We must sadly note the passing of Art Clokey, the creator of Gumby. Art died yesterday at the age of 88. He was a jolly man and I had the pleasure of meeting him a few times at animation festivals and such. An awful lot of hours and dedication went into animating the stop-motion adventures of Art's concoction, and Art seemed genuinely thrilled to meet adults who'd grown up on his little chewable creation. There sure were a lot of us. Here's the obit in the L.A. Times.