Red Skelton
Encyclopedia
Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio
and television
star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown
and went on to vaudeville
, Broadway
, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casino
s, all while pursuing another career as a painter. Skelton, who has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
for his radio and television work, is quoted as saying, "I just want to be known as a clown, because to me that's the height of my profession. It means you can do everything—sing, dance and above all, make people laugh."
, Richard Skelton was the fourth son of Ida Mae (née Fields) and Joseph E. Skelton (1878–1913). Joseph, a grocer, died two months before his last child was born; he had once been a clown
with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus
. In Skelton's lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth. Author Wesley Hyatt suggests that since Skelton began working at such an early age, he may have had to say he was older than he actually was in order to work.
Because of the loss of his father, young Richard went to work at the age of seven, selling newspapers to help his family. He quickly learned the newsboy's
patter and would keep it up until a prospective buyer bought a copy of the paper just to quiet young Skelton. In 1923, a man came up to the young newsboy, purchased every paper he had and asked him if he wanted to see the show in town, giving him a ticket. The man, comedian Ed Wynn
, was part of the show and later took young Skelton backstage. It was then that he realized what he wanted to do with his life. (Skelton also told another version of this story, with Raymond Hitchcock
as the actor.) Skelton learned when young that he could make people laugh. When Skelton was ten, he auditioned to be part of a medicine show
. When he accidentally fell from the stage, breaking bottles of medicine as he fell, people laughed. The young boy realized he could earn a living with his ability. By age 14, he had left school and was already a veteran performer, working in local vaudeville
and on a showboat
, "The Cotton Blossom", that traveled the Ohio
and Missouri
rivers.
Young Skelton was interested in all forms of acting. He won a dramatic role with a stock theater
company, but was unable to deliver his lines in a serious manner; the audience laughed instead. Ida Skelton, who held two jobs to support her family after the death of her husband, never said that her youngest son had run away from home, but that "his destiny had caught up with him at an early age". At age 15, he was on the vaudeville circuit and the next year spent some time with the same circus his father had also been a clown with. Skelton later copied his father's makeup for his television character, "Freddie the Freeloader". While performing in Kansas City
in 1931, Skelton married his first wife, Edna Stillwell, who was an usher
at the theater.
Skelton and his wife put together an act and began to get bookings for it at some of the smaller vaudeville theaters. They somehow made their way to the Lido Club in Montreal
. Despite the language barrier, the act was a success, and brought the couple theater dates throughout Canada. While in Montreal, Skelton and Edna devised the well-known "Doughnut Dunkers" routine, with Skelton's visual impressions of how different people ate doughnut
s. The problem with doing this type of act was that Skelton had to eat nine doughnuts at every performance. He was performing five times a day and eating 45 doughnuts. Skelton gained almost 35 pounds rapidly and had to shelve the routine for a while until he lost the weight.
debut for RKO Radio Pictures in the supporting role of a camp counselor in Having Wonderful Time
. Two short subjects made for Vitaphone
were released in 1939: Seeing Red and The Bashful Buckaroo. After screen star Mickey Rooney
had seen Skelton perform his "Doughnut Dunkers" act, Rooney contacted Skelton, urging him to try for work in films. Rooney also spoke favorably about Skelton to his film employer, MGM.
Skelton was hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
to lend comic relief
to its Dr. Kildare
medical dramas, but soon he was starring in comedy features (as inept radio detective "The Fox") and in Technicolor
musicals. When Skelton renegotiated his 1940 long-term contract with MGM, he wanted a clause that permitted him to remain working in radio and to be able to work on television (which was in its infancy). Skelton's previous contract called for MGM's approval prior to his radio shows and other appearances. Skelton did not receive the desired television clause and was not able to begin working in the medium until his MGM contract completed in 1951.
Skelton asked MGM once more for rights to pursue television when his contract was over. This time the studio was willing to grant them, making Skelton the only major MGM personality with the privilege. During the last portion of Skelton's contract with the studio, he was working in radio and on television in addition to films. In a 1956 interview, Skelton said he decided he would never work simultaneously in all three again.
Show on August 12, 1937. The program had a talent show segment and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. The show received enough fan mail after Skelton's performance to invite the comedian back two weeks after his initial appearance and again in November of that year. On October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced Red Foley
as the host of Avalon Time on NBC; Edna also joined the show's cast. Skelton continued as the show's host until late 1939, when he went on to begin his MGM movie career.
Skelton's success in films meant a regular radio show offer. He went on the air with his own program, The Raleigh Cigarettes Program, on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson
; his wife, Harriet
, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard, was the show's vocalist and also worked with Skelton in skits.
Skelton introduced the first two of his many characters during the show's first season. Clem Kadiddlehopper was based on a Vincennes neighbor named Carl Hopper, who was hard of hearing. Skelton's voice pattern for Clem was very much like that of the later cartoon character, Bullwinkle
. They were sufficiently similar to cause Skelton to contemplate filing a lawsuit against Bill Scott, who voiced the cartoon moose. The Mean Widdle Kid, or "Junior", was a young boy full of mischief, who typically did things he was told not to do. "Junior" would say things like, "If I dood it, I gets a whipping.", followed moments later by the statement, "I dood it!" Skelton performed the character at home with Edna giving him the nickname "Junior" long before it was heard by a radio audience. While the phrase was Skelton's, the idea to try using the character on the radio show was Edna's. Skelton starred in a 1942 movie of the same name, but did not play "Junior" in the film. When MGM decided to use the phrase for the movie, they did so without the permission of either Skelton or his Raleigh cigarettes sponsor; Skelton asked for $25,000 from the studio in damages.
The phrase was such a part of national culture at the time, when General Doolittle
conducted the bombing of Tokyo
in 1942, many newspapers used the phrase, "Doolittle Dood It" as a headline. In 1943, after a talk with President Franklin D. Roosevelt
, Skelton used his radio show to collect funds for a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress to be given to the Soviet Army
to help fight World War II
. Asking children to send in their spare change, Skelton raised enough money for the plane in two weeks. He named the bomber "We Dood It!" In 1993, the pilot of the plane was able to meet Skelton and thank him for the bomber.
Skelton also added a routine he had been performing since 1928. Originally called "Mellow Cigars" by Skelton, the skit entailed an announcer who became ill as he smoked his sponsor's product. Brown and Williamson, the makers of cigarettes, asked Skelton to change some aspects of the skit; Skelton re-named the routine "Guzzler's Gin", where the announcer became inebriated while sampling and touting the imaginary sponsor's wares.
The Skelton divorce in 1943 meant that Red had lost his married man's deferment
; he was once again classified as 1-A for service. He was drafted into the Army
in early 1944. Both MGM and his radio sponsor tried to obtain a deferment for the comedian, but to no avail. Skelton's last Raleigh radio show was on June 6, 1944, the day before he was formally inducted. Without its star, the program was discontinued, and the opportunity presented itself for the Nelsons to begin a radio show of their own, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
. Skelton suffered a nervous breakdown while in the Army and was discharged on September 18, 1945. His sponsor was eager to have him back on the air, and Skelton's program began anew on NBC on December 4, 1945.
Skelton brought with him many new characters that were added to his repertoire: Bolivar Shagnasty, described as a "loudmouthed braggard", Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer
who had hit the canvas too often, Deadeye, a cowboy
who could not get anything right, Willie Lump-Lump, a fellow who had a few too many drinks, and San Fernando Red, who never met a scam he did not like and also had political aspirations. By 1947, Skelton's musical conductor was David Rose
, who would go on to television with him. Skelton had worked with Rose during his time in the Army and wanted Rose to join him on the radio show when it went back on the air in December 1945.
On April 22, 1947, Red was censored
by NBC two minutes into his radio show. Red and his announcer Rod O'Connor began to talk about Fred Allen
being censored during Allen's NBC show the previous week; they were silenced for 15 seconds. Comedian Bob Hope
was also given the same treatment once he began referring to the censoring of Allen. Skelton forged on with his lines for his studio audience's benefit. The material Skelton insisted on using had been edited from the script by the network before the broadcast. Skelton's words after he was back on the air were, "Well, we have now joined the parade of stars." Skelton had been briefly censored the previous month for the use of the word "diaper". After the April incidents, NBC indicated it would no longer pull the plug for similar reasons.
