Saturday, January 9, 2010

semper gumby


I've been a fan of Gumby and Pokey since the mid-60s, when it was one of the very few tv shows my mother considered wholesome enough for me to watch (Captain Kangaroo and Walter Cronkite being the other two). Little did I know that Gumby's roots are in the West Inland Empire! You gotta read the obituary for Art Clokey, the creator of Gumby, whose story began when he was adopted from a halfway house at age 11 by an art professor at Pomona College. Given that Gumby was the first claymation on tv, I think we should add it to our list of Cultural Triumphs of the Inland Empire.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Did you see in today's paper that Directors Albert and Allen Hughes (New movie "The Book of Eli", staring Denzel Washington) grew up in Pomona?

Kathleen

David Allen said...

My column a few days after your post explored similar territory ... not to mention an out-of-town excursion by your mayor!

http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_14173769

Anonymous said...

To bring back some Gumby memories, this week I bought a dvd of 50's 60's & 80's Gumby & Pokey cartoons.
I guess I forgot how "out there" they were. Strange stuff but instantly remembered.
No LSD required for a Gumby trip.
Mark