Anold Wagner has posted Bud Blake’s eulogy on his web site. The eulogy was delivered by Bud’s son. Bud died last month at the age of 87.
Bud launched several strip ideas. I remember ?Inklings? which was all silhouettes. ?Tiger? came as a result of imaging how
celebrities would have behaved as kids. Hugo was Mickey Mantle as a six-year-old, and Bonny was Jane Bayez. Tiger was an intentional misnomer, playing the role of catalyst, and Punkinhead was his younger brother. King bought ?Tiger,? much to my father?s delight, and he spent the next 40 years drawing it. Cartooning was not just drawing funny pictures for my father. I remember a long visit to Marriscio?s barber shop because my father wanted to get the geometry of a barber?s chair exactly right, and I remember having to pose holding a trumpet so Hugo?s fingers could be drawn accurately. Actually both Mara and I played brass instruments, and this caused some problems. If you are drawing a straight line and a French horn
attacks a loud note, the line tends to take a detour. Both Mara and I learned to play quietly.