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Gumby and Pokey

Gumby is a green clay humanoid figure who was the subject of a 223-episode series of American television shows over a 35-year period. He was animated using stop motion clay animation. The show also featured Pokey, a red clay pony, and Gumby's nemeses, the Block-heads. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... Image File history File links Gumby_pokey. ... Image File history File links Gumby_pokey. ... The Gumbys Gumbys are recurring characters in Monty Pythons Flying Circus, characterized by a very distinctive appearance. ... For other uses, see Clay (disambiguation). ... Stop motion is an animation technique which makes things that are static appear to be moving. ... Clay animation is one of many forms of stop motion animation; specifically, it is the form where each animated piece, either character or background, is deformable, i. ... Gumby and Pokey Pokey is a character from the Gumby television series created by claymation artist Art Clokey. ... Block-Heads is a 1938 comedy film starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, produced by Hal Roach Studios for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. ...

Origins of Gumby

Created by Art Clokey, Gumby had its genesis in a 1955 theatrical short called Gumbasia, which was a surreal short of moving and expanding lumps of clay set to music, in a parody of Fantasia. Gumby himself first appeared on the Howdy Doody show in 1956 and was given his own NBC series in 1957. Female performers (among them Norma MacMillan) supplied Gumby's voice during the initial episodes, as well as the child-like voice characterization provided by Dick Beals. New episodes were added in 1962, by which time Dallas McKennon became the voice of Gumby, and 1966–67. Besides Pokey, voiced by creator Art Clokey, and his dog Nopey (all the dog ever said was "No"), Gumby's friends included Prickle, a yellow dinosaur or dragon (there are stories that establish him as dragon, and some that establish him as dinosaur - he has been known to breathe fire); and Goo, a blue thumb-type mermaid who could fly. (Prickle and Goo together may be a reference to a well-known speech by philosopher Alan Watts, recently animated.) Other characters are Gumby's mother Gumba, Gumby's father Gumbo, his sister Minga, Denali, a mastodon, and Professor Kapp (sometimes spelled Kap). Art Clokey (born 1921) is a pioneer in the popularization of claymation, beginning in 1955 with a film experiment called Gumbasia, influenced by his professor Slavko Vorkapich at the University of Southern California (known colloquially as USC Film School). ... Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar). ... Fantasia is a 1940 motion picture, produced by Walt Disney and first released on November 13, 1940 in the United States. ... Howdy Doody was a childrens television program (with a decidedly frontier/western theme, although other themes also colored the show) that aired on NBC in the United States from 1947 until 1960. ... This article is about the television network. ... Norma Macmillan (1921 - March 21, 2001) was the voice of cartoon characters Casper the Friendly Ghost and Gumby. ... Richard Dick Beals (born March 16, 1927 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American voice actor. ... Dallas R. McKennon (July 19, 1919-) is an American actor, sometimes credited as Dal McKennon, with extensive work as a voice actor. ... Prickle is one of the main characters from Art Clokeys well-known claymation Gumby. ... Orders & Suborders Saurischia Sauropodomorpha Theropoda Ornithischia Thyreophora Ornithopoda Marginocephalia Dinosaurs were vertebrate animals that dominated the terrestrial ecosystem for over 160 million years, first appearing approximately 230 million years ago. ... For other uses, see Dragon (disambiguation). ... Fire breathing is the act of creating a large flame by spraying, with ones breath, a flammable liquid upon an open flame. ... Goo is a character from the Gumby television series by claymation artist Art Clokey. ... From The Essential Alan Watts Alan Wilson Watts (January 6, 1915 – November 16, 1973) was a philosopher, writer, speaker, and expert in comparative religion. ...

Stations

Alphabetized by city.

• KCOP / Channel 13• Los Angeles, California
• WPIX / Channel 11• New York, New York

This redirect page is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ... WPIX, channel 11, is a television station in New York City. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ...

The Lorimar Years

Mr. Stuff gives Gumby all the goodies he can hold in "Grub Grabber Gumby."

