Google Doodle Honors Gumby Creator Art Clokey

The pioneer of stop motion clay animation would have turned 90 today. When the millions of daily Google GOOG visitors stop by the site this Wednesday, they'll be greeted by an animated Doodle inspired by Gumby. With five familiar (clickable!) balls of clay, the Doodle is an inspiring, eye-catching look at the world Art Clokey created. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Clokey founded Clokey Productions and Premavison studios in 1956 to produce stop motion animation TV series, films and commercials. In addition to Gumby, Clokey is well known for creating the character Pokey, as well as Davey and Goliath. “The Google Doodle is the perfect tribute to my father's work,” Joe Clokey, Art Clokey's son and creator of Gumby's new website, said in a statement published online. “Art's life and film career were ahead of their time. My dad would have been thrilled to be connected with Google in this way.”

Fans can visit GumbyWorld.com to see new, rare and classic film clips, pictures of Gumby, and biographical information, among other features. Today's Google Doodle was created by Anthony Scott, who is best known for animation direction and supervision on Coraline, Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Previously, Scott served as the lead animator under the direction of Joe Clokey on the Davey and Goliath Snowboard Christmas movie. Nicole La Pointe-McKay, a lead puppet maker for Gumby, modeled the characters for today's Doodle. Follow me @LouisBedigian