Rest in peace, my friend

I know Sunday is my Secondhand day but I just heard that Art Clokey, the animator responsible for Gumby and my beloved Davey & Goliath, died over the weekend at the age of 88. This one's for you, Art. Thanks for the lessons.



"WHAT ARE YA WATCHIN', DAVEY?"

Original Post Date, January 12, 2009


I've come to the conclusion that I spend far too much time watching TV. There was a time when I didn't even own a TV. It was 2001. My set had broken and I didn't have the money to buy a new one because all of my money went to pay rent on my luxury apartment. I didn't have a TV or furniture but sure looked cool driving up to the front door of my fancy digs.

I actually got used to not having one and I was surprised by how much more productive I was. I cleaned, went for walks and read books. I think that was the year Napster was really popular so I downloaded a million songs. With a 56K modem. Oh, yes, I had nothin' but time.

I didn't start watching a lot of TV again until AT & T came a knockin' last summer. "Hey, we have this great new service called U-Verse. Would you like to try it?" I didn't think I wanted to try it but it wasn't much more than the basic cable/internet service I already had and they were offering me a DVR so I could "pause live TV and record up to a hundred programs." I didn't think I needed a hundred programs recorded but it was a lonely summer and the salesman told me I had pretty eyes so I signed up.

Can I just tell you this DVR is like crack? I spend more time sitting on my couch than I ever imagined I would. I started out by recording weekly sitcoms before I mastered the art of the search. Do you know that Davey & Goliath is on at 2AM every Thursday?

I used to watch the show every Sunday when I was a kid. If you aren't familiar with Davey & Goliath, it was about a mischievous little boy named Davey and his dog, Goliath. It was a claymation cartoon produced by the Lutheran Church so every episode had the underlying theme that God loved you no matter what. Goliath acted like Davey's conscience and talked in a voice that only Davey could hear. "You shouldn't be doing that Daveeyyy", Goliath would always drag out Davey's name.

Turning the show on all these years later brings back a lot of great memories but I notice things that I didn't when I was a kid. First of all, Davey's a little prick. He never listens to what anyone tells him but I suppose that's how he learns all those neato lessons. By realizing the err of his ways.

The claymation was done by Art & Ruth Clokey, the creators of Gumby. I guess they weren't really used to doing lifelike appendages because Davey's hands look like two baseball mitts that almost hang to his knees. His best friend is a little black boy named Jonathan who has the voice of a 45 year old man. "I have to go home and do my homework now, Davey." Creepy.

This episode talks about love and acceptance for everyone regardless of their race:



This episode does not...