By the 1980s, the original Gumby shorts had enjoyed a revival, both on television and home video. This led to a new incarnation of the series for television syndication by Lorimar-Telepictures in 1988 that included new characters such as Gumby's sister, Minga, Tilly the Chicken, and Denali the mastodon. Actor Charles Farrington assumed the voice of Gumby in new adventures that would take Gumby and his pals beyond their toyland-type setting and establish themselves as a rock band. Nopey had disappeared after the original series. Image File history File links Feed-a-matic_chair3. ... Image File history File links Feed-a-matic_chair3. ... Pigs is Pigs is also a noted humor book by Ellis Parker Butler, which was made into a cartoon by Walt Disney Productions in 1954. ... The 1980s refers to the years from 1980 to 1989. ... The home video business rents and sells videocassettes and DVDs to the public. ... In the television industry (as in radio), syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast programs to multiple stations, without going through a broadcast network. ... Lorimar-Telepictures was a television syndication firm established in 1986 with the merger of Lorimar and Telepictures. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the prehistoric elephant-like animal. ...

In addition to the new episodes, the classic 1950s and 1960s shorts were re-run as part of the series, but with newly recorded soundtracks (including new voices from the 1980s voice talent and synthesized musical scores to replace the old stock music composed by John Seely). The 1950s decade refers to the years 1950 to 1959 inclusive. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969. ...

Art Clokey reportedly gave many movie industry talents their first break in the business. A number of the clay animators who worked on the new series went on to work for Pixar, Disney and other studios. Pixar Animation Studios is an American computer animation studio based in Emeryville, California (USA) notable for its eight Academy Awards. ... Disney may refer to: The Walt Disney Company and its divisions, including Walt Disney Pictures. ...

The movie and beyond

Image from Gumby vs. the Astrobots

In 1995, Clokey's production company produced an independently released theatrical film, Gumby I (aka Gumby: The Movie), marking the clay character's first feature-length adventure. In it, the villanious Blockheads replace Gumby and his band with robots and kidnap their dog, Lowbelly. The movie featured in-joke homages to such sci-fi classics as Star Wars, The Terminator, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. In 1995, Cartoon Network aired re-runs of Gumby episodes. Image File history File links Gumbygame. ... This movie poster for Star Wars depicts many of the films important elements, such as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, X-Wing and Y-Wing fighters Star Wars, retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1981 (see note at Title,) is the original (and in chronological... This article is about the first film in the series. ... For Cartoon Network outside of the United States, see Cartoon Network around the world. ... An episode is to television and radio what a chapter is to a book: a part of a sequence of a body of work. ...

By the end of the decade, Gumby and Pokey had appeared in commercials for Cheerios cereal. A box of Cheerios breakfast cereal. ...

The Library of Congress had Gumby as a spokescharacter from 1994 to 1995, due to a common sequence in his shows where Gumby walks into a book, and then experiences the world inside the book as a tangible place. Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888 to May 15, 1894. ...

Although no new animated Gumby material is planned for the foreseeable future, most (with a few exceptions) of the episodes of the two series are available on home video and DVD. DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is a popular optical disc storage media format. ...

In August 2005, the first video game featuring Gumby, Gumby vs. the Astrobots, was released by Namco for the Game Boy Advance. In it, Gumby must rescue Pokey, Prickle and Goo after they are captured by the Blockheads and their cohorts, the Astrobots. The video game also featured music by Sevendust and Monster Magnet. For other uses, see August (disambiguation). ... 2005 2005 in games 2004 in video gaming 2006 in video gaming Notable events of 2005 in video gaming. ... Computer and video games redirects here. ... This article is about Namco, a Japanese leisure company and game developer. ... “GBA” redirects here. ... Sevendust is an American alternative metal band from Atlanta, Georgia. ... Monster Magnet is an American rock band. ...

