Gumby

Art Clokey, the creator of the greenish clay figure Gumby, has died at age 88.

I don't have much discernible memory of Gumby and his claymation pal Pokey, but I do remember the early days of the art form on television. Clokey and his wife Ruth were innovators, according to the obituary.

Life stretches across a framework of time and space, depth, dimension, sound, all part of our imagination. Pleasures of childhood, lost to time. Recaptured only by news of the death of one of the people who gave us reason to grow up. Art Clokey is just a guy you never heard of.

Cartoon characters, hand puppets and Howdy Doody on a series of strings ... all seemed so exciting to us in 1954. Now it all seems so silly.

I think that if I had to choose a time to be a child, I'd pick 1954 over 2010. Ain't but one Gumby.

Comments

  1. JanJanuary 10, 2010 at 4:52 AM

    Re: your comment about choosing 1954 over 2010 to be a child...
    I think that goes back to something you said on this website or in one of your novels (I don't remember where exactly)-the 1950's were not necessarily simpler times; we just had fewer choices.
    But I agree.
    RIP Gumby, Pokey and Art.

    ReplyDelete

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