TAIL TALE (1967)

TAIL TALE
Writer-Director:PETE KLEINOW, ART CLOKEY, RAYMOND PECK
CAST
Gumby/NORMA McMILLAN
Pokey;space critter(?)/DAL McKENNON
Executive/Producer;ART CLOKEY
Synopsis: Gumby's space age expiriment goes haywire when Pokey's tail and mane keep getting transposed with a pot of
flowers and then an alien in a scienfitic test.

TV TROPES:
Aliens are bastards: Averted with the alien that helps Gumby nad Pokey
Einstein's mc2: Variated with Gumby's control on the machine
Horse compartisionm: When Pokey notes slowness of the flowers, he comments that he's no race horse.
Nerd: Gumby
Teleportation: The machine that Gumby is using can teleport anyone faster (the whole plot).



The space age and the jet age of the 50s-60s really showed "Gumby the Scientist" being inventive as ever, with a real
strange contraption even more odd that what we presented last time ("Do-It-Yourself Gumby").
The short has as a major gimmick two transportation booths, and a Einstein-esque couple of selection on a computer
panel rotary knob-EC=M and some variants with 3 and 4 but NO EC=M2.
The episode starts out with Gumby in his science laboratory with the familiar late 60s brass unidentified sunny music
also heard opening shorts like "Shady Lemonade" around this time, standing by his machine and myself, Pokey, as summoned
up by Gumby, answers Gumby "sending for him" (before the episode started.) Gumby tells Pokey, "You see those two cells over
there", indicating the aforementioned machine cells, to which Pokey, ever the wisecracker:"If you say so..."
Gumby then says: "Be SERIOUS Pokey"...then explains his transportation idea that Pokey's to be a guinea pig, or guinea PONY, for:
to have Pokey stand in one of the rounded cell-booths while Gumby turns the knob mentioned above, while Gumby places a flowerpot
(with flowers, natch) in the other, and wierd computer hums play, and Pokey and the flowers are transported-sort of.
Pokey says that even not being a race horse, that he's faster.
The tail is sticking out so Gumby reactivates machine, tail flies off, and then flowers on Pokey's back, with the TAIL replacing the flowers in their pot!
After Gumby tries again both Pokey, and pot with Gumby occuyping another cell,
 disappear only with Pokey's mane now replacing the tail, which is now gone, with the mane restored to
Pokey but the flowers and their pot gone.
The REAL bizzare thing is when Gumby tries yet AGAIN and one of those strange bizarre aliens that only turns up in Gumby appears, with single
curled hair, about Gumby's height, in one cell, and scoots to the machine and (to the EC=M) adds the needed "2", with Pokey then Gumby ad-
mitting that Gumby goofed, with the alien and Gumby in one cell and Pokey in the other, and now, the alien is gone but Gumby, the flower pot
and its intended contents, and in their rightful places Pokey's tail and mane are back.
Gumby explains that the weird space alien just got suddenly pulled out of the solar system by Gumby's computer and sent everyone and everything,
faster than the speed of light. "You're no racehorse Pokey, but you're the fastest horse on earth".
I'd sure like to know who did the Bill Loose-David Rose like eerie music used here when the alien appears-it's also in "Dragon Daffy" (the sequel or predecessor
to the aforementioned, unrelated "Shady Lemonade") when Gumby goes into the stone age book, in "Moon Boggles" when we first meed the 'Boggles, and in "Grub
Grabber Gumby" when Gumby has his nightmare with Pokey as a fright-mare (of the male gender) stuffing him a la "Clockwork Orange" and the earlier Warner Bros.
cartoons "Pigs is Pigs", 1937, not related to the 1905 E.P.Butler/1954 Disney story, and "Wholly Smoke" with Porky Pig, 1938); it's very similiar to the Loose-Rose-Seely music
so well known from the often-discussed shorts from Hanna-Barbera's Huckleberry Hound episode from 1960-61 "Astro-Nut Huck" that opens it, and the WB cartoons from the musicians strike
era in 1958, "Gopher Broke", that closes it; George Hormel also had a well known cue like it in HB, Clokey, and others. Seely, Hormel,etc. had a lot of spooky, beautiful cues like this. But D.M.Lackey & G.Kauer are
believed to composed for this.
"Gilligan's Island" episode for 1965-66, 4/7/66, #66, "Friendly Physician", used booths in a way similiar to the booth-rounded cells in this short.

