Here is the biography of Judge Whitaker:
Judge Whitaker was an animator who went on to become a pioneering producer and director of educational and religious films at Brigham Young University. He is credited with establishing a motion picture studio at the university, a feat that parallels the career of Walt Disney, who would become his long-term employer.
Born in Denver, Colorado, Judge moved to Brigham City, Utah as a child and later to Huntington Park, California. He attended South Denver High School, where he was student body president, a staff artist for the yearbook, and captain of the football team. After high school, he worked in the display department at Western Auto Supply and later in the promotion department of Montgomery Wards retail stores in Chicago.
Judge returned to California and bought into a cleaning and pressing business, hoping to earn enough money to marry his girlfriend Doris. However, the business barely broke even, and he returned to the promotion department of Montgomery Wards, where he spent most of his time cartooning and enrolled in night classes at The Chicago Art Institute.
In 1932, Judge accepted an offer with The St. Louis Times at $40.00 a week, but after the paper was absorbed by the St. Louis Star, he found himself without a job. He then sent samples of his work to Walt Disney and was offered a job as a trainee at $16.00 a week. However, after a few weeks, he received a pink slip and took a job helping to clean up after the earthquake of March, 1933.
Judge then applied to the Charles Mintz Studio and was accepted, working there for over a year until he received an offer from Disney in 1936 as an assistant animator assigned to work on a new character named Donald Duck. He was later promoted to full-fledged animator and worked on several animated features, including The Three Caballeros and Peter Pan.
In 1946, Judge suggested that Mormons in the film industry might be willing to donate their time to make a promotional church film. Two years of spare time work resulted in two completed films about the LDS welfare program, "Welfare in Action" and "The Lord's Way." Judge took a year's leave of absence from Disney in 1952 to join his brothers in developing The Homestead Resort at the site of some natural hot springs in the Heber Valley near Park City, Utah.
In 1953, Judge was offered the position of head of the newly created Department of Motion Picture production at Brigham Young University, and he began to establish the film studio from scratch. He produced over 150 films during his 22 years as director and producer at the studio, including Man's Search for Happiness and "In The Holy Place."
Judge received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from BYU in 1971 and retired in 1974. Like Walt Disney, he started his career drawing and animating and ended it as a producer at a studio he had founded and nurtured.
