{"id":89811,"date":"2014-05-07T10:45:11","date_gmt":"2014-05-07T17:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/?p=89811"},"modified":"2016-06-27T16:35:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-27T23:35:00","slug":"watch-gumbasia-the-jazzy-stop-motion-film-that-gave-birth-to-gumby-1955","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/05\/watch-gumbasia-the-jazzy-stop-motion-film-that-gave-birth-to-gumby-1955.html","title":{"rendered":"Watch <i>Gumbasia<\/i> the Jazzy Stop Motion Film That Gave Birth to Gumby (1955)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"oc-video-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"oc-video-container\">\n\t<span class=\"youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"505\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VaZzRUc2C0A?wmode=transparent&amp;fs=1&amp;hl=en&amp;showsearch=0&amp;rel=0&amp;theme=dark\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n<p>\t<!-- \/oc-video-embed -->\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- \/oc-video-wrapper --><\/p>\n<p>Like many in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Y3-rd_mZPV4\">the Hon\u00adey\u00adcomb Kids<\/a> gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion, I did\u00adn\u2019t prop\u00ader\u00adly appre\u00adci\u00adate chil\u00addren\u2019s tele\u00advi\u00adsion icon <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gumbyworld.com\/\">Gum\u00adby<\/a> until <a href=\"https:\/\/screen.yahoo.com\/gumby-pokey-000000437.html\">Eddie Mur\u00adphy par\u00ado\u00addied him on <em>Sat\u00adur\u00adday Night Live<\/em><\/a>. This sparked a revival. Watch\u00ading Gum\u00adby episodes in the com\u00adpa\u00adny of oth\u00ader mer\u00adry young adults reframed my pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly held view of him as a rel\u00adic from a time when TV was bor\u00ading. Turns out that Gum\u00adby and his equine side\u00adkick Pokey were actu\u00adal\u00adly pret\u00adty fun\u00adny, weird-in-a-good-way, and far more soul\u00adful than the wit\u00adless flat ani\u00adma\u00adtion jam\u00adming the air\u00adwaves of my 70s child\u00adhood.<\/p>\n<div class=\"oc-center-da\">\n<div data-fuse=\"22871471544\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>Then, in 2006, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.movingimage.us\/\">the Muse\u00adum of the Mov\u00ading Image<\/a> had an exhib\u00adit devot\u00aded to the work of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gumbyworld.com\/art-clokey\/\">Art Clokey<\/a>, father of Gum\u00adby.<\/p>\n<p>I decid\u00aded to take the kids, gam\u00adbling that they might respond to Gum\u00adby as I did now, not the way I did when I was their age. Their screen time was pret\u00adty lim\u00adit\u00aded back then, and as a result, they\u2019d avid\u00adly watch just about any\u00adthing.<\/p>\n<p>The first video we encoun\u00adtered was&nbsp;<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gumbyworld.com\/art-clokey\/art-at-20th-century-fox-gumbasia\/\">Gum\u00adba\u00adsia<\/a><\/em>, the exper\u00adi\u00admen\u00adtal, char\u00adac\u00adter-free, stop motion riff above that Clokey made as a stu\u00addent at USC. It was pro\u00adduced in 1953 and released in 1955.<\/p>\n<p>Not exact\u00adly what I\u2019d been prim\u00ading the chil\u00addren to expect on the sub\u00adway ride over.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s Gum\u00adby?\u201d they cried in dis\u00admay. \u201cThat cube?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No. But those mor\u00adph\u00ading cubes and squig\u00adgles did give birth to an empire, after pro\u00adduc\u00ader and pres\u00adi\u00addent of the Motion Pic\u00adture Pro\u00adduc\u00aders Asso\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtion, Sam Engel, offered to bankroll a pilot, declar\u00ading <em>Gum\u00adba\u00adsia<\/em> the most excit\u00ading film he\u2019d ever seen in his life. Clokey was teach\u00ading Eng\u00adlish at the Har\u00advard Mil\u00adi\u00adtary Acad\u00ade\u00admy. Engel\u2019s sole wish was to improve the qual\u00adi\u00adty of chil\u00addren\u2019s tele\u00advi\u00adsion pro\u00adgram\u00adming. He asked Clokey if he could \u201cmake lit\u00adtle clay fig\u00adures out of that clay and ani\u00admate them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Clokey did just that, with Engel bankrolling the pilot,&nbsp;\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eJDJ1ALa9Eo\">Gum\u00adby on the Moon<\/a>.\u201d The pro\u00adduc\u00ader was so pleased with the result, he refused to take a cut when <em>Gum\u00adby<\/em> was giv\u00aden a sev\u00aden year con\u00adtract at NBC.<\/p>\n<p>Imag\u00adine a Cin\u00adderel\u00adla sto\u00adry like that hap\u00adpen\u00ading today!<\/p>\n<p>If this small morsel of Gum\u00adby his\u00adto\u00adry leaves you crav\u00ading more, book your flight for the inau\u00adgur\u00adal <a href=\"http:\/\/gumbyfest.net\/\">Gum\u00adby Fest<\/a> in Glen\u00addo\u00adra, Cal\u00adi\u00adfor\u00adnia, where Gum\u00adby grew to matu\u00adri\u00adty in \u201can unas\u00adsum\u00ading indus\u00adtri\u00adal build\u00ading.