The Original Clayboy Celebrates His 50th TV Anniversary Today With Multi- Partner Digital Launch on AOL/In2TV and Others
NEW YORK, March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Gumby's Golden! Today marks the 50th anniversary of "The Gumby Show" TV premiere. To celebrate the anniversary of this groundbreaking television series, Gumby is going digital. Starting today, classic TV episodes from the 1950s and 60s, including the pilot "Gumby on the Moon," are launching on Google and AOL/In2TV, as well as a dedicated Gumby area on YouTube at the DMGI channel http://www.youtube.com/dmgivideo.
Over the next few months all 200+ Gumby episodes will roll out to the digital channels. For his anniversary close-up, the original Clayboy has had a makeover. Joe Clokey, son of Gumby creator, Art Clokey, has digitally remastered each episode from the classic TV series. The original soundtrack has also been restored. Gumby's digital debut will be the first time the beloved series has been seen in its original format in over twenty years. After more than 40 years, the 50s episodes have also been restored to their original eleven minute format (from previously re-edited two six minute shorts).
Joe Clokey, President of Clokey Productions, said, "For 50 years, Gumby with his innate goodness and eternal optimism, has inspired us to look at the bright side of life. His imaginative and creative adventures have always struck a chord with people. Gumby's digital launch is the perfect way to give the gift of these stories to today's audience and help inspire generations to come." Gumby's digital debut kicks-off the re-launch to introduce the iconic green character to a whole new generation of 21st century fans. In addition to this week's Google, YouTube and AOL/In2TV launch, "The Essential Gumby" DVD collection will be released this fall and a new remastered director's cut of the 1995 "Gumby Movie" will premiere this April at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.
The Gumby episodes are being distributed by DMGI, a digital distributor of independently owned music, TV, film and video catalogs, who has licensed the episodes from Classic Media and Premavision.
About Gumby Legendary animator and producer, Art Clokey, created Gumby in the mid- 1950's. The original "clayboy" made his first appearance on the Howdy Doody Show in 1956. The following year Gumby got his own Saturday morning TV series. "The Gumby Show" debuted on March 16, 1957 on NBC. Since then, the beloved character has gone on to star in 223 TV episodes which were produced in the 50's, 60's and 80's along with one feature film made in the 90's. Gumby is celebrating his 50th TV anniversary this year.
About Classic Media Classic Media, an Entertainment Rights Group Company, manages some of the world's most recognizable family properties across all media including feature film, television, home video, and consumer products. The company's extensive library features a diverse collection of popular animated and live-action characters such as: Gumby, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Mr. Magoo, Richie Rich, Peter Cottontail, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Lone Ranger, Lassie, Underdog, Little Lulu, pat the bunny and Lamb Chop.
The Company's new live-action/CGI "Underdog" feature film with Spyglass Entertainment and Disney hits theaters on August 3, 2007. An animated "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" feature film is now in development with DreamWorks. Classic Media's pre-school series, "Gerald McBoing Boing," based on the Dr. Seuss book, airs daily on Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network will also soon premiere the all-new "George of the Jungle" animated series, now in production with Studio B in Vancouver.
About DMGI Founded in 2005, Digital Music Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DMGI) is a content owner and global leader in the digital distribution of independently owned music, TV, film and video catalogs. DMGI acquires the digital rights to media catalogs and digitally encodes them into multiple formats for distribution to online music, mobile, and video stores. Our retailers include: the iTunes Store, YouTube, Google Video, RealNetworks, Napster, Wal-Mart Music, Yahoo! Music, InfoSpace, Moderati, Zingy, 9Squared, and many others. For more information, please visit http://www.dmgi.com/.
CONTACT: Sasha Junk
Classic Media
212.659.1993
DATASOURCE: Classic Media CONTACT: Sasha Junk of Classic Media, +1-212-659-1993, Web site: http://www.dmgi.com/ http://www.youtube.com/dmgivideo
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