Skelton changed sponsors in 1948; Brown and Williamson, owners of Raleigh cigarettes, withdrew due to program production costs. Skelton's new sponsor was Procter & Gamble
's Tide laundry detergent. He changed networks the next year, going from NBC to CBS. The Paley plan that offered stars significant tax savings if they incorporated, then sold their shows to CBS, covered radio shows only. Skelton's radio show was on CBS until May 1953. After Skelton's network
radio contract was over, he signed with Ziv Radio
for three years for a syndicated radio program in 1954. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame
in 1994.
, two men backstage grabbed his ankles from behind the set curtain, hauling him offstage face first. The comedic hard knocks took their toll; before Skelton had reached the age of 40, he needed leg braces
and a cane
for the cartilage that was destroyed in both of his knee
s. A ritual was established at the end of every program, with Skelton's words of, "Good night and may God bless." A 1943 hit instrumental
for Rose, called "Holiday for Strings", was used as Skelton's TV theme song. His now-famous "Freddie the Freeloader" clown was introduced on the program in 1952.
During the 1951–52 season, Skelton broadcast live from a converted NBC radio studio. The first year of Skelton's television show was done live
; problems set in because there was not enough time for costume
changes and also because of Skelton's being on camera for most of the half-hour. Skelton was delivering an intense performance live each week, and the strain showed in physical illness. NBC agreed to film his shows in the 1952–53 season at Eagle Lion Studios
, next to the Sam Goldwyn Studio, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. Later the show was moved to the new NBC television studios in Burbank
. Procter & Gamble remained unhappy with the filming of the television show, and insisted that Skelton return to live broadcasts. The situation caused him to think about leaving television at that point.
Declining ratings prompted sponsor Procter & Gamble to cancel his show in the spring of 1953, with Skelton announcing that any future television shows of his would be variety
ones, where he would not have the almost constant burden of performing. Beginning with the 1953–54 season, Skelton switched to CBS, where he remained until 1970. When Skelton initially moved to CBS, he had no sponsor. The network gambled by taking the Skelton show on a sustaining basis; CBS was covering all expenses. Skelton's first CBS sponsor was Geritol
. He curtailed his drinking and his ratings at CBS began to improve, especially after he began appearing on Tuesday nights for co-sponsors Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk Company
. By 1959, Skelton was the only comedian with a regularly scheduled weekly television show.
Skelton's comedic sketches became legendary. Sometimes during sketches, Skelton would break up or cause his guest stars to laugh, not only on the live telecasts but on taped programs as well. Actress Theona Bryant, a regular to the show remarked, "When you can recite Juliet's Romeo dialogue in southern belle drawl into the laughing face of Red Skelton, you're ready to be a star."
By 1955, Skelton was broadcasting his weekly programs in color. Between 1955-60 the program was broadcast in color approximately 100 times. He tried to encourage CBS to do other shows in color at the facility, although most emanated in black-and-white from Television City near the Farmers Market in Los Angeles. However, CBS mostly avoided color broadcasting after the network's television set manufacturing division, CBS-Columbia sold few color sets and the public's general lack of interest did not warrant the additional cost. Although CBS occasionally would use NBC facilities or its own small color studio for specials, the network avoided color programming—except for sporadic telecasts of specials The Wizard of Oz
and Rodgers and Hammerstein
's Cinderella
—until the fall of 1965, when the three broadcast networks (ABC, NBC and CBS) began televising most of their primetime programs in color.
In early 1960, Skelton purchased the old Charlie Chaplin Studios
and updated it for videotape recording. Along with a purchase of a three-truck mobile color television unit, Skelton recorded (and CBS continued to broadcast) a number of his series episodes and specials in color. Even with Skelton's color facilities CBS discontinued color broadcasts on a regular basis and Skelton shortly sold the studio to CBS and the mobile unit to local station, KTLA. Prior to this, he had been filming at Desilu Productions
. By that time, Skelton had abandoned his own studio and moved back to the network's Television City facilities, where he resumed programs until he left the network. In the fall of 1962, CBS expanded his program to a full hour, retitling it The Red Skelton Hour.
At the height of Skelton's popularity, his son was diagnosed with leukemia. In 1957, this was a virtual death sentence for any child. Skelton returned to his television show on January 15, 1957, with guest star Mickey Rooney helping to lift his spirits. The illness and subsequent death of Richard Skelton at age 9 left his devastated father unable to perform for much of the 1957–58 television season. Skelton himself was beset by a serious illness and by a household accident which kept him off the air. CBS management was exceptionally understanding of Red's situation, and no talk of cancellation was ever entertained by Paley.
Skelton's season premiere for the 1960–61 television season was a tribute to the United Nations
. Six hundred people from the organization, including diplomats, were invited to be part of the audience for the show. Skelton's program was entirely done in pantomime. UN representatives from 39 nations were in the studio audience. In 1965, Skelton did another show in complete pantomime. This time he was joined by Marcel Marceau
; the two artists alternated performances for the hour-long program, sharing the stage to perform Pinocchio. The only person who spoke during the hour was Maurice Chevalier
, who served as the show's narrator. Skelton frequently employed the art of pantomime for his characters, using few props. A particularly poignant one is that of the old man watching the parade. The sketch had its origins in a question Skelton's terminally ill son, Richard, asked his father about what happens when people die. Skelton told his son, "They join a parade and start marching."
In 1969, Skelton performed a self-written monologue about the Pledge of Allegiance
. In the speech, he commented on the meaning of each phrase of the Pledge. At the end, he added: "Wouldn't it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer and that would be eliminated from schools too?" CBS received 200,000 requests for copies; the company subsequently released the monologue as a single by Columbia Records
.
In Groucho and Me, Groucho Marx
called Skelton "the most unacclaimed clown in show business", and "the logical successor to [Charlie] Chaplin", largely because of his ability to play a multitude of characters with minimal use of dialog and props. "With one prop, a soft battered hat," Groucho wrote, describing a performance he had witnessed, "he successfully converted himself into an idiot boy, a peevish old lady, a teetering-tottering drunk, an overstuffed clubwoman, a tramp, and any other character that seemed to suit his fancy. No grotesque make-up, no funny clothes, just Red." He added that Skelton also "plays a dramatic scene about as effectively as any of the dramatic actors."
Many of Skelton's television shows have survived due to kinescopes, films and videotapes and have been featured in recent years on Public Broadcasting Service
(PBS) stations. In addition, a number of excerpts from Skelton's programs have been released in VHS
and DVD
formats. In 1980, Skelton was taken to court by 13 of his former writers over a story that his will called for the destruction of recordings of all his old television shows upon his death. Skelton contended his remarks were made at a time when he was very unhappy with the television industry and were taken out of context. Skelton said at the time, "Would you burn the only monument you've built in over 20 years?" As the owner of the television shows, Skelton stubbornly refused to allow them to be syndicated as reruns during his lifetime.
One of the last known on-camera interviews with Skelton was conducted by Steven F. Zambo. A small portion of this interview can be seen in the 2005 PBS
special, The Pioneers of Primetime.
, another long-time favorite that appealed almost exclusively to older audiences, between the 1970 and 1971 seasons the network eliminated traditional weekly variety shows hosted by veterans such as Skelton, Jackie Gleason
, and Ed Sullivan
, because programmers thought that they were getting long in the tooth and did not appeal to young viewers. (see rural purge
for more information on this topic). CBS continued with Carol Burnett
's highly popular show until 1978, and aired variety programs hosted by younger entertainers such as Sonny and Cher. Years later, Burnett told reporters that network variety shows had become too expensive to bring back. Performing in Las Vegas when he got the news of his CBS cancellation, Skelton said, "My heart has been broken."
Skelton moved to NBC in 1970 in a half-hour Monday night version of his former show. Its cancellation after one season ended his long television career. Skelton returned to live performances after he was no longer on television. In an apparent effort to prove the networks wrong, he gave many of these at colleges and did prove quite popular with the youth. In 1984, Skelton gave a Royal Command Performance
for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
which was later shown in the US on HBO.