Also in the summer of 2005, an event produced by TheDeepArchives/TDA Animation was held in New York. The exhibit featured props, storyboards and script pages from various Gumby shorts over the past 50 years, as well as toys and other memorabilia that had appeared during Gumby's "career," including a reproduction of [Eddie Murphy's Saturday Night Live Gumby costume. The centerpiece of the show was an actual complete set used in the production of a TV commercial for "Gumby vs. the Astrobots."

In San Francisco, California, Studio Z held "Gumby's 50th Birthday Party" with Gumby creator Art Clokey. The band Smash Mouth played at the party, hosted by comedian Kevin Meaney. The party/comedy tribute was written by legendary comedy writer and stage director Martin Olson (Screen Actors Guild Awards, Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular etc.) and Gumby's creative director and composer Robert F. Thompson. It was produced by Missing Link Media Ventures and Clokey Productions.

In 2006, The CENTER FOR PUPPETRY ARTS, Atlanta, GA, hosted the most comprehensive CLOKEY/GUMBY Exhibition to date. Entitled GUMBY: Art Clokey the first fifty years. Curated by writer/animator David Scheve, the exhibition featured over 100 puppets and many of the original sets from the 1980s Television series, as well as the 1990s Full Length Theatrical film. The exhibition ran from August 2006 until March of 2007. The Event can still be viewed on line at www.TDAExhibitions.com

Bob Burden wrote Gumby comic series with art by Rick Geary, colors by Steve Oliff and Lance Borde, edited by Mel Smith and published by Wildcard Ink. The first issue dated July 2006. It won an honor for Best Publication for a Younger Audience at the 2007 Eisner Awards. Bob Burden is the creator of The Flaming Carrot. Categories: Eisner Award winners | Comics creator stubs ... Rick Geary is an artist who is known primarily for his non-fiction comic book series, A Treasury of Victorian Murder. ... The Eisner Awards are given for achievement in comic books. ...

The Gumby images and toys are registered trademarks of Prema Toy Company. Premavision owns the distribution rights to the Gumby cartoons (having been recently reverted from previous distributor Warner Bros. Television), and has licensed the rights to Classic Media. Warner Bros. ... Classic Media, Inc. ...

On March 16, 2007, YouTube announced that all Gumby episodes would appear in their full-length form on its site, digitally remastered and with their original soundtracks. This deal also extended to other video sites, including AOL.^[1] YouTube is a popular video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

In March 2007, KQED broadcast an hour-long documentary "Gumby Dharma" as part of their Truly CA series. KQED is a public broadcasting company based in San Francisco, California. ...

A director's cut version of Gumby: The Movie is being released on DVD in April 2008^{[citation needed]}. A directors cut is a specially edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials or video games, that is supposed to represent the directors own approved edit. ...

A second Gumby movie is also in the works with a projected release date of April 2010. It will be staying true to the original Gumby in that it is all claymation, with no CGI^{[citation needed]}.

Toys

The character was very popular as a children's toy.

Parodies and tributes

Gumbo fires at Ray Stantz in The Real Ghostbusters

• Eddie Murphy played a parody of Gumby in occasional sketches on Saturday Night Live. The first appearance of Murphy's Gumby aired during the show's eighth season on December 11, 1982 in a sketch titled "Merry Christmas, Dammit!". Wearing a foam costume, Murphy's Gumby was played as an older borscht belt comedian who smoked a cigar and depicted an arrogant celebrity indignant at his waning fame. As a sign of his frustration, Murphy's character was frequently heard to exclaim "I'm Gumby, dammit!" when he felt disrespected by show business people.

• In an episode of the animated series The Real Ghostbusters titled "Station Identification" (airdate: 12/9/1987), Ray Stantz encounters a gigantic Rambo-esque version of Gumby called "Gumbo", who comes out of a TV set in a ghost-run television station. Gumbo tells him "Yo, I'm looking for an orange horse." to which Ray nervously replies "First one I see, you get it!" Gumbo then smirks and says "No bro, you get it!" and proceeds to fire a machine gun at him.

