Bob Welbaum: Bruce Gordon and David Mumford: A Tribute to Two Legends
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This year’s “25th Anniversary NFFC Disneyana Convention and All Disneyana Show and Sale,” held July 14-19 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel & Resort in Garden Grove, CA, recognized eight talented individuals as NFFC Disney Legends. Six were announced beforehand and recognized in the traditional “NFFC Luncheon with a Legend” on July 18. These honorees were voice artist Bill Farmer (voice of Goofy and Pluto); animator/voice artist Tony Anselmo (voice of Donald Duck); Frank Armitage, whose biographical sketch lists him as a “muralist, portrait artist, medical illustrator, radio operator, practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncturist, globetrotter, volunteer and Good Samaritan.”; Senior Vice President, Creative Development for Walt Disney Imagineering Eric Jacobson; and Imagineers and book authors/publishers Bruce Gordon and David Mumford. In addition, Jodi Benson (actress, singer, and voice talent best known as the voice of Ariel, the Little Mermaid) and Paige O’Hara (actress, singer and the voice of Beauty and the Beast’s Belle) were surprised with the award after they had participated in one of the most memorable banquet programs ever presented at an NFFC convention on the evening of July 16. This was truly a very special group of honorees.
Within that special group were two names that will always be fondly remembered by the NFFC: Bruce Gordon and David Mumford. Not only were they both talented and creative Imagineers, they were Disney fanatics just like us. Tragically, we have lost both of them.
David Mumford joined The Walt Disney Company in 1974 as a ride operator on Disneyland’s Submarine Voyage. He became an Imagineer in 1979, working as a show set draftsman for Epcot’s The Land pavilion. Over the years, he was involved in show-set capacity for Alice in Wonderland in Disneyland’s New Fantasyland, The Living Seas for Epcot, and the Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour for Tokyo Disneyland. In 1989, David served as show producer for Star Tours at Tokyo Disneyland, and was also show producer for Aladdin’s Oasis in Disneyland’s Adventureland. His final assignments included the revised Journey Into Imagination with Figment at Epcot and as art director of Mermaid Lagoon at Tokyo DisneySea. David’s expertise as a Disney historian became well known throughout The Walt Disney Company; he served as an associate producer on the 1989 Disney Channel special The Disneyland Story and co-wrote numerous articles for national magazines, including the Disney Magazine. After a long illness, David succumbed in January, 2003. He was 46.
Bruce Gordon was hired by Walt Disney Imagineering in 1980 to work on projects at Epcot, including Journey Into Imagination. Impressed by Bruce’s work, WDI assigned him to the team for the 1983 revamping Disneyland’s Fantasyland. Bruce was also show producer for Disneyland’s Splash Mountain, the 1998 Tomorrowland makeover, Tarzan’s Treehouse, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and was initial show producer for the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. After leaving WDI in 2005, Bruce served as show producer and creative consultant for the Walt Disney Family Museum, which is scheduled to open this fall in San Francisco’s Presidio. Bruce died unexpectedly at his home in November, 2007 at the age of 56.
In addition to their numerous individual accomplishments, these two men found a special synergy in working together. They had originally become friends in about 1982 when they discovered they had a common collecting interest: postcards. They will be best remembered for “The Bruce and David Show”: presentations to NFFC Conventions beginning with “Disney at the 1964 New York World’s Fair” in 1989, and continuing in some form or another through 2000. They had presented individually before 1989, and they credited the NFFC Convention coordinator at that time, Dennis Tanida, for pairing them together.
Perhaps their most memorable appearance was in 1990, with a show on “The Sounds of Old Disneyland.” Since Walt’s theme park was such a radically new idea, the public needed educating on what they were about to see, so there were a number of recordings prepared to explain attractions to passersby. Another use for an early recording was in the original Casa de Fritos restaurant in Frontierland. This was a favorite with kids because by putting a coin in a slot, they could purchase a bag of Fritos corn chips through an elaborate mechanism, all the while listening to the Frito Kid call down a mineshaft to his friend Klondike to send up another bag of Fritos. But Bruce and David thought up a special twist to enliven their presentation. Picture a darkened conference room with a slide illuminating a large screen. As we concentrated on listening to the Frito Kid’s spiel, we suddenly realized objects were flying through the air all around us. They were bags of Fritos being thrown by Bruce and David from the stage.