Interview with Art Clokey-Creator of Gumby & Pokey

This interview was recorded in April 1983 for a magazine article. In the interview, Art Clokey explains the origins of Gumby, his philosophy regarding Gumby, clay animation and children’s films in general. He also explains how tensions with his first wife, Ruth, led to his losing Gumby and how he reclaimed his famous creation. Finally Mr. Clokey discusses how he wrote the screenplay for his feature film, “Gumby-The Movie.”

[@matthewmclees4105]

Badass that you put this on KZbin. Gumby is a forgotten legend.

[@zebraradio1610]

Hopefully that's a good thing. I thought Gumby fans and animation history buffs might find the interview interesting.

[@ZestyAqua]

This deserves a proper movie show behind the scenes of Gumby. Work with clay and now have a new appreciation for a style of film making art of claymation. Fully. Stop motion is not easy to do consistently the time Gumby was first released especially was impressive to me still is.

[@zebraradio1610]

Yes, animating with clay requires a great deal of patience. In the future, I hope to share more information on Gumby and Art Clokey.

[@dj-um7el]

​@@zebraradio1610 On God, I'm working on Ceramics at school, and now claymation seems like something I'd like to learn.

[@alicedelgado955]

Gumby Dharma it's a full documentary on Art Clokey and Gumby

[@castanedagus]

Loved this history on Gumby and Pokey

[@zebraradio1610]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@meowkitty5588]

Art Clokey did the commercials from the early 1950s such as Andersen’s Pea Soup, Coca-Cola and Budweiser.

[@pikachu0Z]

You can definitely tell from some of the late 60s episodes that Mr. Clokey wasn't overly involved with like Point of Honor or Grub Grabber Gumby where the characters fell out of character, or that Pokey & Prickle were voiced by other actors.

[@zebraradio1610]

It's true. Whenever there is a retrospective done of Art Clokey's work it usually centers on Gumby and clay animation. But Art was a master storyteller and you can see that in his early Gumby Adventures. That storytelling element is generally missing in the Gumby films from 1967 on when Art left.

[@pikachu0Z]

​@@zebraradio1610 Oh absolutely the fact that he could tell interesting stories, whether the gumby films that were 10 mins or later under 6 really shows how skillful he was. Some of mine most favorites are the ones with no dialogue, even though he would leave I think the ones like Tricky Ball, Foxy box or Of clay and critters are definitely his.

[@EricHowl]

Awesome interview

[@zebraradio1610]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. In the age of podcasts it seemed that now was a good time to release this interview.

[@DezMonKei]

Thank you! 🙏🏿

[@meowkitty5588]

I like the interview.

[@LorenIpsum75]

Gumby's very first opening theme was written by production music composer, William Loose. When the same theme was chosen for the Columbia/Screen Gems sitcom, "Dennis the Menace", Clokey replaced all the Gumby shorts with the second William Loose theme. 😁👍

[@josephesposito3499]

LOL. Gumby creator knew FRANK ZAPPA! WOW! Also he created Davey & Goliath! WOW!

[@zebraradio1610]

Actually the Lutheran Church had the idea of a boy and his dog with a family. Art added the seemingly small but critical dimension of having the dog talk to the boy and only the boy understood the dog. Such was Art Clokey's genius.

[@josephesposito3499]

@@zebraradio1610 OK, I meant he even created the clay characters for that animation as well as Gumby

[@wallygator92]

Now they are making a Gumby reboot, but it's 2D animation instead of stop motion clay, and they are also making an adult Gumby show too. 😒😒😒😒😒

[@zebraradio1610]

These are terrible ideas! In the interview, Art Clokey said that people had a connection not just to Gumby but to the clay. But take the clay away and make Gumby 2D and where is that connection? In my last conversation with Joe Clokey, he said that he wanted to partner with a major company but still retain control of Gumby, much like his father wanted. Obviously, Joe's children and wife don't feel the same way. They seemed fairly eager to unload the Gumby franchise to Fox Entertainment. As Art might have said, "They don't respect Gumby. They don't know what Gumby is about," (quoting from the interview).