prema gumby

what's more fun than opening up a box full of old rare gumbys? ~

pile 'o gumbys :) ~

so these old prema heart gumby bendies popped up recently on ebay & all the gumby collectors are talking ~

prema = love ~

wireless & super rubbery like the old Old gumby rares, i measure mine to be 6.5" tall, not the full 7" tall like the 1976 bicentennial bendy, without paint or marks, other than the mold markings underfoot, these are in remarkably good shape, a few have a little staining ~

so i welcome anyone's thoughts or comments on these guys! i wonder if paul/gumboflexo might still check here? if you do i know we'd love to hear your thoughts about these rough but fun 'rejects' as some call them? & i'm linking here to the old gumby bendy thread from 10 years ago that has been where we all share notes :D ~

it's a gumby day!

update: see the comments here! i will now be referring to these as 'prototypes' :)

bren

Comments

[ghost]

so i will kick off the comments here myself with this old comment i found back at the old gumby bendy thread from gumboflexo: 'Have you seen the Clokey signed Gumby figure with the heart stamp? This is a smaller version of the 76 Gumby without internal wires and face paint. It pops up from time to time and it's very cool.'

then from me:
i even have a picture of it put up there too, calling it a 'prototype'.. note it is slightly smaller than the 76 bicentennial bendy, yep! from july 23, 2015 on page 1 of the comments!!
:D

[Sally]

Hi Bren, I'm glad we were able to get these; they're definitely a very cool addition to Gumbyland! <3 When I asked Holly about these unwired, unpainted, unmarked ones, she said that the light green Gumby wtith no wires was never marketed much & "It was a stretchy Gumby that you could stretch out really long, about almost 3 feet. It was not suppose to have wires. The Sankrit writing is Prema which means Love in the heart. They created that in China on their way to India to see Sai Baba. It was not ever very marketable. It was done after Moody Rudi." So these could possibly be the older version of the newer stretch Gumby's, but the arms on mine that I got stretch out, but not the legs and bodies, maybe because most of the ones I got were definiely factory rejects and have flaws, but even the decent ones I got aren't very stretchy. They are rubbery though and floppy. =) I read in the Gumby book that Art & Gloria went to see Sai Baba in India in 1979, so if the wired, painted, marked Prema Heart Gumby's in the packages were sold in 1976 and then Moody Rudy in 1977 and then these unmarked ones in 1979, then they were made after the marked ones, not before like I thought. So I asked Holly again and she said that "They were made after India with the Heart. Maybe in the process in China. Not sure….. They used the heart Art as a logo first. Then I did a second logo and then a third Logo. All for Premavision and Prema Toy." (She also did the Gumby's Pizza Logo.) The book mentions Joe packaging them in the living room. There are different header cards though with different product numbers. Remember the photos of the different versions that we saw too not long ago with different shaped heads, a different heart logo (raised) and differrent colors? And all of the 80's merchandise they were featured on? I think there are several versions and just like with the Lakeside versions, it's hard to figure out the timeline. I think the Prema Heart Gumby's were still made in the early 80's too and maybe even before those 1976 ones. I checked the trademark filing for the prema heart logo online and it shows the application date as being filed in 1978 (February 21st) and it shows the date of first use and the date of first use in commerce as September 12, 1976. It also says "the foreign words in the mark are Sanskrit for "universal love". It was cancelled in February 1986. Art could have made them and designed them prior to 1976 though and just not used them. The filing date of 1978 for the logo is consistent with what Holly remembers though, since this is after Moody Rudy. I looked up the Trademark application for Moody Rudy and it was filed on June 15, 1977. It shows the first use and first use in commerce as March 28, 1977. I think it's cool though that these may actually be the first stretch Gumby and maybe the ones that look good in these rejects we got were considered rejects because they weren't stretchy enough? Gumby toy history is so mysterious! And Holly confirmed for me that Art did make a toy Gumby in 1957, so that Gumby in the films may be the first one! Who knows! Nick asked Joan about the bendy toys and that one from 1957 and said: " I asked Joe's wife about the use of a bendable puppet. This is what she wrote to me:
- I don't know for sure, however, Art did experiment with puppets made of other materials. I have a foam Prickle that he used in a few episodes so it's quite possible that he used a Gumby toy prototype for animation. Art created a number of Gumby toy prototypes during his experimentation in the '60s and '70s. I don't know what he worked on in the '50s." So there is a Prickle too like this 1957 foam type bendable Gumby that may be in the films too! <3

[Sally]

I wanted to add that due to that undated yellow printed letter, (that I believe was sent out with the packaged prema heart gumby's sold through the mail), that I got that we had found online and I bought from the collector that then had it and what it says on the header card, that I believe that those prema heart wired and marked packaged ones that Joe helped package were made here in the USA. After that Moody Rudy was made in Hong Kong and so it would make sense what Holly wrote about these being made overseas as well at that time.

[Sally]

Another update from Holly, because the bodies don't stretch much on mine, she said "The legs and the body did not stretch that much on the lighter green one either." which was the one she had and doesn't have any more.

[Sally]

I just pulled harder on the legs holding onto the head, and they DO stretch pretty far! The arms are easier to pull and stretch farther, but the rest stretches pretty far too! =)
Try one of yours, Bren! :D
So I think these really are the first stretch Gumby! <3

[ghost]

sally,
yes! the super rare old Old gumby superflex bendies i mention in the post are wonderfully rubbery/stretchy too! gumboflexo & i talk about them in the old gumby post if you check the pix there you'll see a couple of old rares with some rare little blockheads & bitty, these prema bendies are the same texture & same light green shade as those old rares..i could tell the minute i saw them.. we talk in the comments there about how fun these oldies are compared to the later versions..

[ghost]

more here - https://www.ebay.com/itm/255640485738 <3