Skelton was said to be bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years afterwards. Believing the demographic and salary issues to be irrelevant, he bitterly accused CBS of caving in to the anti-establishment
, anti-war
faction at the height of the Vietnam War
, saying his conservative political and social views caused them to turn against him. Skelton invited prominent Republicans, including Vice President Spiro T. Agnew and Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen
to appear on his program. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
' Governor's Award in 1986, Skelton received a standing ovation. "I want to thank you for sitting down," Skelton said when the ovation subsided. "I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me." Skelton had previously received Emmys for Best Comedy Program in 1952 and for Best Comedy Writing in 1961. Skelton was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Television Hall of Fame in 1989.
after visiting a large Chicago department store
that had various paintings on display. Inquiring as to the price of one which Skelton described as "a bunch of blotches", he was told, "Ten thousand wouldn't buy that one." Skelton said he told the clerk he was one of the ten thousand who would not buy the painting, instead buying his own art materials. His wife, Georgia, a former art student, persuaded Skelton to have his first public showing
of his work in 1964 at the Las Vegas hotel where he was entertaining at the time. Skelton originals are priced at $80,000 and upward; Skelton once estimated the sale of his lithographs
earned him $2.5 million per year.
In Death Valley Junction, California
, Skelton found a kindred spirit when he saw the artwork and pantomime performances of Marta Becket
. Today, circus performers painted by Marta Becket decorate the Red Skelton Room in the Amargosa Hotel
, where Skelton stayed four times in Room 22. The room is dedicated to Skelton, as explained by John Mulvihill in his essay, "Lost Highway Hotel":
and music
. Skelton, who slept only four or five hours a night, would get up at 5 AM and begin writing stories, music and painting. He wrote at least one short story a week and had composed over 8,000 songs and symphonies
. Skelton was also interested in photography
; when attending Hollywood parties, he would take photos and give the films to the newspaper reporters who were gathered outside of the celebration but were not able to get in to take their own photos. Skelton kept a photographic record of each of his oil painting
s. He was also an avid gardener
who created his own Japanese garden and bonsai
trees at his Palm Springs home.
s and taught Skelton what he had missed. With Edna's help, Skelton received a high school equivalency degree. She was also part of the cast for Skelton's Avalon Time radio program under her maiden name of Edna Stillwell. Edna developed a system for working with the show's writers; she would select material from them, add her own and file the unused bits and lines for future use. In 1942, Edna announced that she was leaving the Skelton home but would continue to manage Skelton's career and write material for him. Skelton did not realize she was serious until Edna issued a statement about the impending divorce
through NBC, Skelton's radio employer. They divorced in 1943, leaving the courtroom arm in arm. After their marriage ended, Stillwell remained an advisor on his career until 1952, receiving a generous weekly salary for life for her efforts.
By 1944, Skelton was engaged to actress Muriel Morris, who was also known as Muriel Chase; the couple had obtained a marriage license and told the press they intended to marry within a few days. At the last minute, the actress decided not to marry Skelton, initially saying she intended to marry a wealthy businessman in Mexico City. She later recanted the story about marrying the businessman, but continued to say that her relationship with Skelton was over. The actress further denied that the reason for the breakup was Skelton's former wife's continuing to manage her ex-husband's career. Edna Skelton stated that she had no intention of either getting in the middle of the relationship or reconciling with her ex-husband.
Skelton, who was drafted in early 1944 and joined the Army on May 25 of that year, was on furlough
for a throat ailment when he married Georgia Maurine Davis in Beverly Hills, California
on March 9, 1945. He entered the hospital later that day to have his tonsils removed
. As part of the entertainment corps, Skelton entertained troops in both the United States and in Europe, often performing 10-12 shows per day. The pressure of his workload caused him to suffer exhaustion and a nervous breakdown
; he was released from his Army duties in September 1945. They had two children, Richard Jr., and Valentina Marie Skelton (b.1947). Skelton suffered a life-threatening asthma
attack on December 30, 1957. He was taken to St. John's Hospital
in Santa Monica
, where his doctors said that if there were ten steps to death, Red Skelton had taken nine of them when he arrived there. Initially hospitalized for an undetermined length of time, Skelton later said he was working on some notes for television and the next thing he remembered, he was in a hospital bed. He did not know how serious his illness was until he was able to read some newspapers. Skelton's illness and recovery kept him off the air for a month.
In January 1957, Skelton's son, Richard, was diagnosed with leukemia
; initially he was given a year at most to live. After Richard's diagnosis, Skelton took his family on an extended trip, so the boy could see as much of the world as possible. When they arrived in London, there were press accusations that Skelton's trip was more about publicity than his seriously ill son. There were also newspaper reports about young Richard's illness being fatal which were seen by the young boy. The devastated father cut the family's trip short and returned to the United States after the British press stories.
Richard Skelton Jr.'s death on May 10, 1958, just 10 days before his 10th birthday, was a major blow to the entire family. The day the young boy was buried, Skelton was scheduled to do his weekly television show. Though there were some recordings of some older Skelton shows available which the network could have run, Skelton asked that guest performers be used instead.
Richard Jr.'s death profoundly affected Red and Georgia. By the early 1960s, the Skelton family had moved to their Palm Springs home, while Red used the Bel Air mansion only on the two days when he was in Los Angeles for his television show taping. In 1966, Georgia Skelton wounded herself in an accidental shooting at the Sands Hotel
in Las Vegas
while her husband was performing in the main showroom. The couple's daughter, Valentina, heard the gunshot and found her mother who was both surprised and confused about what had happened. The Skeltons kept handguns in both of their California homes because of prowlers. Georgia did not feel safe without a gun
and the couple brought it to Las Vegas with them. The gun was kept loaded on a bedside table and Mrs. Skelton may have accidentally brushed against it there while reaching for something else. The Clark County Sheriff declared the shooting to be accidental.
In 1971, Red and Georgia divorced. Skelton, now 60, married a secretary 25 years his junior, Lothian Toland (daughter of famed film cinematographer
Gregg Toland
). They were married on October 7, 1973 in San Francisco, California
, and remained married until Red Skelton's death in 1997. On May 10, 1976, his ex-wife Georgia committed suicide
by gunshot on the 18th anniversary of her son's death. She was 54 and had been in poor health for some time. Skelton was deeply affected by the loss of his ex-wife.
near his Anza, California
home, at Eisenhower Medical Center
, in Rancho Mirage, California
on September 17, 1997, aged 84. He was interred in the Skelton Family tomb in The Great Mausoleum's Sanctuary of Benediction, private room, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Glendale, California
. He rests with his beloved son Richard Jr., who died in 1958. Skelton was survived by his widow, Lothian Toland-Skelton, his daughter, Valentina Marie Skelton-Alonso, and granddaughter Sabrina Maureen Alonso.
, a member of Vincennes Lodge No. 1, in Indiana. He also was a member of both the Scottish
and York Rite
. He was the recipient of the Gold Medal of the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, for Distinguished Service in the Arts and Sciences. On September 24, 1969, he received the honorary 33° in the Scottish Rite and was a Gourgas Medal recipient in 1995. Skelton was also a Shriner in Los Angeles, California. Skelton became interested in Masonry as a small boy selling newspapers in Vincennes, when a man bought a paper from him with a five dollar bill and told him to keep the change. The young Skelton asked his benefactor why he had given him so much money; the man explained that he was a Mason and Masons are taught to give. Skelton decided to become one also when he was grown.
In 1961 Skelton was made an honorary brother of the Phi Alpha Tau
Fraternity of Emerson College
when he was awarded the Joseph E. Connor Award for excellence in the field of communications. He also received an honorary degree from the college. Skelton received an honorary high school diploma from Vincennes High School. He was also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi
National Honorary Band Fraternity. In 1986, Skelton received an honorary degree from Ball State University
.
The Red Skelton Bridge
spans the Wabash River
and provides the highway link between Illinois
and Indiana
, on U.S. Route 50
, near his hometown of Vincennes, Indiana. Immediately after the 1963 bridge-dedication ceremony came to a close, Red proclaimed in his normal comical style to the crowd, "Okay, now everybody, off of my bridge!"
