events, too: some press coverage, an NFFC Mid-West Chapter meeting, a visit to a local magnet high school for the arts, events like that.
And let’s just say we all ate well that week. Bill was not one to keep a low profile, even when dining. He had the habit of pulling out his pen and drawing on the restaurant’s cloth napkins while waiting for his meal, so he got a lot of attention everywhere we took him. By the way, I’ve been told that back home, when his friends would call to make reservations at an unfamiliar restaurant, the first question they would ask would be “What color are your napkins?�? I’ve even heard a rumor that the entire entourage walked out of a restaurant when they realized the napkins were black.
Justice for Disney was quite a project, the highlight of my tenure at Tomart. More importantly, I will always treasure the time I got to spend with a remarkably talented man.
The last time I talked to Bill was January 17, 2004. The occasion was his 90th birthday, which was celebrated with a lavish black-tie-optional reception and dinner in the Grand Ballroom of the Disneyland Hotel. The program included live and silent auctions to benefit The Bill Justice Foundation. A lot of names you would probably recognize attended, a once-in-a-lifetime conjunction of Disney stars befitting Bill’s career. I was just glad I had the chance to be there… and to work with Bill Justice.
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-- Bob Welbaum
Bob Welbaum is a longtime Disneyana fan and NFFC member from the Dayton, Ohio area.
-- June 7, 2007