My initial fascination with wanting to experiment with claymation began with the infamous clay animated series, Wallace and Gromit by Nick Park. I remember seeing it for the first time at Spike and Mike’s Animation Festival in downtown Riverside, California.
According to Spike and Mike Online, Mellow Manor Productions, Inc. was formed by proclaimed hippies Mike Gribble and Craig “Spike” Decker (infamously known as the duo Spike & Mike). Their production company was aptly named after the famed Victorian House that resides as a historical landmark in Riverside, California.
The original purpose of MM Productions was to support and promote underground bands with animated shorts. Eventually their love for animated shorts blossomed into full-time positions looking for the next latest and greatest talent in the industry. After receiving shorts from the likes of Nick Park, Tim Burton and a handful of other animators, Spike and Mike cultivated an animation festival called “Spike and Mike’s Twisted Animation Festival”.
It was the home to otherwise repulsive and adult in nature cartoons and spawned the birth of a little known duo called Beavis and Butthead. According to the site, Spike and Mike served as executive producers for B&B long before the characters gained a cult following on MTV and introduced South Park as well.
To say the show was “fun” would be not saying enough. In fact in all of the times my family and I attended the showings of Spike and Mike’s Animation Festival I can tell you that not only was it fascinating watching the shorts (which were edgy at the time) but the “pre-show” was just as fun. I can remember Mike Gribble tossing a football around with attendees lined up for the next showing.
Before the show began Mike would bring out the infamous concert beachball. Watching the ball bounce and float across the crowd was awesome and if you happened to get the chance to hit the ball you felt like you were a part of something grand. Without Mike Gribble there to introduce the show and entertain the guests I can honestly say it wouldn’t have been the same.
To think that two former hippies from Riverside, California formed a simple animation festival that eventually grew into an eagerly anticipated event is an achievement that deserves recognition.
Sadly in 1994, Mike Gribble, at the age of 40, died of pancreatic cancer leaving behind a legacy that I will always remember.
For all of you trivia buffs; Dale Gribble’s (the character from King of the Hill) last name pays homage to the late Mike Gribble.