Gumby and Pokey figures ''Gumby'' is an American cartoon character and associated

media franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program, o ...

created by Art Clokey. He is a blocky green

humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and '' -oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. By the 20th century, the term came to describe fossils which were morphologically similar, but not identical, to those of ...

made of clay. Gumby stars in two television series, '' Gumby: The Movie'', and other media. Gumby immediately became a famous example of

stop-motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animation, animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appe ...

clay animation and an American cultural icon, spawning tributes, parodies, and merchandising.

Overview

The ''Gumby'' franchise follows Gumby's adventures through different environments and historical eras. His primary sidekick is Pokey, an anthropomorphic orange

pony A pony is a type of small horse, usually measured under a specified height at maturity. Ponies often have thicker coats, manes and tails, compared to larger horses, and proportionally shorter legs, wider barrels, heavier , thicker necks and s ...

. His archnemeses are the Blockheads, a pair of silent, antagonistic, red humanoid figures with cube-shaped heads; one has the letter G on the side of his head, while the other has a J. Their creation was inspired by the trouble-making Katzenjammer Kids. Other characters include Prickle, a yellow fire-breathing

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

who sometimes styles himself as a detective with pipe and deerstalker hat like

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

; Goo, a flying blue shapeshifting

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are ...

who spits blue goo balls; Gumbo and Gumba, Gumby's parents; and Nopey, Gumby's dog whose entire vocabulary is the word "nope". The 1988 syndicated series added Gumby's sister Minga,

mastodon A mastodon, from Ancient Greek μαστός (''mastós''), meaning "breast", and ὀδούς (''odoús'') "tooth", is a member of the genus ''Mammut'' (German for 'mammoth'), which was endemic to North America and lived from the late Miocene to ...

friend Denali, and chicken friend Tilly.

History

1953–1969: Origins

Gumby was created by Art Clokey in the early 1950s after he finished film school at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

(USC). Clokey's first animated film was a 1953 three-minute student film titled '' Gumbasia'', a surreal montage of moving and expanding lumps of clay set to music in a parody of Disney's '' Fantasia''. ''Gumbasia'' was created in the "kinesthetic" style taught by Clokey's USC professor Slavko Vorkapić, described as "massaging of the eye cells". Much of Gumby's look and feel was inspired by this technique of camera movements and editing. In 1955, Clokey showed ''Gumbasia'' to film producer Sam Engel, who encouraged him to develop his technique by animating figures into children's stories. On January 29, 1955, Clokey produced and filmed the first pilot episode starring Gumby, titled "Adventures of Gumby: A Sample", which never aired. The name "Gumby" was derived from the muddy clay found at Clokey's grandparents' farm that his family named "gumbo". Gumby's appearance was inspired by a suggestion from Clokey's wife Ruth (née Parkander) that Gumby be based on the Gingerbread Man. Clokey saw the color green as both racially neutral and a symbol of life. Gumby's legs and feet were made wide to pragmatically ensure that the figure would stand erect during stop-motion filming. Gumby's slanted head was based on the hairstyle of Clokey's father, Charles Farrington, in an old photograph. The pilot episode was seen by NBC executive Thomas Warren Sarnoff, who asked Clokey to make another one. The second episode, "Gumby on the Moon", became a hit when featured on ''

Howdy Doody ''Howdy Doody'' is an American Children's television series, children's television program (with circus and Western (genre), Western frontier themes) that was created and produced by Victor F. Campbell

'', so Sarnoff ordered a series in 1955 titled ''The Gumby Show''. In 1955 and 1956, 25 11-minute episodes aired on NBC. In early episodes, Gumby's voice was provided by Ruth Eggleston, wife of the show's art director Al Eggleston, until 1957, when Dallas McKennon assumed the role. Al Eggleston also invented Pokey, the little orange pony who was Gumby's best friend and was introduced during the earliest episodes. Because of its variety format, ''The Gumby Show'' features Clokey's animations plus interviews and games. During this time, the show had two successive hosts, Robert Nicholson and Pinky Lee. In 1959, ''The Gumby Show'' entered syndication, and more episodes were produced in the 1960s. Production started in Hollywood and in 1960 moved to a larger studio in

Glendora, California Glendora is a city in the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles County, California, east of Los Angeles. As of the 2020 census, the population of Glendora was 52,558. World-famous Route 66 runs through the city. Known as the "Pride of the Footh ...

, where it remained until production ended in 1969. During this time, Gumby was primarily voiced by Norma MacMillan and occasionally by Ginny Tyler. The cartoon shorts introduced new characters, including a blue mermaid named Goo and a yellow dinosaur named Prickle. Several sources claim that Dick Beals also voiced Gumby in the 1960s series. However, Beals refuted this claim in a 2001 interview.

