Heya friends, did you have a good weekend? It went well over here. We had a break in the rain long enough to visit some friends over at Downtown Disney. We ate some sandwiches at the Earl of Sandwich and I must admit they were pretty good. Our good friend Roger was in town to watch the Candelight Processional with his family. He brought presents for us and I was surprised by the gift he gave me. I'm a fan of animation, as many of you may know. I have my own list of favorite artists and directors. One of the best is also one of the most under-appreciated in our time. Most from my generation know people like Bruce Timm, John Krickfalusi, Tim Burton and John Lasseter by name but how many know the name Bud Luckey?
Mr. Luckey is a story man, artist and voice actor at Pixar. Audiences might recognize his voice as Rick Dicker from the Incredibles or Chuckles the Clown from Toy Story 3. He's been in the business for a long time, well before Pixar was even founded, and has always been a great storyteller. My brothers and I loved his cartoons before we ever learned his name. Bud wrote and animated several classics on Sesame Street including the Ladybug's Picnic and the Alligator King.
There was more to his songs than learning about counting. There was always and underlying morality to his best work. My favorite cartoon of his was "That's about the size." In not only taught me about scale, perspective and the cosmos but also that in time the kids listening to the song would also grow up. It wasn't just about the act of physically maturing and becoming bigger, but also the potential for all people to grow into that struck a chord with me.
Our friend Roger remembered how fondly I spoke about Bud and how much he influenced me growing up. Roger got a chance to visit the Pixar studio store and picked up something special for me.
Bud had directed the Pixar animated short Boundin' a few years ago. The story was a good morality piece on change, acceptance and recognizing real troubles. To celebrate the release the store had commissioned a plush set of the figures.
The Boundin' Buddies set was amazing. The figures were pretty large to begin with and modeled very closely to the film characters. The box itself was made up from the storyboard art from the film as well.
I am grateful to Roger for the gift and grateful to Mr. Luckey for sharing his gift with the world.
Do you have any favorite Bud Luckey cartoons? I'd like to hear about them in the comments section.
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