Storyboard Magazine Walt Disney Tribute

This is the Aug./Sept. 1993 edition of Storyboard Magazine that featured a tribute to Walt Disney that featured a charming picture of Walt and his wife Lillian. It was issued not long after a scandalous book about Walt Disney was released. The magazine featured rememberances by many family members and people who worked with Walt Disney such as Walt's wife Lillian, his daughter Diane Disney Miller, animators Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Ward Kimball, and Ken Anderson, and the legendary Van Arsdale France who was the founder of the Disney University - the training school for Disneyland Cast Members. Van signed this copy of Storyboard on the page that features his picture and his tribute to Walt Disney. Few Disney collectors know about Van France's enormous contribution to the way the Disney theme parks treat guests, so very few of his autographs have ever made it to the collectibles market. Don't miss this one! Van France was a charming and gracious man whom I was lucky enough to get to know briefly. Maggie and I met him when we were on a panel of authors together at one of Steve Fiott's Disneyana shows at The Disneyland Hotel. During the event, Maggie and I snuck off to the nearby Pan Pacific Hotel (now the Pacific Paradise) for lunch. Van happened by at the same time and joined us. We spoke very little about Disney matters. Maggie and Van were closer in age and shared many similar experiences, and I'm so old-fashioned that I had a wonderful time just listening to them. In the next couple of years, Van always made a point of joining us for a meal or a snack, sometimes including his wife. So beyond considering him a Disney celebrity, we counted him as a friend and were very sad when he passed away in October, 1999. He had been enshrined earlier that decade with Disneyland's highest honor - his own window on Main Street that reads "Van Arsdale France. Founder and Professor Emeritus, Disney Universities". Be sure to see LaughingPlace.com's article on Van France.