RIP Art Clokey

Sorting through the Christmas boxes my parents came across my Gumby, who had somehow made his way into one. They insisted it was my original childhood Gumby, but I don't think so; he's too shiny and well-preserved. I think they bought me a new one a few years back as a sentimental gag, knowing how much I loved him as a kid, an affection that Eddie Murphy's parody did little to diminish. In any case, they gifted him to Larissa, who now has a flexible friend to call her own. And she enjoys him as much as I did.

Clokey was a more complicated person than his legacy, which also included the gentle Christian program Davey and Goliath, would suggest. There's a good documentary about him, Gumby Dharma, that goes into his deprived childhood, pioneering efforts in stop-motion animation, and later soul-searching. One can only marvel at someone whose creations have inspired generations of children to pursue adventures of their own.