i of Hugh Foulds: Three Voices My Memories of Hugh as a Friend by Jim Breukelman I would like to tell you about some of the memories I have of Hugh as a friend, as an artist, as a teacher, and as a colleague. - I wish I could tell you more specifics about him as a professional Film Animator, but this is where Hugh moved out of my circle of experience. Hugh once said “It’s a funny thing but every film I have made has had its nearly identical real-life script running along side it... Sometimes the actual events precede the © film and sometimes they follow it, but there is no mistaking the connection between the cartoon scenes and characters and those of my own life.” This explains a lot. I often felt I saw bits of me and some of you people in Hugh’s films. What a rat. I often felt he was trying things out on me, provoking me to see how I would react, and then observing me to see the effect. Of course he was keenly aware of peoples’ fleeting, changing expressions, tone of voice, and physical gestures. Hugh was a master at recreating these things in his cartoon characters. On one hand, he was very mature, sophisticated, and reasoning. On the other hand, when he was happy or excited about something, his boyish side would surface, full of disarming naivete. Even though he could be very irritating at times, Hugh was actually very caring about people. He was often deeply moved by their problems. He had a particularly soft spot for children. He was highly aware of social and environmental issues. These things were the source of the subject matter for most of his films. ae He was mischievous and witty. He loved to pull your leg and play harmless pranks on you. For instance, Hugh was always putting cryptic notes, bogus Purchase Orders and embarrassing objects in my mail box at school (things I wouldn’t dare mention in a church). It sometimes took me weeks to puzzle out who had done ittome. With his poker face, Hugh could string me along almost indefinitely. He could be a real brat. But, he was . never mean with his humour. And, often, his jokes were directed at himself and his own life...even in times when he was having great difficulty. I’ve always felt that Hugh used humour as a way of gently tempering his communication with people about matters which often were actually either serious or painful to him. This was especially true of his films. He used comedy to make difficult things more palat- able; to break down our natural defences so that we might look at important issues more easily and feel the urge to take action or at least to understand. No subject was either too large or too small for Hugh. } Sometimes, his films dealt with simple human emotions common to all of us, such as loneliness, a sense of futility or powerlessness, hope, unrequited love, laziness, irrita- tion, and anger. At the same time he tackled issues such as racism, AIDS, and the harmful effects of televised violence on our children. 5 I feel that although his films were usually funny, most of them had an underlying sadness to them. My favourites were “Citizen Harold” and “Bear’s Christmas”, and his proposed “Images in Space”. I won’t attempt to describe these to you here. It would not do them justice. Those of you who haven’ t seen them should take the time to do so. I promise you will be delighted. When I say Hugh was a simple man, I mean it in the best way possible. He enjoyed humble things immensely. He was able to find joy and magic in almost anything. He didn’t aspire to wealth or expensive possessions. Rather he wanted as rich an experience of life as possible. I believe he achieved this in great measure. He had very clearly defined values...such things as truth, fairness, generosity, and loyalty to family and friends were very important to him. He worked hard to live his life by these principles. , The reason I say Hugh was also a complex-person is that, although he did not flaunt it, Hugh had a great interest in poetry, literature, and music. He did not watch much TV. He preferred good books, fine movies, theatre, singing, and playing the piano. He valued culture and wanted to fill himself with it. In his forties, he decided to learn how to sing and play the piano. So, he took voice and piano lessons. He turned out to be pretty good at both things. He used to call me up and play the piano for me over the telephone. He did this at the oddest times. But, I never really minded. How could I? His playing was really lovely. It was a great surprise and it made me very happy to know he wanted me to hear him. I used to love to have coffee with Hugh in the cafeteria. I know I shouldn’t say this, but we would laughingly call those times or men’s issues sessions. We used to talk about all sorts of things; both things that amused us, and things that troubled us in our lives. We spoke freely, with complete trust. Yes, we occasionally looked wistfully at women as they came and went by our table. Nevertheless, we knew they were mostly “National Geographic”...exotic places we were very unlikely to ever visit. But mostly we talked about our families, our