Did anyone else notice that Google acknowledged the 90th birthday anniversary of Gumby and Pokey creator Art Clokey yesterday? The flexible pair were staples of kids' television fare in the early sixties and Clokey and his wife, Ruth, was really the originator of clay animation.
There were plenty of articles about Clokey and his work with movies as well as G & P. I notice that virtually none of them talked about Clokey's other less famous creations, Davey and Goliath. This boy and his dog were the stars of fifteen minute episodes sponsored by the Lutheran church in the States. They explored spiritual issues for children without being "preachy" we're told. Since I was a lad during this period I remember both series.
It's good to recall that a denomination could sponsor a religious children's show without being doctrinaire. I wonder if it could still happen? Today we would probably be told that a specifically Christian show is offensive to some group (not necessarily by the group itself), even thought many existing shows are violent or all about targetting kids as consumers.
I know I have touched on this subject before, but any recollections of Gumby and Pokey, or Davey and Goliath? Did you even think about D & G being Christian?
Davey and Goliath were the key characters in one of our VBS programs a few years ago. The kids loved the posters, stickers, songs and stories. There was even a DVD for them to watch with Davey and Goliath talking to them about the themes for VBS. A good program.
ReplyDeleteI still remember the dog's voice - intoning in every episode - some version of "Gosh, Davey, I didn't know .... (insert item)"
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