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In a year full of Pinocchio adaptations, 1996’s Pinocchio’s Revenge stands the test of time as a dark, disturbing update to the living wooden boy narrative.

“I wish you were a real boy. Then I wouldn’t be all alone.”

Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio was first published in 1883 and for more than a century it’s proven to be an evergreen text that’s fascinated so many diverse storytellers and filmmakers. Disney’s animated Pinocchio is getting close to celebrating its 100th birthday, but audiences have no lack of options when it comes to Pinocchio adaptations. There’s 1996’s unintentionally-terrifying The Adventures of Pinocchio with Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Roberto Benigni has been responsible for two separate Pinocchio movies, and 2022 alone has marked the release of two new feature-film adaptations: Robert Zemeckis’ live-action Pinocchio and Guillermo del Toro’s somber stop-motion take on the classic tale. Pinocchio...

It was bound to happen, The Puppetoons meet Gumby in Arnold Leibovit’s 1987 tribute to director/animator George Pal. The film features 11 of the shorts Pal made between 1933 and 1948, some of the most charming animation ever produced – the essence of childhood fantasy. Pal’s classic work is also supplemented by newly animated wraparound segments including Gumby and Pokey, among others. Art Clokey supplied the Gumby and Pokey figures and provided the voice of Pokey. Gumby animator Peter Kleinow animated the characters, Gene Warren Jr. directed the animation, and Leibovit produced the enterprise and directed the voice performances of Art Clokey, Dallas McKennon, Dick Beals, and Paul Frees.

The post The Puppetoon Movie appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Gumby creator Art Clokey died at the age of 88 about two years ago, and now comes word that Dick Beals, who voiced the animated character, has passed away as well. He was 85 years old. Beals was the original voice of the title character on "The Gumby Show" in the late 1950s, as well as the voice of Davey in "Davey and Goliath." He also was the unseen pitchman in more than 3,000 commercials for such products as Oscar Mayer and Campbell's Soup. He often got jobs that called for him to sound like a child because he suffered from a glandular condition. His voice hadn't changed since elementary school and neither did his body. Beals was 4 feet 6 inches tall and weighed less than 70 pounds.

The actor who gave beloved U.S. TV character Gumby a voice has died in California

Dick Beals, who also voiced the lead character in TV's Davey & Goliath, was 85.

Beals suffered from a glandular condition which left him with the body and voice of a child.

His distinctive childlike qualities helped the actor become a hit in broadcasting in the 1940s, when he was first heard on radio shows like The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet.

He moved to Hollywood in 1952 and signed on to front Alka-Seltzer ads as animated sprite Speedy.

The character was featured in more than 200 commercials that aired from 1954 to 1964, according to the Los Angeles Times.

As well as his roles in Davey & Goliath and The Gumby Show, Beals also sang with Gene Kelly in the 1967 TV special Jack and the Beanstalk and he beat out 300 child actors for the role of N.J. Normanmeyer in the early 1990s animated series The Addams Family - at the age of 65.

Away from Hollywood, Beals opened an ad agency in his adopted Escondido, California and served as a high school sports announcer.

Dick Beals, the voice-over star best known as the voice of the animated characters Gumby, Speedy Alka-Seltzer and Davey from Davey and Goliath, has died. He was 85.

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Beals died Tuesday at Vista Gardens Memory Care in Vista, according to The Los Angeles Times. The animation pioneer, whose radio and TV career spanned seven decades, stood only 4 foot 6 inches tall, weighed less than 70 pounds and had a voice that hadn't changed since grade school due to a glandular condition. But he turned his challenging situation into a golden opportunity in the late 1950s with his work in The Gumby Show, Davey and Goliath in the early '60s, and more than 200 Alka-Seltzer commercials that aired between 1954 and 1964. He also pitched for Oscar Mayer, Campbell's Soup, Bob's Big Boy and many other brands.

"He was one of the great voice actors of all time," Ron Simon, curator of TV and...

Vista, Calif. -- The radio and television voice-over star whose work included the animated characters Gumby and Speedy Alka-Seltzer has died in Southern California. Dick Beals was 85.

Beals' was the original voice of the title character on "The Gumby Show" in the late 1950s. He also was the unseen pitchman in more than 3,000 commercials for such products as Oscar Mayer and Campbell's Soup.

He often got jobs that called for him to sound like a child because he suffered from a glandular condition. His voice hadn't changed since elementary school.

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Hanna-Barbera ruled Saturday morning television in the 1960s, cannily finding trends and adapting them to their pint-sized audience. Working in tandem with CBS Saturday morning chief Fred Silverman, they spotted a fad and capitalized on it. As the lids were galvanized by the super-hero trend which led to ABC’s surprise smash success with Batman in January 1966, it is little surprise that the fall 1966 cartoon season was festooned with colorful heroic figures. Among the dozen new series to debut that September there was Filmation’s earliest offerings: The Lone Ranger and The New Adventures of Superman, plus H-b’s Space Ghost and Dino Boy, The Super Six, and, notably, Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles. The latter series was split evenly between the two properties, each offering something for its viewers. The former show was about boy genius Buzz Conray (Dick Beals), who constructed the thirty-foot tall robot improbably dubbed Frankenstein Jr.