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>You can find <i>Gum\u00adba\u00adsia<\/i>&nbsp;in the&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/free-animated-films\">Ani\u00adma\u00adtion sec\u00adtion<\/a>&nbsp;of our col\u00adlec\u00adtion of&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/freemoviesonline\">675 Free Movies Online: Great Clas\u00adsics, Indies, Noir, West\u00aderns<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p7\"><strong>Relat\u00aded Con\u00adtent:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/03\/big-bang-big-boom-stop-motion-animation-artistically-depicts-the-evolution-of-life.html\">Big Bang Big Boom: Graf\u00adfi\u00adti Stop-Motion Ani\u00adma\u00adtion Cre\u00adative\u00adly Depicts the Evo\u00adlu\u00adtion of Life<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/04\/watch-bottle-an-award-winning-stop-motion-animated-tale-of-transoceanic-correspondence.html\">Watch \u201cBot\u00adtle,\u201d an Award-Win\u00adning Stop Motion Ani\u00admat\u00aded Tale of Transocean\u00adic Cor\u00adre\u00adspon\u00addence<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2013\/01\/harder_than_it_looks_the_making_of_great_stop_motion_animation.html\">Hard\u00ader Than It Looks: How to Make a Great Stop Motion Ani\u00adma\u00adtion<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p7\"><span class=\"s5\"><a href=\"http:\/\/ayunhalliday.com\/\"><i>Ayun Hal\u00adl\u00adi\u00adday<\/i><\/a><\/span><i>&nbsp;is the author of sev\u00aden books, and cre\u00adator of the award win\u00adning East Vil\u00adlage Inky zine. Fol\u00adlow her <\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/AyunHalliday\"><span class=\"s5\"><i>@AyunHalliday<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding: 10px 0\">http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Y3-rd_mZPV4\u201d&gt;the<\/div>\n<p>Like many in the Hon\u00adey\u00adcomb Kids gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion, I did\u00adn\u2019t prop\u00ader\u00adly appre\u00adci\u00adate chil\u00addren\u2019s tele\u00advi\u00adsion icon Gum\u00adby until Eddie Mur\u00adphy par\u00ado\u00addied him on Sat\u00adur\u00adday Night Live. This sparked a revival. Watch\u00ading Gum\u00adby episodes in the com\u00adpa\u00adny of oth\u00ader mer\u00adry young adults reframed my pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly held view of him as a rel\u00adic from a time when TV was [\u2026]<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[331,388,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animation-2","category-k-12","category-television"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Watch Gumbasia the Jazzy Stop Motion Film That Gave Birth to Gumby (1955)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/05\/watch-gumbasia-the-jazzy-stop-motion-film-that-gave-birth-to-gumby-1955.html\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ayun Halliday\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/watch-gumbasia-the-jazzy-stop-motion-film-that-gave-birth-to-gumby-1955.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/watch-gumbasia-the-jazzy-stop-motion-film-that-gave-birth-to-gumby-1955.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ayun Halliday\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/344a40179f8689f179df2ce8d5f7f050\"},\"headline\":\"Watch Gumbasia the Jazzy Stop Motion Film That Gave Birth to Gumby (1955)\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-07T17:45:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-06-27T23:35:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/watch-gumbasia-the-jazzy-stop-motion-film-that-gave-birth-to-gumby-1955.html\"},\"wordCount\":471,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Animation\",\"K-12\",\"Television\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/watch-gumbasia-the-jazzy-stop-motion-film-that-gave-birth-to-gumby-1955.html#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/watch-gumbasia-the-jazzy-stop-motion-film-that-gave-birth-to-gumby-1955.html\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/watch-gumbasia-the-jazzy-stop-motion-film-that-gave-birth-to-gumby-1955.html\",\"name\":\"Watch Gumbasia the Jazzy Stop Motion Film That Gave Birth to Gumby (1955)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-07T17:45:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-06-27T23:35:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/watch-gumbasia-the-jazzy-stop-motion-film-that-gave-birth-to-gumby-1955.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/watch-gumbasia-the-jazzy-stop-motion-film-that-gave-birth-to-gumby-1955.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/watch-gumbasia-the-jazzy-stop-motion-film-that-gave-birth-to-gumby-1955.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Watch Gumbasia the Jazzy Stop Motion Film That Gave Birth to Gumby (1955)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Open Culture\",\"description\":\"The best free cultural &amp; 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