1982–1989: Revival

Beginning in 1982, Gumby was parodied by

Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a standup comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. H ...

on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

''. The sketches depict Gumby as an irascible, cigar-chomping celebrity who is highly demanding of the production executives. Whenever they refuse his demands, Gumby asserts his star status by saying "I'm ''Gumby'', dammit!" in an exaggerated Jewish accent. According to Clokey's son Joseph, his father and he "thought Eddie was a genius in the way he played that character". In 1987, the original ''Gumby'' shorts were released on home video. In 1988, Gumby appeared in '' The Puppetoon Movie''. This renewed interest led to a new ''Gumby Adventures'' series of 99 seven-minute episodes, produced for television syndication in association with

Lorimar-Telepictures Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation, Inc. was an entertainment company established on February 19, 1986 with the merger of Lorimar Productions, Inc. and Telepictures Corporation. Headquartered at the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (now Sony Pi ...

in 1988. Dallas McKennon voices Gumby in the new adventures, in which Gumby and his pals travels beyond their toyland setting as a musical band. ''Gumby Adventures'' includes new characters, such as Gumby's little sister Minga, a mastodon named Denali and a chicken named Tilly. The 1988 series includes the 1950s and 1960s shorts with rerecorded voices, and the original music was replaced by Jerry Gerber's synthesizer score. Legal issues prevented Clokey from renewing rights to the original

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

production tracks.

1990–2021: feature film and reruns

Starting in 1992, TV channels such as

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

and

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

aired reruns of ''Gumby'' episodes. In 1995, Clokey's production company produced an independently released theatrical film, '' Gumby: The Movie'', as the character's first feature-length adventure, with John R. Dilworth, creator of '' Courage the Cowardly Dog'', as animation consultant. In the film, the villainous Blockheads replace Gumby and his band with robots and kidnap their dog, Lowbelly. It contains homages to science-fiction films such as ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'', ''

The Terminator ''The Terminator'' is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, written by Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd and produced by Hurd. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cybernetic assassin sent back in t ...

'' and '' 2001: A Space Odyssey''. In 1998, the ''Gumby'' episode "Robot Rumpus" was featured on '' Mystery Science Theater 3000''. 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. In March 2007, KQED-TV broadcast an hour-long documentary titled ''Gumby Dharma'' in its ''Truly CA'' series. It details Clokey's life and work, and has new animation of Gumby and Pokey. For these sequences, animator Stephen A. Buckley voiced Gumby and Clokey voiced Pokey. In 2012,

MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television progra ...

began airing ''Gumby'' in its weekend morning animation block until the end of the year. In 2014, the VOD service Kabillion broadcast ''Gumby''. In 2017, a comic series was published that seemingly takes place after the movie. The series was canceled after three issues.

2022–present: Fox ownership

In February 2022,

Fox Entertainment Fox Entertainment is an American entertainment company owned by Fox Corporation known for television production and distribution. The company was formed in 2019 after The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, with offices in ...

, the TV production division of the

Murdoch family Members of the Murdoch family are prominent international media Business magnate, magnates and media tycoons with roots in Australia and the United Kingdom, along with their media assets in the United States. Some members have also been promi ...

Fox Corporation Fox Corporation (commonly referred to as Fox Corp or simply Fox) is an American multinational mass media company headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas, 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, with offices also in Burbank, Cali ...

, announced it had acquired the ''Gumby''

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

from the estate of Art's son, Joseph Clokey, encompassing all rights including "film, TV and streaming, consumer products, licensing, publishing, and all other categories", with plans to launch new series across linear and digital platforms, while adding to the classic ''Gumby'' material available on its free streaming platform Tubi. Before Fox took ownership of the series, Gumby made a cameo in the 17th season of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'' in the episode " The Girl Who Slept Too Little". In June 2024, two Gumby series were announced to be in the works: a two-dimensional children's animated series titled ''Gumby Kids'' and an adult animated series. Both series were to be produced by Bento Box Entertainment.

