For this episode we go back into the vault for an interview conducted ten years ago with Joe Clokey. He was the son of the man who created and animated Gumby, the most bendable children's TV character ever. Joe grew up in California as "Gumby's little brother," watching his dad and mom stamp out dozens of brightly coloured characters out of plastercine in creating a unique world of stop-animation wonder.
TV audiences first saw Gumby on a short film tested during a broadcast of NBC's The Howdy Doody Show in 1955. That led to a full season order the next year, extended about once a decade on various networks into the '60s, '70s and '80s.
Clokey tells story after story about how the character evolved, who did the voices and even details about the theme song. It was his big sister and a friend singing, "He was once a little green slab of clay..." to a tune composed by a prominant jazz musician. The music played millions of times for a paltry one-time fee. Even Clokey lost out when a spinoff merchandising deal made a fortune -- not for him, but for the toy company.
We also talk about Clokey's other famous series, Davey and Goliath, a collection of suburban kiddie parables bankrolled by the Lutheren church. I saw both shows daily as a lad while watching Rocketship 7 and Commander Tom as they beamed across Lake Ontario from Buffalo, N.Y., on WKBW.