Skelton received an achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild
in 1987; he was also one of the first inductees of the International Clown Hall of Fame
in 1989.
campus. It was officially dedicated on Friday, February 24, 2006. The building includes an 850-seat theater, classrooms, rehearsal rooms and dressing rooms. The grand foyer is a gallery for Red Skelton paintings, statues and film posters. In addition to Vincennes University theatrical and musical productions, the theater hosts special events, convocations and conventions. Work is underway on the Red Skelton Gallery and Education Center to house the $3 million collection of Skelton memorabilia donated by Lothian Skelton. As of June 2009, part of the museum including a gift shop is open. In September 2010, the museum and the Indiana Historical Society
entered into a partnership for a permanent archive of Skelton's material. The museum received a one million dollar donation in November 2010. The Red Skelton Foundation also assists needy children in Vincennes with new clothing.
The Red Skelton Festival, June 14, 2008 in Vincennes, featured the "Parade of a Thousand Clowns," an Evening of Music, with Crystal Gayle
, and clown seminars. Restoration is underway for the historic Vincennes Pantheon Theatre
where Skelton performed during his youth.
Old-time radio
Old-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown
Circus clown
Clowns have always been an integral part of the circus, offering a source of amusement for patrons and providing relief from the array of animal acts and performances by acrobats and novelty artistes....
and went on to vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
, Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
s, all while pursuing another career as a painter. Skelton, who has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
for his radio and television work, is quoted as saying, "I just want to be known as a clown, because to me that's the height of my profession. It means you can do everything—sing, dance and above all, make people laugh."
Early years
Born in Vincennes, IndianaVincennes, Indiana
Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...
, Richard Skelton was the fourth son of Ida Mae (née Fields) and Joseph E. Skelton (1878–1913). Joseph, a grocer, died two months before his last child was born; he had once been a clown
Clown
Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus
Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus
The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus was a circus that traveled across America in the early part of the 20th century. At its peak, it was the second-largest circus in America next to Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. It was based in Peru, Indiana....
. In Skelton's lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth. Author Wesley Hyatt suggests that since Skelton began working at such an early age, he may have had to say he was older than he actually was in order to work.
Because of the loss of his father, young Richard went to work at the age of seven, selling newspapers to help his family. He quickly learned the newsboy's
Paperboy
A paperboy is the general name for a person employed by a newspaper, They are often used around the office to run low end errands. They make copies and distribute them. Paperboys traditionally were and are still often portrayed on television and movies as preteen boys, often on a bicycle...
patter and would keep it up until a prospective buyer bought a copy of the paper just to quiet young Skelton. In 1923, a man came up to the young newsboy, purchased every paper he had and asked him if he wanted to see the show in town, giving him a ticket. The man, comedian Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn was a popular American comedian and actor noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor....
, was part of the show and later took young Skelton backstage. It was then that he realized what he wanted to do with his life. (Skelton also told another version of this story, with Raymond Hitchcock
Raymond Hitchcock (actor)
Raymond Hitchcock was a silent film actor, stage actor, and stage producer, who appeared in or produced 30 plays on Broadway from 1898 to 1928, and who became famous in silent films of the 1920s.-Biography:...
as the actor.) Skelton learned when young that he could make people laugh. When Skelton was ten, he auditioned to be part of a medicine show
Medicine show
Medicine shows were traveling horse and wagon teams which peddled "miracle cure" medications and other products between various entertainment acts. Their precise origins unknown, medicine shows were common in the 19th century United States...
. When he accidentally fell from the stage, breaking bottles of medicine as he fell, people laughed. The young boy realized he could earn a living with his ability. By age 14, he had left school and was already a veteran performer, working in local vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
and on a showboat
Showboat
A showboat, or show boat, was a form of theater that traveled along the waterways of the United States, especially along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers . A showboat was basically a barge that resembled a long, flat-roofed house, and in order to move down the river, it was pushed by a small tugboat...
, "The Cotton Blossom", that traveled the Ohio
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
and Missouri
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
rivers.
Young Skelton was interested in all forms of acting. He won a dramatic role with a stock theater
Summer stock theatre
Summer stock theatre is any theatre that presents stage productions only in the summer within the United States. The name combines both the seasonal time of year with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes...
company, but was unable to deliver his lines in a serious manner; the audience laughed instead. Ida Skelton, who held two jobs to support her family after the death of her husband, never said that her youngest son had run away from home, but that "his destiny had caught up with him at an early age". At age 15, he was on the vaudeville circuit and the next year spent some time with the same circus his father had also been a clown with. Skelton later copied his father's makeup for his television character, "Freddie the Freeloader". While performing in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
in 1931, Skelton married his first wife, Edna Stillwell, who was an usher
Usher (occupation)
Ushers assist visitors by formally showing the way in a large building or to their appropriate seats. This may coincide with a security role. The word comes from the French huissier, with the same meaning , ushers were servants or courtiers who showed or ushered visitors in and out of meetings in...
at the theater.
Skelton and his wife put together an act and began to get bookings for it at some of the smaller vaudeville theaters. They somehow made their way to the Lido Club in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. Despite the language barrier, the act was a success, and brought the couple theater dates throughout Canada. While in Montreal, Skelton and Edna devised the well-known "Doughnut Dunkers" routine, with Skelton's visual impressions of how different people ate doughnut
Doughnut
A doughnut or donut is a fried dough food and is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets...
s. The problem with doing this type of act was that Skelton had to eat nine doughnuts at every performance. He was performing five times a day and eating 45 doughnuts. Skelton gained almost 35 pounds rapidly and had to shelve the routine for a while until he lost the weight.
Film
Skelton's first contact with Hollywood came in the form of a failed 1932 screen test. In 1937 he made his filmFilm
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
debut for RKO Radio Pictures in the supporting role of a camp counselor in Having Wonderful Time
Having Wonderful Time
Having Wonderful Time is a 1938 romantic comedy film released by RKO Radio Pictures.-Plot summary :A bored New York office girl , goes to a camp in the Catskill Mountains called Camp Kare Free, for rest and to get away from the noise, busy, city life and finds a handsome waiter , and they fall in...
. Two short subjects made for Vitaphone
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
were released in 1939: Seeing Red and The Bashful Buckaroo. After screen star Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
had seen Skelton perform his "Doughnut Dunkers" act, Rooney contacted Skelton, urging him to try for work in films. Rooney also spoke favorably about Skelton to his film employer, MGM.
Skelton was hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
to lend comic relief
Comic relief
Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.-Definition:...
to its Dr. Kildare
Dr. Kildare
Dr. James Kildare is a fictional character, the primary character in a series of American theatrical films in the late 1930s and early 1940s, an early 1950s radio series, a 1960s television series of the same name and a comic book based on the TV show, and a short-lived 1970s television series...
medical dramas, but soon he was starring in comedy features (as inept radio detective "The Fox") and in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
musicals. When Skelton renegotiated his 1940 long-term contract with MGM, he wanted a clause that permitted him to remain working in radio and to be able to work on television (which was in its infancy). Skelton's previous contract called for MGM's approval prior to his radio shows and other appearances. Skelton did not receive the desired television clause and was not able to begin working in the medium until his MGM contract completed in 1951.
Skelton asked MGM once more for rights to pursue television when his contract was over. This time the studio was willing to grant them, making Skelton the only major MGM personality with the privilege. During the last portion of Skelton's contract with the studio, he was working in radio and on television in addition to films. In a 1956 interview, Skelton said he decided he would never work simultaneously in all three again.
Radio
The "Doughnut Dunkers" routine also led to Skelton's first appearance on The Rudy ValleeRudy Vallée
Rudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.-Early life:Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée...
Show on August 12, 1937. The program had a talent show segment and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. The show received enough fan mail after Skelton's performance to invite the comedian back two weeks after his initial appearance and again in November of that year. On October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced Red Foley
Red Foley
Clyde Julian Foley , better known as Red Foley, was an American singer, musician, and radio and TV personality who made a major contribution to the growth of country music after World War II....
as the host of Avalon Time on NBC; Edna also joined the show's cast. Skelton continued as the show's host until late 1939, when he went on to begin his MGM movie career.
Skelton's success in films meant a regular radio show offer. He went on the air with his own program, The Raleigh Cigarettes Program, on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson
Ozzie Nelson
Oswald George "Ozzie" Nelson was an American entertainer and band leader who originated and starred in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet radio and television series with his wife and two sons.-Early life:...
; his wife, Harriet
Harriet Nelson
Harriet Nelson was an American singer and actress. Nelson is best known for her role on the long-running sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.-Early life and career:...
, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard, was the show's vocalist and also worked with Skelton in skits.