Cast

*Ruth Eggleston: Gumby (1955–1956), Gumba (1955), additional voices * Dallas McKennon: Gumby (1957, 1960–1964, 1987–1989, 1995), Pokey (1960–1969), Gumbo (1960), Prickle (1964–1969), Professor Kapp (1964–1988, 1995), Denali (1988), Nopey (1964–1969), Henry (1987 redubbed), Rodgy (1987 redubbed), additional voices * Norma MacMillan: Gumby (1964–1969), Pokey (1967–1968), Goo (1964–1969), Gumba (1967–1968) * Ginny Tyler: Gumby (1968–1969), Gumba (1957–1962), Granny (1960–1962), Witty Witch (1960–1962), additional voices * Stephen A. Buckley: Gumby (1987–1991, 1996, 2007) *Betty Hartford: Gumba (1956) * Art Clokey: Pokey (1955–1988, 1995, 2007), Prickle (1964–1969, 1987–1989, 1995), Gumbo (1955–1989, 1995), additional voices *

Don Messick Donald Earle Messick (September 7, 1926 – October 24, 1997) was an American voice actor, known for his performances in Hanna-Barbera cartoons. His best-remembered voice roles include Scooby-Doo; Bamm-Bamm Rubble and Hoppy in ''The Flintsto ...

: Henry (1963), Rodgy (1963), additional voices * Paul Frees: Professor Kapp (1963), Additional voices *Gloria Clokey: Goo (1987–1989, 1995), Gumba (1987–1989) *Janet MacDuff: Gumba (1988, 1995), Granny (1988), additional voices *Holly Harman: Minga (1988), Tilly (1987–1989), additional voices * Hal Smith: Prickle (1964–1969), Dr. Zveegee, Nopey, additional voices * Dick Beals: Naughty Boy (1960) * Pinky Lee: Host (1956) * Bobby Nicholson: Scotty McKee (host) (1956–1967)

Episodes

Reception and legacy

In 1993, ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' named ''Gumby'' the best cartoon series of the 1950s in its issue celebrating 40 years of television. Beginning in 1994, the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

used Gumby as a "spokescharacter" for ''Adventures into Books: Gumby's World'', a traveling exhibition promoting the Center for the Book's national reading campaign from 1997 to 2000. By the end of the 1990s, Gumby and Pokey had also appeared in various commercials for Cheerios cereal, with Gumby voiced by Stephen A. Buckley. On August 4, 2006, the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta opened ''Art Clokey's Gumby: The First Fifty Years''. This exhibition featured many of the original puppets and sets, along with screening of Clokey's films. This event was conceived by David Scheve of T.D.A. Animation and Joe Clokey of Premavision, and was one of several exhibits that opened around the country, celebrating the 50th anniversary of ''The Gumby Show''. The children's book ''Gumby Goes to the Sun'' was also published that year to commemorate the anniversary. The book was originally created in the 1980s by Clokey's daughter, Holly Harman (who voiced Gumby's sister, Minga, in the 1988 series). In 2007, the ''Gumby'' comic book series was nominated for two

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...

s, Best New Series and Best Publication for a Young Audience, and won the latter. A Gumby graphic novel titled ''Gumby: 50 Shades of Clay'' was released in 2017. On October 12, 2011, a Google Doodle acknowledged Art Clokey's 90th birthday. It was composed of a toy block with a "G" and five clay balls in the Google colors. Clicking each ball revealed the Blockheads, Prickle, Goo, Gumby, and Pokey. On December 21, 2019, Eddie Murphy reprised his role while hosting ''Saturday Night Live'' during a sketch on " Weekend Update".

Merchandising

The most prominent of Gumby merchandise is the bendable figure set by Lakeside Toys. Several single packs and multifigure sets were made by Jesco (later Trendmasters), and a 50th-anniversary collection. There are plush dolls, keychains, mugs, a 1988 Colorforms set, a 1995 Trendmasters playset, and a Kubricks set by Medicom. A tribute album, '' Gumby: The Green Album'', produced by Shepard Stern, was released in 1989. The ''Gumby'' images and toys are registered trademarks of

. Premavision owned the distribution rights to the ''Gumby'' cartoons, having been reverted from previous distributor Warner Bros. Television in 2003, and had licensed the rights to Classic Media until September 30, 2012. At this time, Classic Media was officially acquired by

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

and branded as DreamWorks Classics, which became a subsidiary of

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...

in 2016. As of April 2015, NCircle Entertainment owns home video and digital distribution rights to the cartoons.

Video game

In August 2005, the first

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

featuring Gumby, ''Gumby vs. the Astrobots'', was released by

Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...

for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

. The plot follows the Blockheads and their cohorts, the Astrobots, capturing Pokey, Prickle, Goo, Gumbo, and Gumba and placing them in books. With his friends and parents in trouble, Gumby sets out to rescue them and defeat the Blockheads. The game is a sidescrolling

platformer A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

, where Gumby must navigate stages to reach the end, while avoiding enemies and pitfalls, and defeating a number of bosses from the game's various worlds. ''Gumby vs. the Astrobots'' received generally average reviews according to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, with an average score of 63 out of 100, based on four reviews.

References

External links

*
Premavision/Clokey Productions
* *

at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...