Davey and Goliath

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Davey and Goliath
Genre animation, Christian
Creator(s) Art Clokey
Starring Dick Beals, Norma MacMillan, Hal Smith, Nancy Wible
Country of origin USA
Production
Producer(s) United Lutheran Church in America
Running time 15 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel syndicated
Original run 1960 – 1964, with specials continuing regularly until 1975
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Davey and Goliath was the title of a 1960s stop-motion animated television series. The programs, produced by the Lutheran Church in America (now a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), were created by Art Clokey after the success of his Gumby series.

Each 15-minute episode features the adventures of Davey Hansen and his "talking" dog Goliath (although only Davey and the viewer can hear him speak) as they learn the love of God through everyday occurrences. Many of the episodes also feature Davey's parents, his sister Sally, as well as Davey's friends Jimmy and Teddy in earlier episodes, Jonathan and Cisco on later ones (all are members of the "Jickets" club).

While the show was aimed at a younger audience, the series eventually dealt with serious issues, including racism, death, religious intolerance and vandalism. Davey's close friend, Jonathan Reed, was African-American, perhaps the first African-American character to appear in a television cartoon, and one of the first African-American characters to appear as a friend of a television show's lead character. [1]

The series lasted until 1975. In 2004 Art Clokey's son, Joe, produced a new episode, "Davey and Goliath's Snowboard Christmas."

Contents

[edit] History

In 1958 Franklin Clark Fry, president of the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA), put aside $1 million to fund production of a future television program for children. Soon after, the ULCA contracted with Clokey Productions, Inc., headed by Gumby® creators Art and Ruth Clokey, to create a new children’s show: Davey and Goliath. Scripts were written by children’s book author Nancy Moore in consultation with the church.

The Lutheran Church and Art Clokey teamed up to make the first Davey & Goliath episode in 1960 called "Lost In A Cave". On this particular episode, the figures were entirely clay and the scenery was also mostly clay. The early voices included Hal Smith (who did a number of voices including Davey's Father), Dick Beals (who was Davey's voice), and Nancy Wibble (who did the early voice of Sally and Davey's mother). These three did many other voices as well.

After making "Lost in a Cave" in 1960, Clokey made "The Wild Goat", "Stranded On An Island", and "The Winner" in 1961. On these episodes the clay figures now had clothing. Also, more model buildings and trees were added and these three episodes looked somewhat more realistic. In 1961, the series of these four episodes began airing free on local television stations nationwide ranging from ABC, NBC, and CBS affiliates to independent stations. Many of these stations ran these episodes leading into network Saturday morning lineups. Other stations ran them in religious Sunday morning lineups in between various evangelists. By 1964 the show was airing in over 90% of the television markets.

In 1962, about eight more 15 minute episodes were made, including: "All Alone", "Polka Dot Tie", "On The Line", and "The Pilgrim Boy" among others. By then the clay figures had established looks and consistent sizes. The scenery became slightly more realistic. On endings "The End" would now be in regular print rather that in the "Davey & Goliath logo" type print. All the episodes made up to this point were known as series one. The background music used on this show in many cases originated on shows like Ozzie & Harriet, Donna Reed, Dennis The Menace, and other 50's sitcoms. A few background tunes were also found on 60's Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

From 1962 to 1963, another 13 episodes were made including "The Waterfall", "The Bell Ringer", "The Silver Mine", "Ten Little Indians", "The Dog Show" and others. The only big change was that Sally's voice was done by Norma MacMillan (who did various voices on cartoons like Sweet Polly Purebred on Underdog and others). Norma also did other female voices as well. Also, Davey's personality became slightly tougher and, within a couple of episodes, rebellious. Overall, though, Davey's character remained good-natured. These episodes were added to distribution shortly after they were made. Chronological order, however, was unclear.

From 1963 to 1964, another series of 13 episodes, including "Happy Landing", "The Big Apple", "Bully Up A Tree", "Good Neighbor", "Rags & Buttons" and others were made. Davey was slightly bigger but the scope of the show itself had no big changes. At the end of 1964, production on Davey and Goliath wound down. In some episodes including "Good Neighbor", in addition to the "The End" placard a billboard showed that the show was produced in association with the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA).

In 1965, a 30 minute Christmas special called "Christmas Lost & Found" was made. The focus of this episode was more religious in nature and distanced itself from "Santa Claus" and "Rudolph". The Christmas songs used were religious. This would also be the last episode featuring Dick Beals as the voice of Davey.

In the late 1960s several more 30 minute specials were made including "Happy Easter" from 1967, "The New Years Promise" from 1967, and "Halloween Who Did It?" from 1968. By now Davey was closer to junior high school age. He was now voiced by Norma McMillan. "Happy Easter" confronted death of a loved one as Davey's beloved grandmother dies suddenly (off camera) within hours of a fun filled visit.