Skelton introduced the first two of his many characters during the show's first season. Clem Kadiddlehopper was based on a Vincennes neighbor named Carl Hopper, who was hard of hearing. Skelton's voice pattern for Clem was very much like that of the later cartoon character, Bullwinkle
Bullwinkle J. Moose
Bullwinkle J. Moose is a fictional character in the 1959–1964 animated television series Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, often collectively referred to as Rocky and Bullwinkle, produced by Jay Ward and Bill Scott...
. They were sufficiently similar to cause Skelton to contemplate filing a lawsuit against Bill Scott, who voiced the cartoon moose. The Mean Widdle Kid, or "Junior", was a young boy full of mischief, who typically did things he was told not to do. "Junior" would say things like, "If I dood it, I gets a whipping.", followed moments later by the statement, "I dood it!" Skelton performed the character at home with Edna giving him the nickname "Junior" long before it was heard by a radio audience. While the phrase was Skelton's, the idea to try using the character on the radio show was Edna's. Skelton starred in a 1942 movie of the same name, but did not play "Junior" in the film. When MGM decided to use the phrase for the movie, they did so without the permission of either Skelton or his Raleigh cigarettes sponsor; Skelton asked for $25,000 from the studio in damages.
The phrase was such a part of national culture at the time, when General Doolittle
Jimmy Doolittle
General James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle, USAF was an American aviation pioneer. Doolittle served as a brigadier general, major general and lieutenant general in the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War...
conducted the bombing of Tokyo
Doolittle Raid
The Doolittle Raid, on 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese Home Islands during World War II. By demonstrating that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, it provided a vital morale boost and opportunity for U.S. retaliation after the...
in 1942, many newspapers used the phrase, "Doolittle Dood It" as a headline. In 1943, after a talk with President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, Skelton used his radio show to collect funds for a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress to be given to the Soviet Army
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...
to help fight World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Asking children to send in their spare change, Skelton raised enough money for the plane in two weeks. He named the bomber "We Dood It!" In 1993, the pilot of the plane was able to meet Skelton and thank him for the bomber.
Skelton also added a routine he had been performing since 1928. Originally called "Mellow Cigars" by Skelton, the skit entailed an announcer who became ill as he smoked his sponsor's product. Brown and Williamson, the makers of cigarettes, asked Skelton to change some aspects of the skit; Skelton re-named the routine "Guzzler's Gin", where the announcer became inebriated while sampling and touting the imaginary sponsor's wares.
The Skelton divorce in 1943 meant that Red had lost his married man's deferment
Conscription in the United States
Conscription in the United States has been employed several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the Cold War...
; he was once again classified as 1-A for service. He was drafted into the Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
in early 1944. Both MGM and his radio sponsor tried to obtain a deferment for the comedian, but to no avail. Skelton's last Raleigh radio show was on June 6, 1944, the day before he was formally inducted. Without its star, the program was discontinued, and the opportunity presented itself for the Nelsons to begin a radio show of their own, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is an American sitcom, airing on ABC from October 3, 1952 to September 3, 1966, starring the real life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television where it continued its success, running on both radio and TV for a couple of years...
. Skelton suffered a nervous breakdown while in the Army and was discharged on September 18, 1945. His sponsor was eager to have him back on the air, and Skelton's program began anew on NBC on December 4, 1945.
Skelton brought with him many new characters that were added to his repertoire: Bolivar Shagnasty, described as a "loudmouthed braggard", Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
who had hit the canvas too often, Deadeye, a cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
who could not get anything right, Willie Lump-Lump, a fellow who had a few too many drinks, and San Fernando Red, who never met a scam he did not like and also had political aspirations. By 1947, Skelton's musical conductor was David Rose
David Rose
David Rose was a British-born American songwriter, composer, arranger, pianist, and orchestra leader. His most famous compositions were "The Stripper", "Holiday for Strings", and "Calypso Melody"...
, who would go on to television with him. Skelton had worked with Rose during his time in the Army and wanted Rose to join him on the radio show when it went back on the air in December 1945.
On April 22, 1947, Red was censored
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
by NBC two minutes into his radio show. Red and his announcer Rod O'Connor began to talk about Fred Allen
Fred Allen
Fred Allen was an American comedian whose absurdist, topically pointed radio show made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the so-called classic era of American radio.His best-remembered gag was his long-running mock feud with friend and fellow comedian Jack Benny, but it...
being censored during Allen's NBC show the previous week; they were silenced for 15 seconds. Comedian Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
was also given the same treatment once he began referring to the censoring of Allen. Skelton forged on with his lines for his studio audience's benefit. The material Skelton insisted on using had been edited from the script by the network before the broadcast. Skelton's words after he was back on the air were, "Well, we have now joined the parade of stars." Skelton had been briefly censored the previous month for the use of the word "diaper". After the April incidents, NBC indicated it would no longer pull the plug for similar reasons.
Skelton changed sponsors in 1948; Brown and Williamson, owners of Raleigh cigarettes, withdrew due to program production costs. Skelton's new sponsor was Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
's Tide laundry detergent. He changed networks the next year, going from NBC to CBS. The Paley plan that offered stars significant tax savings if they incorporated, then sold their shows to CBS, covered radio shows only. Skelton's radio show was on CBS until May 1953. After Skelton's network
Radio network
There are two types of radio networks currently in use around the world: the one-to-many broadcast type commonly used for public information and mass media entertainment; and the two-way type used more commonly for public safety and public services such as police, fire, taxicabs, and delivery...
radio contract was over, he signed with Ziv Radio
Ziv Television Programs
Ziv Television Programs, Inc. was an American television syndication and production company, producer of popular syndicated TV programs in the 1950s.- History :...
for three years for a syndicated radio program in 1954. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame
Radio Hall of Fame
The National Radio Hall of Fame is a project of the Museum of Broadcast Communications.Although no physical building currently exists to house it, the National Radio Hall of Fame is a project of Bruce DuMont, CEO of the currently homeless Museum of Broadcast Communications, and is purported to be a...
in 1994.
Television
Skelton was unable to work in television until the end of his 1951 MGM movie contract; a renegotiation to extend the pact provided permission after that point. He was signed to a contract for television on NBC with Procter and Gamble as his sponsor on May 4, 1951. Skelton indicated he would be performing the same characters on television as he had been doing on radio. The MGM agreement with Skelton for television performances did not allow him to go on the air before September 30, 1951. When he began his NBC television show on the first day he was able to legally do so, at the end of his opening monologueMonologue
In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media...
, two men backstage grabbed his ankles from behind the set curtain, hauling him offstage face first. The comedic hard knocks took their toll; before Skelton had reached the age of 40, he needed leg braces
Orthotics
Orthotics is a specialty within the medical field concerned with the design, manufacture and application of orthoses. An orthosis is an orthopedic device that supports or corrects the function of a limb or the torso...
and a cane
Cane
Cane are either of two genera of tall, perennial grasses with flexible, woody stalks from the family Poaceae that grow throughout the world in wet soils. They are related to and may include species of bamboo. The genus Arundo is native from the Mediterranean region to the Far East. Arundinaria...
for the cartilage that was destroyed in both of his knee
Knee
The knee joint joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two articulations: one between the fibula and tibia, and one between the femur and patella. It is the largest joint in the human body and is very complicated. The knee is a mobile trocho-ginglymus , which permits flexion and extension as...
s. A ritual was established at the end of every program, with Skelton's words of, "Good night and may God bless." A 1943 hit instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
for Rose, called "Holiday for Strings", was used as Skelton's TV theme song. His now-famous "Freddie the Freeloader" clown was introduced on the program in 1952.
During the 1951–52 season, Skelton broadcast live from a converted NBC radio studio. The first year of Skelton's television show was done live
Live television
Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Video tape did not exist until 1957...
; problems set in because there was not enough time for costume
Costume
The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances...
changes and also because of Skelton's being on camera for most of the half-hour. Skelton was delivering an intense performance live each week, and the strain showed in physical illness. NBC agreed to film his shows in the 1952–53 season at Eagle Lion Studios
Eagle-Lion Films
Eagle-Lion Films was a British film production company owned by J. Arthur Rank intended to release British productions in the United States. In 1947 it acquired PRC Pictures, a small American production company, to produce B Pictures to accompany the British releases...
