Tuesday, December 16, 2008

what exactly does this bikini machine do?

take vincent price, throw in frankie avalon, put in a dash of The Supremes, and then bowl full of chopped Art Clokey and what have you got? no, not a stew, but Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine! unofficially the first spoof of the Bond series, this 1965 American International Pictures (famous for its low budget Roger Corman horror films) gem was unleashed on an unsuspecting public. popular enough to receive a sequel (Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs), its pretty well reviled in general. the most remarkable part about it has to be the opening sequence by the Gumby-master himself:


speaking of Mr. Clokey, here's the animation that started his career:

the story behind it according to KQED:
"Gumbasia was made on a ping-pong table in his dad's garage. A clay-animated art film done to the beat of jazz music, Gumbasia shows the moving power of Kinesthetic film principles. Art showed it to Sam Engel, a big film producer of the day who was making a film with Sophia Loren. After seeing it he told Art to rewind it and show it again. He paced back and forth and said: "Art, that's the most amazing film I've ever seen!" Art thought "wow, now I can direct and mingle with Sophia Loren," then Sam said: "Can you make figures out of that clay? I'd like to improve the quality of TV for children." Art said he could, and he and his wife came up with Gumby."

kinetic sounds about right. finally, here's the Christmas Gumby classic "Scrooge Loose":

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