Art Clokey
Encyclopedia
Arthur "Art" Clokey was a pioneer in the popularization of stop motion
clay animation
, beginning in 1955 with a film experiment called Gumbasia
, influenced by his professor, Slavko Vorkapich, at the University of Southern California
.
After the Gumbasia project, Art Clokey and his wife Ruth came up with the clay character Gumby
. Gumby and his horse Pokey became a familiar presence on American television; they had their start in the Howdy Doody Show, and later got their own series The Adventures of Gumby. The characters enjoyed a renewal of interest in the 1980s when American actor and comedian Eddie Murphy
parodied Gumby in a skit on Saturday Night Live
. In the 1990s Gumby: The Movie
was released, sparking even more interest.
Clokey's second most famous production is the duo of Davey and Goliath
, funded by the Lutheran Church in America
.
. When he was nine years old, his parents divorced and he stayed with his father, Charles Farrington. After his father died in a car accident, he went to live with his mother in California, but his stepfather had no interest in raising another man's son, and so Arthur was sent to an orphanage. When he was 12, he was adopted by Joseph W. Clokey
, a classical music
composer
and organist
who taught music at Pomona College
in Claremont, California
. He schooled Arthur in painting, drawing, and film making while also taking him on journeys to Canada and Mexico. The aesthetic environment later became the home of Clokey's most famous character, Gumby
, whose name derives from his childhood experiences during summer visits to his grandfather's farm, when he enjoyed playing with the clay and mud mixture called "gumbo
".
At Webb School
in Claremont, young Clokey came under the influence of teacher Ray Alf, who took students on expeditions digging for fossils and learning about the world around them. Clokey later studied geology
at Pomona College, before leaving Pomona in 1943 to join the military during World War II. He graduated from his adoptive father's alma mater, Miami University
, in 1948.
Art Clokey also made a few highly experimental and visually inventive short clay animation films for adults, including his first student film Gumbasia (1955), the visually rich Mandala (1977) — described by Clokey as a metaphor for evolving human consciousness — and the equally bizarre The Clay Peacock (1963), an elaboration on the animated NBC
logo of the time. Consisting of animated clay shapes contorting to a jazz score, Gumbasia so intrigued Samuel G. Engel, then president of the Motion Pictures Producers Association, that he financed the pilot film for what became Clokey's The Gumby Show
(1957). The title Gumbasia was in homage to Walt Disney's Fantasia.
Clokey is credited with the clay-animation title sequence for the 1965 beach movie Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
starring Vincent Price
and Frankie Avalon
. His son, Joe Clokey, continued the Davey and Goliath
cartoon in 2004. In March 2007, KQED-TV broadcast an hour-long documentary Gumby Dharma as part of their Truly CA series.
In 1995, Clokey and Dallas McKennon teamed up again for Gumby: The Movie
, a feature film. The movie was not a success at the box office and was widely panned by critics.
In the mid-1990s, Nickelodeon
signed a contract with Art Clokey to air every episode of Gumby for its anchor spots at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. It was on top of their ratings for over three years.
Clokey died in his sleep on January 8, 2010, at age 88, at his home in Los Osos, California
after suffering from a recurrent bladder infection.
On October 12, 2011, which would have been Clokey's 90th birthday, Google
paid homage to Clokey's life and works with an interactive logo doodle in the style of his clay animations, produced by Premavision Studios.
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
clay animation
Clay animation
Clay animation or claymation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually Plasticine clay....
, beginning in 1955 with a film experiment called Gumbasia
Gumbasia
Gumbasia, a 3 minute 34 second short film produced in 1953 and released on September 2, 1955, was the first clay animation produced by Art Clokey, who went on to create the classic series Gumby and Davey and Goliath using the same technique. Many of his later animations have influenced many, many...
, influenced by his professor, Slavko Vorkapich, at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
.
After the Gumbasia project, Art Clokey and his wife Ruth came up with the clay character Gumby
Gumby
Gumby is a green clay humanoid character created and modeled by Art Clokey, who also created Davey and Goliath. Gumby has been the subject of a 233-episode series of American television as well as a feature-length film and other media...
. Gumby and his horse Pokey became a familiar presence on American television; they had their start in the Howdy Doody Show, and later got their own series The Adventures of Gumby. The characters enjoyed a renewal of interest in the 1980s when American actor and comedian Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
parodied Gumby in a skit on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
. In the 1990s Gumby: The Movie
Gumby: The Movie
Gumby: The Movie is a 1995 clay animation feature film featuring the character Gumby.The movie is rated G by the MPAA.-Opening sequence clip:...
was released, sparking even more interest.
Clokey's second most famous production is the duo of Davey and Goliath
Davey and Goliath
Davey and Goliath is a 1960s stop-motion animated children's Christian television series. The programs, produced by the Lutheran Church in America , were produced by Art Clokey after the success of his Gumby series.Each 15-minute episode features the adventures of Davey Hansen and his "talking"...
, funded by the Lutheran Church in America
Lutheran Church in America
The Lutheran Church in America was a U.S. and Canadian Lutheran church body that existed from 1962 to 1987. It was headquartered in New York City and its publishing house was Fortress Press....
