What A Dummy

The Arthur Company, located on the Universal Studios lot, produced a number of offbeat television comedies in the 1980's.

One of these was a show called 'What A Dummy'. The premise of the show centered on the discovery of a wisecracking ventriloquist dummy named Buzz, who had been locked away in a trunk for 50 years.

Jimmy Cuomo, who was the Art Director on the show, called to ask if I would be interested in meeting with the producers about Buzz. They had already secured a SPFX house to make the dummy but were interested in having me do the sketches.

When I got to their offices, I was presented with a number of comps but nothing hit the mark. After hearing a brief synopsis of the show, I made a few suggestions for the character and set off to create my own designs. I really felt strongly that the character needed to have an element of 'fun' about it.

I presented 3 preliminary roughs in order to sell the light-hearted appeal I thought the puppet needed. The committee agreed with me and my finished art was produced. Here are a few examples of Buzz in different hairstyles along with the preliminary rough he was based on, including a look at the finished dummy produced by the SPFX unit.