Editing Art Clokey

{{short description|American animator (1921–2010)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Art Clokey
| image              = Art Clokey.jpg
| caption            = Clokey in 1967
| alt                = Arthur "Art" Clokey
| birth_date         = {{birth date|mf=y|1921|10|12}}
| birth_place        = [[Detroit]], Michigan, U.S.
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2010|1|08|1921|10|12|mf=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Los Osos, California]], U.S.
| birth_name         = Arthur Charles Farrington
| notable_works      = Creator of [[Gumby]] and [[Davey and Goliath]]
| alma_mater         = [[Pomona College]]<br />[[Miami University]]<br />[[University of Southern California]] [[The Webb Schools]]
| occupation         = {{hlist|Animator|director|producer|screenwriter|voice actor}}
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Ruth Clokey|1948|1966|reason=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Gloria Clokey|1976|1998|reason=died}}
}}
| awards             = [[Inkpot Award]] (2006)<ref>[https://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot Inkpot Award]</ref>
| years_active       = 1953–1995
| children           = 2
| family             = [[Joseph W. Clokey]] (father)
}}
'''Arthur Clokey''' (born '''Arthur Charles Farrington'''; October 12, 1921&nbsp;– January 8, 2010) was an American animator, director, producer, screenwriter and voice actor, he was pioneer in the popularization of [[stop-motion]] [[clay animation]], best known as the creator of the character [[Gumby]] and the original voice of Gumby's sidekick, Pokey. Clokey's career began in 1953 with a film experiment called ''[[Gumbasia]]'', which was influenced by his professor, [[Slavko Vorkapich]], at the [[University of Southern California]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The magic behind the voices |editor1=Tim Lawson |editor2=Alisa Persons |page=120 |publisher=[[University Press of Mississippi]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-57806-696-4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=TV personalities: biographical sketch book: Volume 3 |year=1957 |publisher=St. Louis, Mo. : TV Personalities |oclc=2470684}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/topic/hero-complex|title=Hero Complex|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jan-09-la-me-art-clokey9-2010jan09-story.html|title=Art Clokey dies at 88; creator of Gumby|date=January 9, 2010|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> Clokey and his wife Ruth subsequently came up with the clay character Gumby and his horse Pokey, who first appeared in the ''[[Howdy Doody]] Show'' and later got their own series ''The Adventures of Gumby'', from which they became a familiar presence on American television. 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]]''.

Clokey's second-most famous production is the duo of ''[[Davey and Goliath]]'', funded by the [[Lutheran Church in America]] (now the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.daveyandgoliath.org/whoweare.html |title=Who Are Davey and Goliath? |publisher=Daveyandgoliath.org |access-date=2011-10-11 |archive-date=2012-08-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829144842/http://www.daveyandgoliath.org/whoweare.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Clokey founded the company Premavision (which has manufacturing subsidiary, Prema Toy Company) around his Gumby and Pokey franchise.

==Early life==
Arthur Charles Farrington was born in Detroit on October 12, 1921. After his parents' divorce when he was about 8, he lived with his father; when Arthur was 9, his father was killed in an automobile accident. Rejoining his mother in California, the boy was banished by her new husband and placed in a children's home. At about 11, young Arthur was adopted by [[Joseph W. Clokey|Joseph Waddell Clokey]], a well-known composer of sacred and secular music.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fox |first=Margalit |date=2010-01-11 |title=Art Clokey, Animator Who Created Gumby, Dies at 88 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/arts/television/11clokey.html |access-date=2022-06-09 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

At [[The Webb Schools]] 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]], where his new father Joseph was an organist, before leaving in 1943 to join the Air Corps as a reconnaissance photographer during [[World War II]].<ref name="LAT obit">{{cite news |last1=Felch |first1=Jason |title=Art Clokey dies at 88; creator of Gumby |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-me-art-clokey9-2010jan09-story.html |access-date=6 November 2020 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=9 January 2010}}</ref><ref name="TSL obit">{{cite news |last1=Gilbertsen |first1=Christian |title=Arthur Clokey Dies: Pomona alumnus and creator of Gumby dies at 88 |url=https://tsl.news/news1204/ |access-date=29 July 2020 |work=[[The Student Life]] |date=12 February 2010}}</ref> He graduated from his father's alma mater, [[Miami University]], in 1948.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Fox|first=Margalit|date=2010-01-11|title=Art Clokey, Animator Who Created Gumby, Dies at 88|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/arts/television/11clokey.html|access-date=2021-11-29|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==Clay animation==
Art Clokey also made a few highly experimental and visually inventive short clay animation films for adults, including his first student film ''Gumbasia'' (produced in 1953 and released in 1955), the visually rich ''Mandala'' (1977)—described by Clokey as a metaphor for evolving human consciousness—and the equally bizarre ''The Clay Peacock'' (1959), an elaboration on the animated [[NBC]] logo of the time.<ref>These films have recently become available for purchase by the public and are included in the [[Rhino Entertainment|Rhino]] box-set release of Gumby's television shorts.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gumbyworld.com/art-clokey/the-clay-peacock/|title=Art Clokey's Clay Peacock|website=www.gumbyworld.com}}</ref> 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 (1940 film)|Fantasia]]''.

In 1987, Clokey provided the voice for the figure Pokey in [[Arnold Leibovit]]'s film ''[[The Puppetoon Movie]]'', and voiced him thereafter.