After these four specials, the ULCA and Clokey Productions began funding another series of episodes in 1971. In these episodes, Davey was Junior High School age and occasionally became very rebellious. His antics included pouring paint in a water well, hanging from a dinosaur's head in a museum, and cheating on tests in school. This Davey had a totally different personality from the Davey portrayed in the 1960s. Norma McMillan continued to do the voice of Davey. At this time racism, gangs, conservation, crime, and other issues became topics within the series. That year episodes like "Blind Man's Bluff", "Finders Keepers", "Who's George", "Who Me", "Help", "The Stopped Clock" and others were distributed. The openings were also changed, featuring updated music. Background music was also different from the 60s series with some overlap. Midway through this series, Davey's African-American friend Jonathan Reed was introduced. Johnathan came from a nearby city and both characters went to school together.

In 1972 another 30 minute special, "School Who Needs It?", was aired. Also that year the final regular series of episodes came out. Jonathan appeared in most of the episodes. These episodes included "What's His Name", "Zillion Dollar Combo", "The Watchdogs", "Chicken" and others. In 1973, the series wound down once again, but in 1975 a 30 minute summer camp special called "To The Rescue" was made.

Davey & Goliath then began airing on a Mountain Dew commercial in 2001. In 2004, another Christmas special called "Snowboard Christmas" was made. This episode addressed both religious and ethnic diversity. Because most of the original voice cast were no longer alive, new voice actors played the roles. This episode had updated graphics and scenery as well. This special was 45 minutes long and aired for an hour including commercials. (Until that point, commercials had never aired during any episode.) Hallmark Channel aired this special in 2004 and 2005.

[edit] Television airing

In some markets the show aired on more than one station. In New York City, for example, it aired simultaneously on three stations: WOR-TV, WABC-TV, and WPIX. These episodes were 15 minutes only, rather than two episodes back-to-back. For a short while, WABC-TV and WOR-TV aired the show in the same time slot but aired episodes, though all three stations ran all the episodes available.

In the 1980s, commercial stations began gradually dropping the series. Religious stations picked it up in many markets and run it in their blocks of Christian Children's programs. By 1990 only a handful of commercial stations still aired the series. When the series began airing on religious stations, some episodes were gradually dropped. They included "Polka Dot Tie" (which addresses racism in an indirect way), "On The Line" (due to the scary nature of the episode), "Ten Little Indians" (due to what was interpreted as racism), "Man Of The House" (which was controversial due to the children being left home alone at what may be perceived as too young an age), and "The Gang" (due to the violence on this episode). Commercial stations, however, continued running these episodes throughout the 1980s until they dropped the series altogether.

"Man Of The House" has recently been revived and ran on Trinity Broadcasting on January 13, 2007.

In the early 1990s, those five episodes were officially pulled from syndication and not available to stations regardless of their format (whether religious or secular commercial stations, though very few commercial stations ran it anyway). In the 1990s the show aired strictly on religious stations including from Baptist-based services like FamilyNet to ecumenical religious networks like VISN/ACTS (now Hallmark Channel (which no longer airs the series), Pentecostal-based services like Daystar and Trinity Broadcasting Network, Roman Catholic tele-ministries like Boston Catholic Television, EWTN (which had also aired the series in the mid 1980s), a few local diocesan cable Catholic channels, and religious independent stations.

Today it airs on Boston Catholic Television, Trinity Broadcasting, and a few local Christian television stations. For example, on TBN only the 15-minute episodes appear (the holiday specials do not air).

When Hallmark aired a Christmas special and the 1967 "Happy Easter" episode, they aired the program with several commercial breaks. Until then no station, commercial or noncommercial, had run comercials during an airing of an episode.

Hallmark aired the series this way until 2001. Since then, Hallmark only aired a few of the holiday specials, as well as the Snowboard Christmas special made in 2004.

[edit] The Snowboard Christmas special of 2004

In this special, Davey demonstrates his snowboarding expertise to two friends: Sam, a Jewish boy, and Yasmeen, a Muslim girl. In the course of the show the three children learn of each other's holiday celebrations, Jewish Hanukkah, Christian Christmas, and Muslim Ramadan. [2]

[edit] Home video

In 1986 the Program Source began distributing the first 13 episodes of the series minus "Polka Dot Tie". Also, all five holiday specials were made available. These were distributed for sale on VHS tapes. Mail order services also made a few episodes available.

In the mid 1990s, other episodes were distributed on VHS tapes. In 2000, various episodes were released on DVDs showcasing a particular theme. In 2004 and 2005, most episodes were released on various DVD compilations. Still, "Polka Dot Tie", "On The Line", "Ten Little Indians", "Man Of The House", and "The Gang" were not released. "Polka Dot Tie", "The Gang", and "Ten Little Indians" have never been in print on VHS or DVD. It's believed that the ELCA feels these episodes lacked moral content and are not conducive to Christian values[citation needed]. It was even reported that prints of some of these episodes have been destroyed.

At the end of July 2006, Starlight Video announced that they would be releasing Davey & Goliath: The Lost Episodes which would include "The Gang", "10 Little Indians", "Down On The Farm" (which aired on television but was never released on home video), and "The Watchdogs" (which had been pulled from availability on cable and broadcast outlets in the mid 1990's and hadn't until then appeared on VHS or DVD). This compilation was scheduled for release on September 19, 2006, but it has been delayed until January 30, 2007.[citation needed] The release was again postponed until March 13, 2007. In the middle of February, the release was once again delayed and is now scheduled for release on May 15 of 2007.

