CHRISTMAS WITH GUMBY (TV)
Summary
This contains four productions featuring Gumby, the "little green guy" who -- with his faithful pony, Pokey -- stars in stop-motion clay animation shorts that debuted in 1953. In the first short, "Scrooge Loose," Gumby and Pokey notice Ebenezer Scrooge escaping from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." Scrooge wreaks havoc, knocking over toys and causing destruction. He decides to head into a book about Santa Claus in order to put an end to Christmas once and for all. He arrives at the North Pole and steals one of Santa's bags of toys from the back of the sleigh, planning to replace the toys inside with rocks. Eventually Gumby and Pokey track Scrooge to the book and capture him inside Santa's bag. They go to inform Santa of his missing toys, but while they're in the workshop Santa returns and takes off in his sleigh, unwittingly carrying Scrooge along with him. Gumby and Pokey emerge too late to stop Santa from flying off with Scrooge. The second short, "Santa Witch," begins as Pokey, afraid of being snatched up as a Christmas present, hides in a book entitled "Unusual Stories." He emerges at the North Pole, where he finds Santa being taken to the hospital. Pokey follows, and Santa laments that he is too sick to fly the sleigh tonight and that Christmas is ruined. However, Pokey has an idea: he calls an old friend of his, a witch, to come to the North Pole. When she arrives he informs her that the reindeer will only obey Santa, she decides to replace them with broomsticks instead. Pokey and a seal he met named Cybil accompany the witch as she lands at the first house on her stop. They put presents under the tree, but the resident children sneak downstairs for a peek at Santa, horrified that they have instead found a witch. Pokey recommends that the witch adopt a Santa disguise for the remaining houses. The third short, "Pigeon in a Plum Tree," begins as Pokey and Gumby decide to venture into a storybook they're reading in order to watch it happen firsthand. In the story, the kind yet dim Prince Harold wishes to buy a Christmas present for his girlfriend, who he also wants to ask to marry him. His father recommends that he buy a partridge in a pear tree in town. He attempts to do so, but they have sold out of partridges in pear trees. The duplicitous shopkeepers decide to sell Harold a pigeon in a plum tree, believing correctly that he would be too dumb to know the difference. Pokey believes this is unfair and wants to tell the truth, but Gumby prevents him from interfering with the story. The townsfolk all laugh at Harold's stupidity. On the way, Harold finds an elf being accosted by a wolf on the side of the road. He rushes to the rescue and defeats the wolf; Gumby once again prevents Pokey from interfering with the story. The elf accompanies Harold as he arrives at his girlfriends' house. While he's inside, Pokey can no longer contain himself and tells the elf about what's happened. The elf uses his magic pixie dust to turn the tree and pigeon into gold, much to Harold's surprise and his girlfriends' delight. Gumby says that the story is ruined now, but Pokey feels good about what he's done. The final short, "Toy Crazy," follows Gumby as he tries to pick out a toy for his parents to get him as a Christmas present. Pokey follows closely behind him, trying to help. Gumby tries out a number of toys, including a bicycle, a rocking-horse, a toy car, a train set, and an ambulance. Gumby eventually settles on the train set, but when he gets home he finds that he has lost it. He is saddened until the next day, when his parents bring him the train set anyway.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: November 30, 0195
- RUNNING TIME: 0:30:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 109090
- GENRE: Animation
- SUBJECT HEADING: Animation
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Art Clokey … Created by
- Dallas McKennon … Voice, Gumby
- Art Clokey … Voice, Pokey, Gumbo
- Janet McDuff … Voice, Gumba