Interview Transcript with Gumby
ME: Welcome to National Private Reactions. This is your host, Rebecca, filling in for our chief editor. He is on leave until further action is denied. Joining us today is a very special television star from the 1950s: Gumby.
Gumby, it’s great to have you on the show with us this morning, can you tell us a little about your life as a TV star?
GUMBY: I’d be happy to, Rebecca. My story is one I’ve wanted to tell for a long time.
I was very satisfied when I began acting in the fifties. I always wanted people to know my name. When I saw a chance for success, I ran with it. I was introduced to some larger-than-life people in the business. They molded me and many other characters into household names. They also fed me very well.
ME: Food is definitely the spice of life for someone who’s a little on the bland side. I understand you raised questions about your ‘boring’ appearance during the third season?
GUMBY: I did, yes. I wanted a more Bohemian look, but the producer wasn’t hip to it. It was a different time back then. Pokey was getting all the attention and I was starting to get depressed, you know?
ME: Yes.
GUMBY: It’s embarrassing at a certain point in your career to look over at your pony and see the girls going wild. I never had any girls. I’d get home, kick my feet off, and go to bed by 9.
ME: That must have been very difficult for you. Pokey had a bit of a reputation, didn’t he?
GUMBY: Well, yes. At the time I thought he was just having fun, but now I look back and see that maybe things weren’t all they were cracked up to be.
ME: How so?
GUMBY: He wasn’t very nice to those women. Sometimes he’d make comments about their body or their size. But then again, he did it to everyone, so who’s to say?
ME: Did he do it to you?
GUMBY: I guess if I really think about it, my eating disorder started around the time he began teasing me about my body type.
ME: Is that why you eventually quit television?
GUMBY: No. I ended up getting help for it, but not before I swallowed multiple sets. I couldn’t stop. It got to the point where I’d come into work and start angling for the couch on stage. I was afraid they’d fire me when the cameras started missing. It was hard.
ME: Eating disorders aside, why did you quit show business, Gumby?
GUMBY: It’s just a dirty business. Too much attention to appearance. Too many hours out of my life. Too many Blockheads.
ME: Thank you so much, for taking the time to be with us today, Gumby. We’d love to have you back for our future segment titled: Those That Stick.
That’s all the time we have for today and please stay tuned for: Pondering Quietly.
Published:
https://www.scarletleafreview.com/short-stories9/rebecca-lee-interview-transcript-with-gumby
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