"Down On The Farm" was released in 1994 by United American Video Corporation in a three-show tape, together with "Bully Up A Tree" and "The Big Apple".

[edit] End credit issue

In the 1980s, end credits of these episodes disappeared. New prints distributed after 1984 also omitted the end credits. In the 60's episodes, the end credits consisted of the instrumental horn and organ theme - A Mighty Fortress Is Our God (a hymn written by Martin Luther) - over the Lutheran Church logo with the credits being displayed. The 70s episodes had various instrumental pieces accompanying end credits. However, the thirty-minute holiday episodes' end credits remain intact. The reason for this is unknown.

In the fall of 2006, Trinity Broadcasting began running the episodes with the end credits after over 15 without them. It's not known whether end credits will appear on the 2007 release DVDs.

[edit] Parodies

  • The Simpsons has spoofed the series twice, first in a parody of the biblical story of David and Goliath and also as "Gravey and Jobriath", watched by Ned Flanders and his sons at an animation festival. The latter concerned Gravey's attempts to construct a pipe bomb ("To blow up Planned Parenthood!"). In contrast to the traditionally animated style of The Simpsons, the segment was created using stop-motion animation much like the original series. It ended with Gravey shoving the pipe bomb into Jobriath's mouth for his "lack of faith," followed by an off-screen explosion and cheering from the Flanders children.
  • The Simpsons contain a few other references to Davey and Goliath:
  • In the episode "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment", after watching television all night Homer appears to be watching the show. A character obviously meant to be Davey says, "We could get there quicker if we took my dad's car!" Goliath answers, "I don't knooowwww, Davey!"
  • During The Simpsons episode "Bart the Lover", Maude Flanders' speaks about her son Todd's TV habits: "Well, he used to watch Davey & Goliath, but he thought the idea of a talking dog was blasphemous...".
  • MADtv also parodied an episode of the series as Davey and Goliath 2: Pet Sematary, complete with the classic stop-motion animation. The parody featured Goliath run over by a tractor-trailer truck, a motorcycle gang, and the stars of Riverdance, only to be raised from the dead in the Pet Sematary. Later, MADtv spoofed Davey and Goliath yet again with Davey and Son of Goliath, alluding the Son of Sam killer who claimed a talking dog had instructed him to kill.

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Series 1

1960

1. Lost in a Cave

1961

2. The Wild Goat

3. Stranded on an Island

4. The Winner

1962

5. Cousin Barney

6. The New Skates

7. The Kite

8. The Mechanical Man

9. The Time Machine

10. On the Line (not available on home video)

11. The Polka Dot Tie (no longer seen on television or available on home video)

12. All Alone

13. Pilgrim Boy

[edit] Series 2 - 1963

14. The Silver Mine

15. The Bell Ringer

16. Officer Bob

17. The Parade

18. The Waterfall

19. Down On The Farm

20. Ten Little Indians (not available on home video or seen on television)

21. The Sudden Storm

22. The Shoemaker

23. The Runaway

24. Boy Lost

25. Not For Sale

26. The Dog Show

[edit] Series 3 - 1964

27. Rags And Buttons

28. The Lemonade Stand

29. Man Of The House (not available on home video or seen on television)

30. Bully Up A Tree

31. Happy Landing

32. The Big Apple

33. Editor In Chief

34. Hocus Pocus

35. Jeep In The Deep

36. A Diller A Dollar

37. The Bridge

38. The Gang (not available on home video or seen on television)

39. Good Neighbor

[edit] Holiday Specials - 30 Minutes

40. Christmas Lost & Found (1965) - Last episode with Dick Beals as Davey

41. Happy Easter (1967) - First Episode with Norma McMillan as Davey

42. The New Years Promise (1967-68)

42. Halloween: Who Did It? (1968)

43. School: Who Needs It? (1972)

44. To The Rescue (1975)

[edit] Series 4 - 1971

45. The Stopped Clock

46. Who Me?

47. Kookabura

48. Finders Keepers

49. The Hard Way

50. If At First You Don't Succeed

51. The Caretakers

52. Who's George

53. Rickety Rackety

54. Help

55. Boy In Trouble

56. Blind Man's Bluff

57. The Greatest

[edit] Series 5 - 1972

58. The Watchdogs

59. Kum Ba Yah

60. Ready Or Not

61. Good Bad Luck

62. Come Come To The Fair

63. Doghouse Dreamhouse

64. Pieces Of Eight

65. Upside Down & Backwards

66. 6-7-6-3

67. Chicken

68. Louder Please

69. Zillion Dollar Combo

70. What's His Name

[edit] Christmas Special

71. Davey & Goliath Snowboard Christmas (2004)

[edit] Note

This list is not chronological except by each group of series. TV stations in the past ran all episodes from a group of shows and then moved to the next group of episodes. The actual chronological order is unknown after the fourth episode.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../d/a/v/Davey_and_Goliath_53a4.html"