The Clokeys are credited with the clay-animation [[Film title design|title sequences]] for the 1965 beach movies ''[[Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine]]'' and ''[[How to Stuff a Wild Bikini]]''. His son, Joe Clokey, continued the ''[[Davey and Goliath]]'' cartoon in 2004. In March 2007, [[KQED (TV)|KQED-TV]] broadcast the hour-long documentary ''Gumby Dharma'' as part of their ''Truly CA'' series.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kqed.org/arts/truly/episode.jsp?eid=160077 |title=KQED &#124; Public TV: Truly CA: Home: Gumby Dharma |access-date=2007-03-26 |archive-date=2007-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070321020942/http://www.kqed.org/arts/truly/episode.jsp?eid=160077 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1995, Clokey directed and co-wrote (with his second wife, Gloria) ''[[Gumby: The Movie]]'', a feature film. The movie was not a success at the box office and was widely panned by critics, although it saw modest success on home media, going on to sell more than a million copies on home media, cementing itself as a [[cult classic]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Clokey|first=Joe|title=Gumby Imagined: The Story of Art Clokey and his Creations|publisher=[[Dynamite Entertainment|Dynamite]]|year=2017|isbn=9781524104344|pages=228}}</ref>

==Death and legacy==
Clokey died in his sleep on January 8, 2010, at age 88, at his home in [[Los Osos, California]], after suffering recurrent bladder infections.<ref name=latimes>{{cite news|last=Felch | first=Jason | url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-me-art-clokey9-2010jan09,0,5170610.story | title=Art Clokey dies at 88; creator of Gumby | work=[[Los Angeles Times]] | date=January 9, 2010 | access-date=May 20, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Art Clokey, Animator Who Created Gumby, Dies at 88|first=Margalit|last=Fox|date=January 11, 2010|access-date=January 11, 2010|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/arts/television/11clokey.html | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100114063222/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/arts/television/11clokey.html| archive-date= 14 January 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>Pemberton, Patrick S. [http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/breaking_news/story/982411.html "'Gumby' creator and Los Osos resident Art Clokey dies"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100110202453/http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/breaking_news/story/982411.html |date=January 10, 2010 }}, SanLuisObispo.com/''The Tribune'', January 8, 2010</ref>

On October 13, 2011, a day after what would have been Clokey's 90th birthday, [[Google]] paid homage to his life and works with an interactive [[Google logo#Google Doodles|logo doodle]] in the style of his clay animations, including [[Gumby]], produced by Premavision Studios.<ref>[http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2011/1012/Art-Clokey-How-Gumby-got-his-name Art Clokey: How Gumby got his name], ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'', retrieved 2010-10-12.</ref>
<!--Eventually replace this with link to Google's own doodle archive.-->

==Filmography==
*''[[Gumbasia]]'' (produced in 1953 and released in 1955) (animator, director, producer and writer)
*''The [[Gumby]] Show'' (1957–1968) as Pokey (voice; also animator, director, producer and writer)
*''[[Davey and Goliath]]'' (1961–1964, 1971–1975) (director, producer and writer)
* ''[http://www.gumbyworld.com/art-clokey/the-clay-peacock/ The Clay Peacock]'' (1975) (director, producer and camera operator)
*''[http://www.gumbyworld.com/art-clokey/mandala-a-visionary-masterpiece/ Mandala]'' (1977) (director, producer and camera operator)
*''[[The Puppetoon Movie]]'' (1987) as Pokey (voice)
*''Gumby Adventures'' (1988) as Worm and Pokey (voice; also director, producer and head writer)
*''[[Gumby: The Movie]]'' (1995) as Pokey, Prickle, and Gumbo (Gumby's Dad) (voice; also director, producer, script writer and animator)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Art Clokey}}
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://www.premavision.com/ Premavision] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111014091847/http://www.premavision.com/ |date=2011-10-14 }}
* [http://www.gumbyworld.com/memorylane/art-clokey-gumby-creator.htm Art Clokey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005013923/http://www.gumbyworld.com/memorylane/art-clokey-gumby-creator.htm |date=2011-10-05 }} Art Clokey's bio on Gumbyworld.com
* {{IMDb name|id=0167029}}
* [http://www.kqed.org/arts/people/truly/profile.jsp?id=14526 KQED Arts and Culture: Art Clokey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080716140623/http://www.kqed.org/arts/people/truly/profile.jsp?id=14526 |date=2008-07-16 }}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20111014205209/http://www.thedeeparchives.com/tda_ex_show.php4?ex_id=4 Art Clokey: Gumby 50th Anniversary Exhibition]}}
* {{emmytvlegends name|art-clokey}}

{{Art Clokey}}
{{Inkpot Award 2000s}}
{{Winsor McCay Award 1990s}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clokey, Art}}
[[Category:1921 births]]
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[[Category:20th-century American artists]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
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[[Category:American adoptees]]
[[Category:American comedy film directors]]
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[[Category:American Lutherans]]
[[Category:American male screenwriters]]
[[Category:American male television writers]]
[[Category:American television directors]]
[[Category:Television writers from California]]
[[Category:Animators from California]]
[[Category:Animators from Michigan]]
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[[Category:Clay animators]]
[[Category:Deaths from urinary tract infection]]
[[Category:Film directors from California]]
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[[Category:Infectious disease deaths in California]]
[[Category:Inkpot Award winners]]
[[Category:Miami University alumni]]
[[Category:People from Los Osos, California]]
[[Category:Pomona College alumni]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from Michigan]]
[[Category:American stop motion animators]]
[[Category:Television producers from California]]
[[Category:Television producers from Michigan]]
[[Category:USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:People from Covina, California]]