loves, our children, our dreams, the problems and joys of being fathers, husbands, and teachers and how we wanted it all to work out. These were special times and I think of them fondly. Besides being a bit of a wag, Hugh was quite an outdoorsman. He was the one who introduced me to canoeing. He had very definite opinions on the subject of canoes. They had to be hand made, preferably out of wood and canvas...not either fiberglass or aluminum. “Greenwood” canoes, made in B.C. were supposed to be way better than “Chestnut” canoes, which were made in New Brunswick. He took me to visit the little workshop on Mitchell Island, in the Fraser River, where “Greenwood” canoes were made. He introduced me to the old men who made them. He made sure I observed all the steps in the construction process, all the while pointing out that this or that would never be done properly at the “Chestnut” factory, which was too big and impersonal to care about us and our aesthetic feelings. Hugh was a traditionalist. He liked things which were simply made, and lovingly hand- crafted. He believed that such things had a sort of nobility of spirit (actually, this is not much different from his ideas about film making). He figured canoes made in this way would give superior performance in relation to anything else. Hugh taught me everything I know about paddling a canoe with majesty and grace of style. “Economy of movement is the ticket” he used to say. “The point is to be fast, but never reveal any intent to be fast, by showing any strain on your face or in your general demeanour or movements.” * One cold October day, Hugh invited myself and Annette (my previous wife) to g0 canoe- Across the Continent from the eulogy by Ted Whittaker From half or more a land away | couldn't tell all that was happening in Hugh's life. The frame would freeze for a hilarious day in summer when | would drop in, but then I'd lose him totally. Hubert was an even more Be casual letter writer than |, which is to say that he never wrote at all. Aside from hearing and retelling the few jokes he dropped on me during our infrequent encounters (I still get laughs from telling anyone about Anton’s misun- derstanding the phrase “Give me the keys”), | then came to feel that | knew Hughie entirely and in a limited way through his art, of which | saw very little. | did recognize that the germ of his mature style had begun to sprout even in high school, and | took that as a sign of his genuine ability. | used to berate him for spending most of his time at teaching and for neglecting his own work, but | came to realize that the teaching was his own work. He was obviously good at it, and creation has many faces. | have two things more to say. First, if there is no filmography of Hubert’s work, there should be. If his cartoons were collected on video, | would watch them, with beer and pretzels. If anyone can point me toward these possible sources, | would like to be phoned or sent a letter. Some people here know me. | live in Toronto. I'm in the book. emories of Hugh Foulds: Three Voices ‘My Memories of Hugh as a Friend by Jim Breukelman 1 would like to tell you about some of the memories I have of Hugh a a friend, as an artist, a a teacher, and a a colleague. 1 wish could tell you more specifies about him as a professional Film Animator, but this is where Hugh moved out of my circle of experience, Hugh once said “It's a funny thing but every film Ihave made has had its nearly ‘identical real-life script running along side it. Sometimes the actual events precede the film and sometimes they follow it, but there is no mistaking the connection between the cartoon scenes and characters and those of my own life.” ‘This explains a lot. [often felt I saw bits of me and some of you people in Hugh's films. What rat, [often felt he was trying things out on me, provoking me to see how | would react, and then observing me to see the effect. Of course he was keenly aware ‘of peoples’ fleeting, changing expressions, tone of voice, and physical gestures. Hugh was a master at recreating these things in his cartoon characters. ‘Onone hand, he was very mature, sophisticated, and reasoning. On the other hand, when the was happy or excited about something, his boyish side would surface, fll of disarming naivete. Even though he could be very irritating at times, Hugh was actually very caring about people. He was often deeply moved by their problems. He had a particularly soft spot for, children. He was highly aware of social and environmental issues. These things ‘were the source of the subject matter for most of his films. He was mischievous and wity. He loved to pull your leg and play hharmiless pranks on you. For instance, Hugh was always putting cryptic notes, bogus Purchase Orders and embarrassing objects in ‘my mail box at school (things I wouldn't dare mention in a church). It sometimes took me weeks to puzzle out who had doneittome. Withhis poker face, Hugh could string me along almost indefinitely. He could be a real brat. But, he was never mean with his humour. And, often his jokes were