DO-IT-YOURSELF-GUMBY (1967)

DO-IT-YOURSELF-GUMBY (1967)
Writers-Directors: PETE KLEINOW, ART CLOKEY & RAY PECK
CAST
Gumby;Goo/NORMA MacMILLAN
Pokey/DAL McKENNON
Prickle/ART CLOKEY (?)
Machine/?
Exec.Producer ART CLOKEY
Mus.GENE KAUER, D.LACKEY.
Synopsis:Gumby's a computer whiz bang whose "wish granting" device gives more than the wishers (himself included) ever bargained for.
----------------------------------
Sometimes, in the late 1960s many shows started becoming stale. Gumby may sometimes have been among them, but generally it still remained quite
surprsingly good and creative. This episode's no exception.
How many times have YOU heard that "if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself".
Well, this almost touches on that. In a way.
Gumby has invented a "progessive type" computer with keyboard, which, when TYPED, can produce JUST the
right command. For instance. Vanilla milkshake? Gumby types and a distorted voice (kinda lika a Siri, Clokey-style, or a Scarlett Johanssen-less "Samantha" a la Spike Jonze's "Her") comes up to repeat it
and "ta-daaa" there it is! Rowboat? No problemo. Gumby types up the order (to coin a phrase-ahem) and it appears.
All on a special stage.
The story has all four of the late 60s/80s show principals, Gumby, Pokey, Goo and Prickle. First Gumby wants something, roast turkey, after which Pokey says, "Yum Yum"
Roast tukey appears. Nothing wrong here but Gumby decides to add something else, a PIANO
It shows up on the stage.
But then the piano comes to life itself, doing a dance.
Goo:"It's playing by ITSELF".
Prickle: "Huh. A SMART aleck PIANO" Next, please...Prickle comes up, places his order, for a train,and hey, hey, Gumby types
away.  The camera then cuts to a scene where the computer's got it down, reciting it. "Coming right up". The soundtracks play a few familiar 60s stock cues.The train starts taking off, so Gumby cancels/


Goo finally makes a wish,a kitty, which Gumby then types. Computer distorted voice: "One....kitty....meow...coming right up".
But the computer produces a roaring tiger, so Gumby then types in "Cage",("Cage" says the computer).





ThenPrickle suggests a robot, but no sooner does he get the order
repeated by his marvellous machine than the robot comes over and types
too much so that Gumby takes a sledgehammer and smashes BOTH the robot and the MACHINE..
The distorted sounding machine has a good final moment here:"Work work work work" as the robot types a ltitle too much
so that the room is almost magically crowded with unwanted stuff.


Goo:"tsk.."
Pokey:"If you want something done RIGHT...
Prickle:"You gotta do it yourself".
The machine agrees.
End.
This had some definite use of fade ins to depict the realising of the four friends wishes, which must have involved special matte-ing process over the stop motion.

Merry Christmas,etc.from yours truly in this GUmby..

Here's Scrooge Loose, with electric guitar-stock cues that sound like they may have been done by veteran Sam Fox composer Hecky Krasnow, given his similiarity to the stock cue used by Hanna-Barbera on "Augie Doggie" earlier ('59-"60) titled "The Happy Cobbler" with the electric guitar and same tempo. I haven't heard these pieces to the best of MY knowledge, in any other production,


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCW-flTJbus

A Tale of Two Gumbys - "The Little Lost Pony"

"Son of Liberty"(1966)

Son of Liberty (1966)
Produced, directed, & written by
ART CLOKEY
Production Supervision & Photography by
RAYMOND PECK
Voices by DAL McKINNON (sic)
Music by GENE KAUER & DOUG LACKEY (uncredited*)
Sound by AUDIO EFFECTS CO.
Animation by J.DANFORTH,etc.
Produced in association with LAKESIDE TOYS
July 1966

TV TROPES:
Big Bad: The Revolutionaries, who emerge from a book.

