Wow, just ran across the news that the creator of Gumby, Art Clokey has died at age 88.
Stone cold bummer, my friends.
As a young curmudgeon, Gumby was one of my favorite shows. Not only was Claymation an unknown at the time, but the idea that Gumby and Pokey could “walk into any book” was a mind-blower to a young sci-fi freak like myself.
I was in the presence of the great man just once, at a Gumby film fest in Minneapolis, at the Uptown Theater. We watched the history of Gumby unfold in front of us, from Gumbasia, to the Gumby and Pokey shows, to Davey and Goliath. All with Art’s running commentary. At some point in the evening, he led us in the Gumby Theme Song, thankfully the real one, not the versions we all sang in elementary school. It was awesome to hear all the folks there singing along.
I still recall how genuine Art was, and how he enjoyed how much we enjoyed his work.
RIP old friend.
