&lt;div class=&quot;track&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; src=&quot;http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.22.2/50825?ns=guardian&amp;pageName=Google+doodle+celebrates+birthday+of+Gumby+creator+Arthur+%27Art%27+Clokey%3AArticle%3A1646326&amp;ch=Technology&amp;c3=GU.co.uk&amp;c4=Google+doodle%2CInternet%2CSearch+engines%2CGoogle+%28Technology%29%2CTechnology%2CAnimation+%28TV+genre%29%2CTelevision+%28Culture%29%2CAnimation+%28Film+genre%29%2CFilm%2CUS+television+industry%2CUS+television+%28TV+and+radio%29%2CUS+news%2CWorld+news&amp;c5=Digital+Media%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CUS+Elections%2CTechnology+Gadgets%2CCorporate+IT%2CFilm+Reviews%2CTelevision+Media%2CTV&amp;c6=Guardian+staff&amp;c7=11-Oct-12&amp;c8=1646326&amp;c9=Article&amp;c10=&amp;c11=Technology&amp;c13=&amp;c25=&amp;c30=content&amp;h2=GU%2FTechnology%2FGoogle+doodle&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; height=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;standfirst&quot;&gt;Stop motion animator came up with clay figure who had a 35-year run on television&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Google has celebrated the 90th birthday of the stop motion animation pioneer Arthur &quot;Art&quot; Clokey in its latest Google doodle.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Detroit-born Clokey, who died in 2010, was best known for Gumby, a clay figure and star of the Gumby Show, which ran for 35 years from November 1955. Interest in the characters was given a boost in the 1980s when Eddie Murphy parodied Gumby in a Saturday Night Live skit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;One of Clokey&#039;s first clay animation productions was Gumbasia (1955), a short, surreal homage to Walt Disney&#039;s Fantasia that caught the eye of Samuel G Engel, then president of the Motion Pictures Producers Association. Engel was sufficiently impressed to finance the pilot film for what became the Gumby Show.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Film appearances, comic strips, merchandise and reruns in the 1990s on Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network stand as testimony to Gumby&#039;s enduring popularity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The doodle features some of Clokey&#039;s characters popping out from balls of clay.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;related&quot; style=&quot;float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/google-doodle&quot;&gt;Google doodle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/internet&quot;&gt;Internet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/searchengines&quot;&gt;Search engines&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/google&quot;&gt;Google&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/animation&quot;&gt;Animation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/television&quot;&gt;Television&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/animation&quot;&gt;Animation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/ustelevision&quot;&gt;US television industry&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/us-television&quot;&gt;US television&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa&quot;&gt;United States&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;terms&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk&quot;&gt;guardian.co.uk&lt;/a&gt; &amp;copy; 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our &lt;a href=&quot;http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html&quot;&gt;Terms &amp; Conditions&lt;/a&gt; | &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds&quot;&gt;More Feeds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;clear:both&quot; /&gt;