Gumby & Pokey - A slant-headed character with a squeaky voice that debuted on THE HOWDY DOODY SHOW in 1956. Created by Art Clokey, Gumby is a green clay figure with stretchable limbs and animated by stop-action photography. His sidekick is a horse named Pokey. Gumby and Pokey later starred on THE GUMBY SHOW/NBC/1957, a 30-minute program of animated clay figures that premiered on March 15, 1957. The show was first hosted by Bobby Nicholson who portrayed Scotty McKee, the proprietor of McKee's Fun Shop where Gumby lived. Nicholson had earlier played both Clarabell the Clown and Cornelius Cobb on HOWDY DOODY.

Comedian Pinky Lee replaced Nicholson as host in the fall of 1957. Lee resided in the Fun Forest with his puppet pals, Wooly the Rabbit and Filbert the Frog. A new batch of Gumby episodes were aired in 1962, 1966-67 and 1988.

TRIVIA NOTE: When Art Clokey was a USC film student, he used a Ping-Pong table as a soundstage and churned out six-minute Gumby features for $700 per minute.

His Gumby character first appeared in a 3-D like student film entitled Gumbasia (1953) made in honor of Disney's 1940s Fantasia film.

The slanted head of the Gumby character was inspired by an old photograph of Clokey's father who sported a large pompadour on the left side of his head.

During the 1980s, comedian Eddie Murphy did a profane but quite hilarious parody of the Gumby character ("I'm Gumby, dammit!") on the weekend comedy program NBC'S SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE.

The name Gumby was derived from the word "Gumbo," a form of sticky mud. See also - "Davey and Goliath" 

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