Today, Google is honoring the man behind beloved character Gumby. Google celebrated the 90th birthday of Gumby’s creator Art Clokey with an interactive Google doodles—by clicking on the clay balls, Gumby characters will appear before melting back.
The doodle features characters from the Gumby series including Pokey, The Blockheads, Prickle and Goo—it also features a “G” block.
According to pcmag.com, The doodle was created by Clokey Productions Premavision studios, led by animator Anthony Scott, who started his career in the 1980s on the Gumby series under Clokey while Nicole La Pointe-McKay, a Gumby lead puppet maker, modeled the characters for the doodle.
Gumby was the product of Art’s sutdent project at University of Southern California in the 50s. His project was called “Gumbasia.” The characters were featured on the “Howdy Doody Show” and eventually led to a spin-off called “Gumby.”
Gumby was inspired by Art’s wife, who suggested he base his character on the Gingerbread man. Gumby’s famous slanted head was based on the hair style of Clokey’s father Charles Farrington.
Clokey died in January 2010. He died at 88-years-old. According to the Associated Press, Clokey suffered from repeated bladder infections and died in his sleep at his home in Los Osos on California’s Central Coast.
Eddie Murphy brought Gumby back to popularity in the 80s when he began a parody of Gumby on Saturday Night Life—Gumby appeared as a cigar smoking celebrity.