, next to the Sam Goldwyn Studio, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. Later the show was moved to the new NBC television studios in Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
. Procter & Gamble remained unhappy with the filming of the television show, and insisted that Skelton return to live broadcasts. The situation caused him to think about leaving television at that point.
Declining ratings prompted sponsor Procter & Gamble to cancel his show in the spring of 1953, with Skelton announcing that any future television shows of his would be variety
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
ones, where he would not have the almost constant burden of performing. Beginning with the 1953–54 season, Skelton switched to CBS, where he remained until 1970. When Skelton initially moved to CBS, he had no sponsor. The network gambled by taking the Skelton show on a sustaining basis; CBS was covering all expenses. Skelton's first CBS sponsor was Geritol
Geritol
Geritol is a US trademarked name for various dietary supplements, past and present. Geritol is currently a brand name for several vitamin complexes plus iron or multimineral products in both liquid form and tablets, containing from 9.5 to 18 mg of iron per daily dose...
. He curtailed his drinking and his ratings at CBS began to improve, especially after he began appearing on Tuesday nights for co-sponsors Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk Company
Pet, Inc.
Pet, Inc., was an American company that was the first to commercially produce evaporated milk as a shelf-stable consumer product and later became a multi-brand food products conglomerate. Its signature product, PET Evaporated Milk, is now a product of The J.M. Smucker Co...
. By 1959, Skelton was the only comedian with a regularly scheduled weekly television show.
Skelton's comedic sketches became legendary. Sometimes during sketches, Skelton would break up or cause his guest stars to laugh, not only on the live telecasts but on taped programs as well. Actress Theona Bryant, a regular to the show remarked, "When you can recite Juliet's Romeo dialogue in southern belle drawl into the laughing face of Red Skelton, you're ready to be a star."
By 1955, Skelton was broadcasting his weekly programs in color. Between 1955-60 the program was broadcast in color approximately 100 times. He tried to encourage CBS to do other shows in color at the facility, although most emanated in black-and-white from Television City near the Farmers Market in Los Angeles. However, CBS mostly avoided color broadcasting after the network's television set manufacturing division, CBS-Columbia sold few color sets and the public's general lack of interest did not warrant the additional cost. Although CBS occasionally would use NBC facilities or its own small color studio for specials, the network avoided color programming—except for sporadic telecasts of specials The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
and Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
's Cinderella
Cinderella (TV)
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is a musical written for television, with music by Richard Rodgers and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based upon the fairy tale Cinderella, particularly the French version Cendrillon, ou la Petite Pantoufle de Vair, by Charles Perrault...
—until the fall of 1965, when the three broadcast networks (ABC, NBC and CBS) began televising most of their primetime programs in color.
In early 1960, Skelton purchased the old Charlie Chaplin Studios
Charlie Chaplin Studios
Charlie Chaplin Studios is a motion picture studio built in 1917 by silent film star Charlie Chaplin just south of the southeast corner of La Brea and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California....
and updated it for videotape recording. Along with a purchase of a three-truck mobile color television unit, Skelton recorded (and CBS continued to broadcast) a number of his series episodes and specials in color. Even with Skelton's color facilities CBS discontinued color broadcasts on a regular basis and Skelton shortly sold the studio to CBS and the mobile unit to local station, KTLA. Prior to this, he had been filming at Desilu Productions
Desilu Productions
Desilu Productions was a Los Angeles, California-based company jointly owned by actors Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, who were married to each other from 1940 to 1960....
. By that time, Skelton had abandoned his own studio and moved back to the network's Television City facilities, where he resumed programs until he left the network. In the fall of 1962, CBS expanded his program to a full hour, retitling it The Red Skelton Hour.
At the height of Skelton's popularity, his son was diagnosed with leukemia. In 1957, this was a virtual death sentence for any child. Skelton returned to his television show on January 15, 1957, with guest star Mickey Rooney helping to lift his spirits. The illness and subsequent death of Richard Skelton at age 9 left his devastated father unable to perform for much of the 1957–58 television season. Skelton himself was beset by a serious illness and by a household accident which kept him off the air. CBS management was exceptionally understanding of Red's situation, and no talk of cancellation was ever entertained by Paley.
Skelton's season premiere for the 1960–61 television season was a tribute to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. Six hundred people from the organization, including diplomats, were invited to be part of the audience for the show. Skelton's program was entirely done in pantomime. UN representatives from 39 nations were in the studio audience. In 1965, Skelton did another show in complete pantomime. This time he was joined by Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau was an internationally acclaimed French actor and mime most famous for his persona as Bip the Clown.-Early years:...
; the two artists alternated performances for the hour-long program, sharing the stage to perform Pinocchio. The only person who spoke during the hour was Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
, who served as the show's narrator. Skelton frequently employed the art of pantomime for his characters, using few props. A particularly poignant one is that of the old man watching the parade. The sketch had its origins in a question Skelton's terminally ill son, Richard, asked his father about what happens when people die. Skelton told his son, "They join a parade and start marching."
In 1969, Skelton performed a self-written monologue about the Pledge of Allegiance
Pledge of Allegiance
The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is an expression of loyalty to the federal flag and the republic of the United States of America, originally composed by Christian Socialist Francis Bellamy in 1892 and formally adopted by Congress as the pledge in 1942...
. In the speech, he commented on the meaning of each phrase of the Pledge. At the end, he added: "Wouldn't it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer and that would be eliminated from schools too?" CBS received 200,000 requests for copies; the company subsequently released the monologue as a single by Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
.
In Groucho and Me, Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
called Skelton "the most unacclaimed clown in show business", and "the logical successor to [Charlie] Chaplin", largely because of his ability to play a multitude of characters with minimal use of dialog and props. "With one prop, a soft battered hat," Groucho wrote, describing a performance he had witnessed, "he successfully converted himself into an idiot boy, a peevish old lady, a teetering-tottering drunk, an overstuffed clubwoman, a tramp, and any other character that seemed to suit his fancy. No grotesque make-up, no funny clothes, just Red." He added that Skelton also "plays a dramatic scene about as effectively as any of the dramatic actors."
Many of Skelton's television shows have survived due to kinescopes, films and videotapes and have been featured in recent years on Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
(PBS) stations. In addition, a number of excerpts from Skelton's programs have been released in VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
formats. In 1980, Skelton was taken to court by 13 of his former writers over a story that his will called for the destruction of recordings of all his old television shows upon his death. Skelton contended his remarks were made at a time when he was very unhappy with the television industry and were taken out of context. Skelton said at the time, "Would you burn the only monument you've built in over 20 years?" As the owner of the television shows, Skelton stubbornly refused to allow them to be syndicated as reruns during his lifetime.
One of the last known on-camera interviews with Skelton was conducted by Steven F. Zambo. A small portion of this interview can be seen in the 2005 PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
special, The Pioneers of Primetime.
Off the air
As the 1970s began, Skelton's ratings remained high, but demographics led the network to believe that most of his audience were over the age of 45. In addition, inflation resulted in his salary becoming bigger than the network was willing to pay him. Though CBS had earlier decided to keep GunsmokeGunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, another long-time favorite that appealed almost exclusively to older audiences, between the 1970 and 1971 seasons the network eliminated traditional weekly variety shows hosted by veterans such as Skelton, Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
, and Ed Sullivan
Ed Sullivan
Edward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan was an American entertainment writer and television host, best known as the presenter of the TV variety show The Ed Sullivan Show. The show was broadcast from 1948 to 1971 , which made it one of the longest-running variety shows in U.S...
, because programmers thought that they were getting long in the tooth and did not appeal to young viewers. (see rural purge
Rural purge
The "rural purge" of American television networks was a series of cancellations between 1969 and 1972, the majority of which occurred at the end of the 1970-71 television season, of still popular rural-themed shows and shows with demographically-skewed audiences...
for more information on this topic). CBS continued with Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
's highly popular show until 1978, and aired variety programs hosted by younger entertainers such as Sonny and Cher. Years later, Burnett told reporters that network variety shows had become too expensive to bring back. Performing in Las Vegas when he got the news of his CBS cancellation, Skelton said, "My heart has been broken."
