Collectiblog

There have been a lot of high-profile deaths in the entertainment world lately. The news touches each one of us in a different way, yet generally brings back a stream of memories based on our association with that famous name. The name Dallas McKennon will not necessarily bring on the flood of emotion that other recent celebrity passings have caused, but for me, hearing that the voice of Gumby had passed made me more than a little sad.

Gumby was actually voiced by several different VO artists, starting with Norma McMillon (a.k.a. Casper the Friendly Ghost) and Dicky Beals (Speedy Alka-Seltzer), but McKennon was the classic voice from 1959 to 1964. When Gumby was revived in the '80s it was Dal McKennon who supplied the voice as well. McKennon also took on the voices of Pokey and Prickle, a task he shared with Gumby creator Art Clokey.

Gumby first debuted in 1957 and ever since has remained a pop culture favorite. The clay animation series had several resurgences in popularity over the years and spawned many products. The first, of course, was the bendy Gumby figures, which remain the staple of the Gumby collection. There have been dozens of variations on the Gumby figures over time and they're still available today (individually and in sets). In the '60s, you could buy some great action outfits to go with your Gumby, an idea that was revived in the '90s with "The Incredible Adventures of Gumby" line. There were board games, books, coloring books, puppets, bop bags and a long list of others.

The '80s saw a huge Gumby revival, possibly spurred by Eddie Murphy's characterization of Gumby on Saturday Night Live. Gumby T-Shirts, coffee mugs, stickers, plush dolls, watches, badges, buttons and videos were bought and sold as fast as they could be produced. To this day, you can still find current products featuring Gumby, plus his buddies Pokey, Prickle, Goo and the Blockheads. I personally remain ever vigilant on my search for any thing featuring Nopey, Gumby's contrarian pooch who could only say, well, "nope." Anyone out there got the goods?