Arnie Gumble

Private Fifth Class Arnold "Arnie" Gumble was a member of the Flying Hellfish, Grampa's unit in World War II. He is the father of Barney Gumble. He was in charge of watching his unit's backs inside a tank. Along with the rest of the unit, he took part in a tontine where the last surviving member would take sole possession of a group of paintings they liberated. He was one of five members of the group to die in a parade float accident in 1979^[1]. Apparently, Arnie desired to buy his way into high class society when he took part in the tontine. He had the same voice, and bad burping habits as his son, except he burps without drinking beer.

In the season 26 episode, young Barney could be seen along with his parents at the Springfield Town Hall in a flashback to 30 years ago^[2].

Behind the laughter

• Coincidentally, both he and his son share similar names to dinosaur hosts of children's programs (namely, Arnie's name is similar to that of the character Arnie the Dinosaur from the film Nine Months, which was released a year prior to his debut episode's airing, while Barney's name is similar to that of Barney the Dinosaur, whom the aforementioned Arnie the Dinosaur was partially based on).

Appearances

• Episode – "Mr. Plow" (mentioned only)
• Episode – "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish""
• Episode – "Walking Big & Tall" (flashback)

Citations