Art Clokey has died at the age of 88. Now you ask, who is Art Clokey. I am relieved to tell you that he not a member of St. Paul's. Clokey was the creator of Gumby, the highly flexible...thingy...creature...what was Gumby? Along with Pokey, his sidekick, Gumby was a staple of kid's TV in the fifties and sixties. Remember the bendable figures that could be found in every toy box? Then the pair made a comeback in the eighties as the original episodes were re-aired. Clokey was really the original "claymation" guy.
He was also a Christian, and some of you may remember another series, Davey and Goliath, which ran for several seasons in the sixties. Davey was a boy and Goliath was his dog who could talk. "Oh Davey" was his familiar call. The program was sponsored by the Lutheran church in the States to offer faith-based programming to the general public. There were also Christmas and Easter TV specials. Times have changed.
Lo and behold, Davey and Goliath live on. A publisher still puts out several Davey and Goliath books every year.
Some of my younger readers are going "huh?" but do any of you remember these two shows? I must confess that I do.
Hey, this blog serves up a bit of everything.
3 comments:
Yes, I remember them - they were the Sunday morning cartoons that my brother and I watched before leaving for Sunday School and church at 10 am. The Davey cartoons are still available at the Christian bookstores and I have even seen current VBS (Vacation Bible School) programs based on Davey and his dog. "Everything old is new again". :)
Disturbingly, my predominant memory of Gumby is Eddie Murphy playing him on Saturday Night Live, c. 1985. Another classic corrupted.
Davey and Goliath though, is another matter. I was watching those two in the early eighties as part of that decade's syndication boom. Said boom also brought me into contact with Star Trek, Andy of Mayberry, the Lucille Ball Show and other 'heyday' classics. At present, I can only recall the characters and not the message. I wonder if it was absorbed sub-conciously?
Fair to say as well that this kind of programming would have a tough time finding its way back onto television these days. Strange too that we can litter our screens with all manner of nudity, violence and course language/behavior ... but a show on Christian values would be anathema to regulators.
I got a couple of emails from other who remember Gumby and Pokey and Davey and Goliath.
It's good to know that they may be in reruns for eternity.
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