Skelton moved to NBC in 1970 in a half-hour Monday night version of his former show. Its cancellation after one season ended his long television career. Skelton returned to live performances after he was no longer on television. In an apparent effort to prove the networks wrong, he gave many of these at colleges and did prove quite popular with the youth. In 1984, Skelton gave a Royal Command Performance
Royal Command Performance
For the annual Royal Variety Performance performed in Britain for the benefit of the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund, see Royal Variety Performance...
for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Bird Notes and News was first published in April 1903.The title changed to 'Bird Notes' in 1947. In the 1950s, there were four copies per year . Each volume covered two years, spread over three calendar years...
which was later shown in the US on HBO.
Skelton was said to be bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years afterwards. Believing the demographic and salary issues to be irrelevant, he bitterly accused CBS of caving in to the anti-establishment
Anti-establishment
An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958, by the British magazine New Statesman to refer to its political and social agenda...
, anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
faction at the height of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, saying his conservative political and social views caused them to turn against him. Skelton invited prominent Republicans, including Vice President Spiro T. Agnew and Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen
Everett Dirksen
Everett McKinley Dirksen was an American politician of the Republican Party. He represented Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate...
to appear on his program. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences was founded in 1946, just one month after network television was born. It is a nonprofit organization devoted to the advancement of telecommunications arts and sciences and to fostering creative leadership in the telecommunications industry...
' Governor's Award in 1986, Skelton received a standing ovation. "I want to thank you for sitting down," Skelton said when the ovation subsided. "I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me." Skelton had previously received Emmys for Best Comedy Program in 1952 and for Best Comedy Writing in 1961. Skelton was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Television Hall of Fame in 1989.
Clown and circus art
Skelton began producing artwork in 1943, but kept his works private for many years. He said he was inspired to try his hand at paintingPainting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
after visiting a large Chicago department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
that had various paintings on display. Inquiring as to the price of one which Skelton described as "a bunch of blotches", he was told, "Ten thousand wouldn't buy that one." Skelton said he told the clerk he was one of the ten thousand who would not buy the painting, instead buying his own art materials. His wife, Georgia, a former art student, persuaded Skelton to have his first public showing
Art exhibition
Art exhibitions are traditionally the space in which art objects meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition". In American English, they may be called "exhibit", "exposition" or...
of his work in 1964 at the Las Vegas hotel where he was entertaining at the time. Skelton originals are priced at $80,000 and upward; Skelton once estimated the sale of his lithographs
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
earned him $2.5 million per year.
In Death Valley Junction, California
Death Valley Junction, California
Death Valley Junction is a tiny Mojave Desert community in unincorporated Inyo County, California, at the intersection of SR 190 and SR 127, just east of Death Valley National Park. The zip code is 92328, the elevation is , and the population fewer than 20. The city limits sign reports a...
, Skelton found a kindred spirit when he saw the artwork and pantomime performances of Marta Becket
Marta Becket
Marta Becket is an actress, dancer, choreographer and painter who performed for more than four decades at her own theater, the Amargosa Opera House in Death Valley Junction, California...
. Today, circus performers painted by Marta Becket decorate the Red Skelton Room in the Amargosa Hotel
Amargosa Opera House and Hotel
Amargosa Opera House and Hotel is a historic building and cultural center located in Death Valley Junction, in eastern Inyo County, California near Death Valley National Park. Resident artist Marta Becket has staged dance and mime shows there since the late 1960s...
, where Skelton stayed four times in Room 22. The room is dedicated to Skelton, as explained by John Mulvihill in his essay, "Lost Highway Hotel":
Marta Becket is the magic behind the Amargosa Hotel. For the past 32 years, it has provided both a home and a venue for her lifetime ambition: to perform her dance and pantomime works to paying audiences. Since 1968, she's been doing just that, twice a week, audiences or no. The hotel guest’s first encounter with Marta is through her paintings in the lobby and dining area. Once she and her husband had upgraded the structure of the hotel and theatre, she made them unique by painting their walls with shimmering frescoes (not real frescoes but the effect is the same) in a style uniquely hers. Some of the paintings are deceptively three-dimensional, like the guitar leaning against a wall that you don’t realize is a painting until you reach to pick it up. Some are evocative of carnival art from the early part of this century. All are vibrant, whimsical. If you’re lucky, your room will be graced with similar wall paintings. Room 22 is where Red Skelton used to stay. He visited once to catch Marta’s show and, like so many others, fell victim to the Amargosa’s enchantment and returned again and again. He asked Marta to illustrate his room with circus performers and though he died shortly thereafter, she did so anyway. Staying in this room, with acrobats scaling the walls and trapeze artists flying from the ceiling, is a singularly evocative experience, one I wouldn’t trade for a suite at the Waldorf-Astoria.
Other interests
Skelton was a prolific writer of both short storiesShort story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
and music
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
. Skelton, who slept only four or five hours a night, would get up at 5 AM and begin writing stories, music and painting. He wrote at least one short story a week and had composed over 8,000 songs and symphonies
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
. Skelton was also interested in photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
; when attending Hollywood parties, he would take photos and give the films to the newspaper reporters who were gathered outside of the celebration but were not able to get in to take their own photos. Skelton kept a photographic record of each of his oil painting
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
s. He was also an avid gardener
Gardening
Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants. Ornamental plants are normally grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants are grown for consumption , for their dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use...
who created his own Japanese garden and bonsai
Bonsai
is a Japanese art form using miniature trees grown in containers. Similar practices exist in other cultures, including the Chinese tradition of penjing from which the art originated, and the miniature living landscapes of Vietnamese hòn non bộ...
trees at his Palm Springs home.
Personal life
On June 1, 1931, Skelton married Edna Marie Stillwell (1915–1982), a joke writer, business manager, and former usher at Kansas City's old Pantages Theater. Skelton was one month away from his 18th birthday, and Edna was 16. The two met when she approached Skelton after a show and told him she didn't like his material; Skelton asked her if she could do better. They married a short time later, with Edna taking on the tasks of managing her husband and writing for him, as well as becoming part of his act. At first, Skelton considered his wife to be interfering after she saw the boss when his salary was about to be cut. When she came away with not only a raise for her husband but additional considerations as well, Skelton no longer minded Edna's intervention. Since Skelton had left school at an early age, his wife bought textbookTextbook
A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...
s and taught Skelton what he had missed. With Edna's help, Skelton received a high school equivalency degree. She was also part of the cast for Skelton's Avalon Time radio program under her maiden name of Edna Stillwell. Edna developed a system for working with the show's writers; she would select material from them, add her own and file the unused bits and lines for future use. In 1942, Edna announced that she was leaving the Skelton home but would continue to manage Skelton's career and write material for him. Skelton did not realize she was serious until Edna issued a statement about the impending divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
through NBC, Skelton's radio employer. They divorced in 1943, leaving the courtroom arm in arm. After their marriage ended, Stillwell remained an advisor on his career until 1952, receiving a generous weekly salary for life for her efforts.
By 1944, Skelton was engaged to actress Muriel Morris, who was also known as Muriel Chase; the couple had obtained a marriage license and told the press they intended to marry within a few days. At the last minute, the actress decided not to marry Skelton, initially saying she intended to marry a wealthy businessman in Mexico City. She later recanted the story about marrying the businessman, but continued to say that her relationship with Skelton was over. The actress further denied that the reason for the breakup was Skelton's former wife's continuing to manage her ex-husband's career. Edna Skelton stated that she had no intention of either getting in the middle of the relationship or reconciling with her ex-husband.
Skelton, who was drafted in early 1944 and joined the Army on May 25 of that year, was on furlough
Furlough
In the United States a furlough is a temporary unpaid leave of some employees due to special needs of a company, which may be due to economic conditions at the specific employer or in the economy as a whole...
for a throat ailment when he married Georgia Maurine Davis in Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
on March 9, 1945. He entered the hospital later that day to have his tonsils removed
Tonsillectomy
A tonsillectomy is a 3,000-year-old surgical procedure in which the tonsils are removed from either side of the throat. The procedure is performed in response to cases of repeated occurrence of acute tonsillitis or adenoiditis, obstructive sleep apnea, nasal airway obstruction, snoring, or...