Cameo: The Groobee from the 1959 cartoon of the same name

Sudden shot: The cannon that shoots through the book, thus closing the episode.

Teleportation: Gumby and Pokey, as often, and mentioned in the 60s groovie-bubblegum pop tune a little later, (the one quoted in the blog name) can go thru any book.




During the mid 1960s the dawn of new Gumby episodes---a third series, was to be done. This would help get the franchise back
on track with MORE episodes, and even onscreen credits---as well as a visitor from a previous episode.
Gumby and Pokey--that's yours truly -play around outside an American History book in a toy store when some enemy soldiers come out and chase
G&P around. Gumby decides to get a cannon and then shoot them into the book. The soldiers come and in some panning shots chase Gumby acorss
the toystore. The crate-building Groobee from the 1961 episode must've really give a love-bite to the Neilsen folks and the executives in the television
programming departments and stations, for the giant helpful insect returns for the first of three times to build crates around the Revolutationary War enemy
soldiers. They then present the soldiers to the President! But then the cannon goes off chasing everyone off, and then the credits appear.
With this one the show would go back to new episodes through 1969. By this time the background music includes cues from Sam Singer's "Trans-Artists Productions"
Television" (as the company went under the name of on "Courageous Cat' from the much earlier nineteen-sixties on teleivision), and heard along the way in
producer Singer's "Sinbad"(and Salty). This includes the jaunty, catchy, slide flute cue that skips along as a theme for Gumby and plays during the credits. It would
then go on to be joined by director-animator Pete Kneinow's theme with lyhrics (the source of the title of this blog!-Kleinow had been with the Flying Burrito Borthers abnd.)

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

To celebrate..here's the famous 1966-vintage episode "Son of Liberty". Notice Gumby's voice is more heavily sped up and the date on beginning and end credits, crediting the unbeatable Dallas "McKinnon"(McKennon) for the voices and Audio Effects Inc. for sound effects though no music credit...Ray Peck is credited photography director:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTlDX0fcNfA

Guess which review's coming next??

Dopey Nopey

"Dopey Nopey"
Producer-Creator
ART CLOKEY
Writers-Directors:
PETE KLEINOW
RAYMOND PECK
CAST:
Gumby,Nopey?/NORMA MacMILLAN
Pokey/DAL[LAS] McKENNON
Narrator/ART CLOKEY?
Nerdy kid/DICK BEALS?
Music not confirmed, entirely..

Oriignal Airdate 1968
----------------------------------------

This would fit in the latter category. Hopey runs around Pokey. He then knocks off "Pokey's" [nee: the little abovementioned boy's] glasses.
"One day, a little boy lost his glasses. The very NEXT day....those same glasses were picked up by Gumby's goodpal POKEY---who DECIDED
to try them on." So there hangs this story..After the above, Nopey-Gumby's dog comes running in. Many of these used a lot of activity, many lots of dialogue.
Pokey mentions the episode's title:"Dopey Nopey"."You Dopey Nopey"


Pokey then chases Nopey around and then they chase each other around like a couple of idiots.

 Gumby says aloud: "All this for a pair of glasses." Pokey insists that it's because, you see, "glasses make your smart". Gumby tries to tell him that
glasses and smartness are mutually exclusive. Porky and Nopey then continue to chase each other like Snoopy chasing Linus in the Peanuts strip for Linus;s security tool,
then runs into the very same boy who had lost them at the outset.. [Can't tell exactly who's doing the voice here, Beals or MacMillan.]
HGumby then skates outside then discover the kid and that the kid's the owner, then restores the glasses to him, explaining things to Pokey and Nopey.
The kid stasrts reciting Hamlet. "To be...or Not to be"..(D.Beals?) Nopey gives his standard "Nope'!
END.
The title has a somewhat tenous connection to the episode, but anyway it shows the unqiue character development of this..I wonder if Clokey was the narrator in these..
The opening stock cue is very catchy, though it's not used elsewhere in the series. It has a xylophone and piano under (Clokey's) narration. Authors Louis Kaplan and Scott Michaelson's 1986 book on the franchise, and sadly the only one,
calls this the last of the series.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Spammers are here and I plan to do some moderation for this group, just for everybody's sake.