In the hyperworld of commercialism and marketing run amock, can you imagine hearing the creator of Spongebob, Dora or any of the hottest tv cartoons resisting the marketing juggarnaut and the tie in promotions of toys, product and spin off's with the words - "it might be exploiting children??"
Today such a stance would be unheard of ... but when he created the ubiquitious Gumby and Pokey, creator Art Clokey resisted creating toys to be sold along side the tv shorts he had crafted and expressed concern that such a creation would be exploiting children.
Instead he quietly created Gumby and Pokey's cousins Davey and Goliath who on behalf of the Lutheran Church in the US, offered a series of shorts stressing issues of morals, faith and respect ... like 'em or hate 'em, Davey and Goliath and Gumby and Pokey were part of growing up in the 1970's ... so much so, in the 80's comedian Eddie Murphy used Gumby (now all grown up) to forge a name for himself on Saturday Night Live ... the phrase "I'm Gumby DAMMIT!!" entered pop culture in a major way.
Today cbc.ca reports that the man who started it all by creating a claymation figure based off of his late father has died at the age of 88. Art Clokey, started his journey in college and went on to make shorts for the Howdy Doody Show, then created a number of his own series through the years ... all of which left an indelible impression on those countless children who watched Gumby and Pokey's adventures and Davey and Goliath's moralizing ...
Thanks for the memories Mr. Clokey - you made the world a better place with your little clay friends ...
Read the CBC story here: "Creator of Gumby and Pokey dies" - cbc.ca
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