• A Gumby sketch ("Robot Rumpus") was featured on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (The Screaming Skull), and was parodied in one of that episode's host segments, with Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo creating their own version of Gumby, decrying Gumby and Pokey's "mistreatment" (in their eyes) of the robots in the sketch. When "Robot Rumpus" was aired on the show, it included the original soundtrack, complete with original voices and stock music.

• The 1957 episode "In the dough" was made into a popular Youtube video titled "GUMBY BANGING HORSES".

• In the 1988 film Red Heat, Detective Art Ridzik (played by James Belushi) tells Captain Ivan Danko (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) that he looks "like Gumby" when Danko insists that he is undercover, despite wearing a green suit. Later in the film, after Danko has allowed a suspect to escape, Ridzik exclaims "Nice work, Gumby".

Gumby in a Simpsons couch gag.

• The Simpsons did a couch gag parody of Gumby. Six clay balls roll onto the couch and unfold into the family - and Gumby.

• In the 2007 film Evan Almighty, God tells Evan "and when you were 10 years old, you were afraid of Gumby".

• The comic strip Liō by Mark Tatulli for 6 April 2008 featured the main character leading Pokey and Prickle in a search for the missing Gumby.

• On Mad TV, he was spoofed in an episode of CLOPS, a parody of COPS.

ImageMetadata File history File links Murphy_gumby2. ... ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... For other uses, see Eddie Murphy (disambiguation). ... In contemporary usage, a parody (or lampoon) is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ... Sketch Show redirects here. ... This article is about the American television series. ... is the 345th day of the year (346th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Borscht Belt is an informal term for the summer resorts of the Catskill Mountains in Sullivan and Ulster Counties in upstate New York which were frequented by Ashkenazi Jews. ... For other uses, see Cigar (disambiguation). ... The Real Ghostbusters was an American animated television series based on the hit 1984 film Ghostbusters. ... Dr. Raymond Ray Stantz, PhD is a fictional ghostbuster appearing in the films Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II (played by Dan Aykroyd) and in the animated television series The Real Ghostbusters (voiced by Frank Welker). ... This article is about the Sylvester Stallone character and films. ... Mystery Science Theater 3000 (often abbreviated MST3K, sometimes MST 3000 or MST 3K or just MST) is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc. ... Crow T. Robot Crow T. Robot is a fictional character from the American science fiction comedy television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K). ... Tom Servo Tom Servo is a fictional character from the American science fiction comedy television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K). ... Red Heat is a 1988 movie in which Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Russian policeman Ivan Danko. ... James Edgar Belushi (born June 15, 1954) is an American actor, comedian, musician and younger brother of the late comedian John Belushi. ... Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (German IPA: ; born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, Golden Globe-winning actor, businessman and politician currently serving as the 38th Governor of the U.S. state of California. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... The couch gag is a running visual joke in the opening credits of the animated television series The Simpsons. ... Evan Almighty is a 2007 comedy film, and sequel to the 2003 film Bruce Almighty. ... This article is about the comic strip, the sequential art form as published in newspapers and on the Internet. ... Liō is a daily comic strip created by Mark Tatulli and syndicated through Universal Press Syndicate. ... Mark Tatulli is a comics artist and film maker. ... is the 96th day of the year (97th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... Mad TV has three meanings: MADtv — a TV series. ... Look up cop in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

See also

• Davey and Goliath, a 1960s stop-motion animated television series. The programs were produced by the Lutheran Church in America (now a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). The characters were, like Gumby, created by Art Clokey.

Davey and Goliath was the title of a 1960s stop-motion animated television series. ... The Lutheran Church in America (LCA) was a U.S. Lutheran church body that existed from 1962 to 1987. ... The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. ...

References

External links

• The Gumby Show at the Internet Movie Database
• Gumbyworld.com
• Premavision/Clokey Productions
• [1]ArtClokey the First 50 Years
• Official 50th Birthday Party Gumby's MySpace