.
Biography
Clokey was born Arthur Charles Farrington in Detroit, MichiganDetroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
. When he was nine years old, his parents divorced and he stayed with his father, Charles Farrington. After his father died in a car accident, he went to live with his mother in California, but his stepfather had no interest in raising another man's son, and so Arthur was sent to an orphanage. When he was 12, he was adopted by Joseph W. Clokey
Joseph W. Clokey
Joseph Waddell Clokey was an educator, organist and composer of sacred and secular music in the first half of the 20th Century....
, a classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and organist
Organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
who taught music at Pomona College
Pomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...
in Claremont, California
Claremont, California
Claremont is a small affluent college town in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The population as of the 2010 census is 34,926. Claremont is known for its seven higher-education institutions, its...
. He schooled Arthur in painting, drawing, and film making while also taking him on journeys to Canada and Mexico. The aesthetic environment later became the home of Clokey's most famous character, Gumby
Gumby
Gumby is a green clay humanoid character created and modeled by Art Clokey, who also created Davey and Goliath. Gumby has been the subject of a 233-episode series of American television as well as a feature-length film and other media...
, whose name derives from his childhood experiences during summer visits to his grandfather's farm, when he enjoyed playing with the clay and mud mixture called "gumbo
Gumbo (disambiguation)
Gumbo is a spicy, hearty stew or soup.Gumbo may also refer to:* Gumbo , the mascot dog of the New Orleans Saints* Okra or gumbo, a flowering plant with edible green fruit* Dr. John's Gumbo, an album by Dr. John...
".
At Webb School
The Webb Schools
The Webb Schools is the collective name for two private schools for grades 9-12, founded by Thompson Webb, located in Claremont, California. The Webb School of California for boys was established in 1922, and the Vivian Webb School for girls in 1981. Both are primarily boarding schools, but they...
in Claremont, young Clokey came under the influence of teacher Ray Alf, who took students on expeditions digging for fossils and learning about the world around them. Clokey later studied geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
at Pomona College, before leaving Pomona in 1943 to join the military during World War II. He graduated from his adoptive father's alma mater, Miami University
Miami University
Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...
, in 1948.
Art Clokey also made a few highly experimental and visually inventive short clay animation films for adults, including his first student film Gumbasia (1955), the visually rich Mandala (1977) — described by Clokey as a metaphor for evolving human consciousness — and the equally bizarre The Clay Peacock (1963), an elaboration on the animated NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
logo of the time. Consisting of animated clay shapes contorting to a jazz score, Gumbasia so intrigued Samuel G. Engel, then president of the Motion Pictures Producers Association, that he financed the pilot film for what became Clokey's The Gumby Show
Gumby
Gumby is a green clay humanoid character created and modeled by Art Clokey, who also created Davey and Goliath. Gumby has been the subject of a 233-episode series of American television as well as a feature-length film and other media...
(1957). The title Gumbasia was in homage to Walt Disney's Fantasia.
Clokey is credited with the clay-animation title sequence for the 1965 beach movie Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine is a 1965 American International Pictures film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Vincent Price, Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, Susan Hart and Deborah Walley...
starring Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
and Frankie Avalon
Frankie Avalon
Frankie Avalon is an American actor, singer, playwright, and former teen idol.-Career:By the time he was 12, Avalon was on U.S. television playing his trumpet. As a teenager he played with Bobby Rydell in Rocco and the Saints...
. His son, Joe Clokey, continued the Davey and Goliath
Davey and Goliath
Davey and Goliath is a 1960s stop-motion animated children's Christian television series. The programs, produced by the Lutheran Church in America , were produced by Art Clokey after the success of his Gumby series.Each 15-minute episode features the adventures of Davey Hansen and his "talking"...
cartoon in 2004. In March 2007, KQED-TV broadcast an hour-long documentary Gumby Dharma as part of their Truly CA series.
In 1995, Clokey and Dallas McKennon teamed up again for Gumby: The Movie
Gumby: The Movie
Gumby: The Movie is a 1995 clay animation feature film featuring the character Gumby.The movie is rated G by the MPAA.-Opening sequence clip:...
, a feature film. The movie was not a success at the box office and was widely panned by critics.
In the mid-1990s, Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon is a US cable TV channel.Nickelodeon may also refer to:-In television:*Spinoffs of the Nickelodeon channel:** Nickelodeon Magazine, a children's magazine.** Nickelodeon Universe, an amusement park....
signed a contract with Art Clokey to air every episode of Gumby for its anchor spots at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. It was on top of their ratings for over three years.
Clokey died in his sleep on January 8, 2010, at age 88, at his home in Los Osos, California
Los Osos, California
Los Osos is an unincorporated area and a census-designated place located along the Pacific coast of San Luis Obispo County, California. The community is part of the 93402 and 93412 ZIP Codes and area code 805. The population was 14,276 at the 2010 census....
after suffering from a recurrent bladder infection.
On October 12, 2011, which would have been Clokey's 90th birthday, Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
paid homage to Clokey's life and works with an interactive logo doodle in the style of his clay animations, produced by Premavision Studios.