'Gumby' creator Art Clokey, dead at 88, had an especially animated life

[cory777]

Source: LATimes

My Los Angeles Times colleague Jason Felch has written an especially insightful obituary for Art Clokey, who died Friday. Here's the piece along with links added by me and some video to take us all back to the days of clay. -- Geoff Boucher

Art Clokey gets a leg up on Gumby

Art Clokey, the creator of the whimsical clay figure Gumby, died in his sleep Friday at his home in Los Osos, Calif., after battling repeated bladder infections, his son Joseph said. He was 88.

Clokey and his wife, Ruth, invented Gumby in the early 1950s at their Covina home shortly after Art had finished film school at USC. After a successful debut on "The Howdy Doody Show," Gumby soon became the star of its own hit television show, "The Adventures of Gumby," the first to use clay animation on television.

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/01/art-clokey-the-creator-of-the-whimsical-clay-figure-gumby-died-in-his-sleep-friday-at-his-home-in-los-osos-calif-after-b.html

[truthisfreedom]

1. Ouch. What a terrible way to go.

I remember my Gumby and Pokey action figures as a kid. I thought it was funny that Pokey actually got pokey when his wires started sticking out of his rubber legs.

[madmom]

3. I had them too, and the same wire problem. Hubbies nickname at work was

Gumby don't know why, nobody would tell me, hope it wasn't anything bad.:cry:

[Jefferson23]

2. I am old enough to recall Gumby and Pokey, very sweet. RIP n/t

[rasputin1952]

4. I remember Howdy Doody, Gumby, Bozo the Clown...

and a host of other characters I grew up with.

Gumby and Pokey...they always had an adventure...:)

[MineralMan]

5. Los Osos, CA -- my old town. I didn't know that he lived there.

It's not a town that hits the news very often.

[grahampuba]

6. Gumby Dharma

If anyone gets the chance,
id highly recommend catching the Biography of Art Clokey, http://gumbydharma.com/

really good story.

glad to hear he passed in his sleep at home at least.

also, his family is asking that in lieu of flowers or gifts, donate to the NRDC instead.

[Blue_Tires]

7. i saw that...great stuff

[tilsammans]

10. Excellent! That'll be a must-see for me!

Thanks for posting that. :yourock:

[midnight]

8. I loved the toy version of Gumby and Pokey.... I had no idea this was

the first clay animation on t.v.

[Canuckistanian]

11. Clokey was a pioneer in in claymation

He did this movie, called "Gumbasia" back in 1953, obviously, a play on "Fantasia". It's interesting for 1953.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXdHTP7omZk

[wtmusic]

15. Check out this interview with Clokey (Gumby drops acid)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftUGgpxrjlc&NR=1

[Canuckistanian]

17. That was interesting, thanks

I never knew he "dropped out". I'd be interested in his meeting with Zappa, though.

Zappa wasn't interested in the drug scene at all. I'd like to know what they talked about.

[tilsammans]

9. Thanks so much! Wow . . .

. . . this is the first I'd seen or heard of "Gumbasia." What an incredible film! :applause:

Art Clokey, :yourock:

[eowyn_of_rohan]

12. oh no...Belated Thanks to Mr Clokey...& sincere sympathy to his family

I have started twice to write him a letter, to thank him for Davey and Goliath and tell him of how much they meant to me (back in the 1960s,before the RW Christophonies glommed onto the show in the last decade) but I never finished...

[Canuckistanian]

18. He did Davey and Goliath?

I didn't know that. I remember watching that as a kid and the OBVIOUS Xtian message.

I remember rejecting that series when I was little. It seemed too "preachy".

[eowyn_of_rohan]

20. I saw it as a show with basic Golden Rule type lessons

not "religious" per se, or even overtly Christian ~ just nice.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

23. IIrc, the show was produced by Lutherans.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

24. Yep, it was.

Didn't anyone else here like this show? Any kid that had a problem with this show, back in the 60's, had other problems I would venture. There was nothing in it like the RW judgmental Jayzus preachiness of today. Just gentle messages about what happens when you hurt someone else, or aren't careful yourself. Simple Truth. Karma. Golden Rule. Basic tenets that I think are shared by all religions, and in fact transcend organized religion. Art Clokey became a Buddhist BTW. I doubt he had a problem with the messages in the Davey & Goliath shows...

[nolabear]

13. Dammit!

Really, RIP. I always thought Gumby was pretty surreal but I sure watched a lot of it when I was little.

[murielm99]

21. It was surreal.

That is always the word I used to describe it. No other cartoon was like it.

I started watching it again as a college student. I collected Gumby and Pokey toys. Then I had kids. I gave the toys to my kids.

[swilton]

14. Thanks for the link

Bookmarked

[Cass]

16. I loved Gumby and Pokey.

RIP Mr. Clokey.

[BumRushDaShow]

19. RIP

I used to have a Gumby back in the mid-'60s as a wee one. Bought one for my little niece last year. The character still appeals across the generations and Eddie Murphy's parody definitely struck a chord in all who grew up with the show! :rofl:

RIP Mr. Clokey. :hug:

[Pool Hall Ace]

22. Aww, I loved Gumby, Pokey, Prickle, Goo,

Gumby's parents, his little sister Minga, and that gentle mastodon, Denali. :loveya: