"Haunted Hot Dog" is an episode of the syndicated revival of The Gumby Show. It originally aired on December 29, 1967.
Plot[]
The episode opens with Nopey the Dog (or a dog that looks like him) entering a butcher shop and stealing some sausages. The mad butcher chases after him down the street with a cleaver. Meanwhile, Gumby and Pokey are driving through the country, taking a break from their usual adventures to have some relaxing time. However, their car runs out of gas, to which Pokey replies that he knew something would go wrong. Gumby tries to lighten the mood by quoting from a Shakespeare play called Richard III, and says: "A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!" But Pokey isn't amused.
Meanwhile, Nopey continues to run from the butcher. Back on the road, Gumby spots a house, and decides to see if someone has some gas in there. Pokey turns to the audience, breaks the fourth wall, and says: "Uh oh! I smell trouble." Nopey, meanwhile, reached the city limits in his escape from the butcher, and takes a detour through the woods. Meanwhile, Gumby and Pokey step up to the front door of the house and Gumby knocks, but nobody answers. Pokey says that he doesn't thinks anyone's home and suggests they leave, but Gumby decides to go inside and see if there's a telephone they can use to call for help.
They soon find that the door was open the whole time, and go inside, even though Pokey suggests otherwise. Gumby remarks that no one has lived in the house in ages, as evidenced by the cobwebs and a covered chair. Pokey suggests they leave since there's no phone inside, while Nopey enters the house through the back door, which makes a creaking sound that spooks Gumby and Pokey. Once they hear the sound, Pokey thinks that there might be spooks in the house, meaning that the house is haunted, and both he and Gumby prepare to run out, but the front door closes on them. Nopey, meanwhile, looks around with a spooked look on his face, probably due to him hearing Gumby and Pokey in the main room, backs up and causes the door he entered in to close and frighten him. Gumby and Pokey hear the sounds, both Nopey and the door, and run into another room, causing a lamp to fall and break.
The sound of the lamp spooks Nopey even more, and causes him to run into the room where Gumby and Pokey were. The scared little dog runs into the sheet that was covering the chair, and ends up getting covered himself. He blindly runs into the room Gumby and Pokey are hiding in, and they both get spooked when they think that they see a ghost. They all run for their lives, until they chase each other under a piano, and the chandelier falls from the ceiling and crashes down to the floor. The three are more scared than ever, and run right through the door by breaking it down. That night, the three are having roasted sausages by a camp fire, with Gumby and Pokey remarking on how they all scared each other. Gumby wonders where the dog got the sausages, and Pokey thinks it might be "a secret between the pooch and the hot dogs". The two laugh, and the dog barks in agreement, as the episode ends.
Trivia[]
- During the episode, Gumby quotes a line from the Shakespearean play Richard III, which was first performed in November of 1633.
- The music played when Gumby and Pokey enter the old house is reused from the Davey and Goliath episode "Halloween Who-Dun-It".