. As part of the entertainment corps, Skelton entertained troops in both the United States and in Europe, often performing 10-12 shows per day. The pressure of his workload caused him to suffer exhaustion and a nervous breakdown
Mental breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
; he was released from his Army duties in September 1945. They had two children, Richard Jr., and Valentina Marie Skelton (b.1947). Skelton suffered a life-threatening asthma
Asthma
Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...
attack on December 30, 1957. He was taken to St. John's Hospital
Saint John's Health Center
Saint John's Health Center is a hospital in Santa Monica, California, United States. The hospital was founded in 1942 by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth.-List of famous patients:*Former US President Ronald Reagan, 2001, taken to St...
in Santa Monica
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
, where his doctors said that if there were ten steps to death, Red Skelton had taken nine of them when he arrived there. Initially hospitalized for an undetermined length of time, Skelton later said he was working on some notes for television and the next thing he remembered, he was in a hospital bed. He did not know how serious his illness was until he was able to read some newspapers. Skelton's illness and recovery kept him off the air for a month.
In January 1957, Skelton's son, Richard, was diagnosed with leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
; initially he was given a year at most to live. After Richard's diagnosis, Skelton took his family on an extended trip, so the boy could see as much of the world as possible. When they arrived in London, there were press accusations that Skelton's trip was more about publicity than his seriously ill son. There were also newspaper reports about young Richard's illness being fatal which were seen by the young boy. The devastated father cut the family's trip short and returned to the United States after the British press stories.
Richard Skelton Jr.'s death on May 10, 1958, just 10 days before his 10th birthday, was a major blow to the entire family. The day the young boy was buried, Skelton was scheduled to do his weekly television show. Though there were some recordings of some older Skelton shows available which the network could have run, Skelton asked that guest performers be used instead.
Richard Jr.'s death profoundly affected Red and Georgia. By the early 1960s, the Skelton family had moved to their Palm Springs home, while Red used the Bel Air mansion only on the two days when he was in Los Angeles for his television show taping. In 1966, Georgia Skelton wounded herself in an accidental shooting at the Sands Hotel
Sands Hotel
The Sands Hotel was a historic Las Vegas Strip hotel/casino that operated from December 15, 1952 to June 30, 1996. Designed by architect Wayne McAllister, the Sands was the seventh resort that opened on the Strip....
in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
while her husband was performing in the main showroom. The couple's daughter, Valentina, heard the gunshot and found her mother who was both surprised and confused about what had happened. The Skeltons kept handguns in both of their California homes because of prowlers. Georgia did not feel safe without a gun
Handgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....
and the couple brought it to Las Vegas with them. The gun was kept loaded on a bedside table and Mrs. Skelton may have accidentally brushed against it there while reaching for something else. The Clark County Sheriff declared the shooting to be accidental.
In 1971, Red and Georgia divorced. Skelton, now 60, married a secretary 25 years his junior, Lothian Toland (daughter of famed film cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
Gregg Toland
Gregg Toland
Gregg Toland, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer noted for his innovative use of lighting and techniques such as deep focus, an example of which can be found in his work on Orson Welles' Citizen Kane.-Career:...
). They were married on October 7, 1973 in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, and remained married until Red Skelton's death in 1997. On May 10, 1976, his ex-wife Georgia committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by gunshot on the 18th anniversary of her son's death. She was 54 and had been in poor health for some time. Skelton was deeply affected by the loss of his ex-wife.
Death
Red Skelton died from pneumoniaPneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
near his Anza, California
Anza, California
Anza is a census-designated place located in southern Riverside County, California, in the Anza Valley, a semi-arid region at a mean elevation of above sea level. It is located south of Idyllwild, and approximately southwest of Palm Springs, southeast of Los Angeles, California and...
home, at Eisenhower Medical Center
Eisenhower Medical Center
The Eisenhower Medical Center is a not-for-profit hospital located in Rancho Mirage, California. It was named one of the top one hundred hospitals in the United States in 2005 and is adjacent to the world-famous Betty Ford Center....
, in Rancho Mirage, California
Rancho Mirage, California
Rancho Mirage is a resort city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 17,218 at the 2010 census, up from 13,249 at the 2000 census, but the seasonal population can exceed 20,000. In between Cathedral City and Palm Desert, it is one of the eight cities of the Coachella...
on September 17, 1997, aged 84. He was interred in the Skelton Family tomb in The Great Mausoleum's Sanctuary of Benediction, private room, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Glendale, California
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
. He rests with his beloved son Richard Jr., who died in 1958. Skelton was survived by his widow, Lothian Toland-Skelton, his daughter, Valentina Marie Skelton-Alonso, and granddaughter Sabrina Maureen Alonso.
Fraternity and honors
Red Skelton was a FreemasonFreemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
, a member of Vincennes Lodge No. 1, in Indiana. He also was a member of both the Scottish
Scottish Rite
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry , commonly known as simply the Scottish Rite, is one of several Rites of the worldwide fraternity known as Freemasonry...
and York Rite
York Rite
The York Rite or American Rite is one of several Rites of the worldwide fraternity known as Freemasonry. A Rite is a series of progressive degrees that are conferred by various Masonic organizations or bodies, each of which operates under the control of its own central authority...
. He was the recipient of the Gold Medal of the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, for Distinguished Service in the Arts and Sciences. On September 24, 1969, he received the honorary 33° in the Scottish Rite and was a Gourgas Medal recipient in 1995. Skelton was also a Shriner in Los Angeles, California. Skelton became interested in Masonry as a small boy selling newspapers in Vincennes, when a man bought a paper from him with a five dollar bill and told him to keep the change. The young Skelton asked his benefactor why he had given him so much money; the man explained that he was a Mason and Masons are taught to give. Skelton decided to become one also when he was grown.
In 1961 Skelton was made an honorary brother of the Phi Alpha Tau
Phi Alpha Tau
Phi Alpha Tau is the oldest professional communicative arts fraternity in the United States, founded in 1902 by Walter Bradley Tripp at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded to support the student-run debate society at Emerson College, and maintain its status as a student run...
Fraternity of Emerson College
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...
when he was awarded the Joseph E. Connor Award for excellence in the field of communications. He also received an honorary degree from the college. Skelton received an honorary high school diploma from Vincennes High School. He was also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi
Kappa Kappa Psi
Kappa Kappa Psi is a fraternity for college and university band members. It was founded on November 27, 1919 at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College in Stillwater, Oklahoma. William Scroggs, now regarded as the "Founder," together with "Mr. Kappa Kappa Psi" A...
National Honorary Band Fraternity. In 1986, Skelton received an honorary degree from Ball State University
Ball State University
Ball State University is a state-run research university located in Muncie, Indiana. It is also known as Ball State or simply BSU.Located on the northwest side of the city, Ball State's campus spans and includes 106 buildings...
.
The Red Skelton Bridge
Red Skelton Memorial Bridge
The Red Skelton Memorial Bridge carries US Route 50 over the Wabash River outside of Vincennes, Indiana.-References:...
spans the Wabash River
Wabash River
The Wabash River is a river in the Midwestern United States that flows southwest from northwest Ohio near Fort Recovery across northern Indiana to southern Illinois, where it forms the Illinois-Indiana border before draining into the Ohio River, of which it is the largest northern tributary...
and provides the highway link between Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
and Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, on U.S. Route 50
U.S. Route 50
U.S. Route 50 is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching just over from Ocean City, Maryland on the Atlantic Ocean to West Sacramento, California. Until 1972, when it was replaced by Interstate Highways west of the Sacramento area, it extended to San Francisco, near...
, near his hometown of Vincennes, Indiana. Immediately after the 1963 bridge-dedication ceremony came to a close, Red proclaimed in his normal comical style to the crowd, "Okay, now everybody, off of my bridge!"
Skelton received an achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
in 1987; he was also one of the first inductees of the International Clown Hall of Fame
International Clown Hall of Fame
The International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center , located in Baraboo, Wisconsin, USA, is dedicated to the preservation and advancement of clown art and achievement...
in 1989.
Legacy
At a cost of $16.8 million, Red Skelton Performing Arts Center was built on the Vincennes UniversityVincennes University
Vincennes University is a public university in Vincennes, Indiana, in the United States. Founded in 1801 as Jefferson Academy, VU is the oldest public institution of higher learning in Indiana. Since 1889, VU has been a two-year university, although baccalaureate degrees in seven select areas are...
campus. It was officially dedicated on Friday, February 24, 2006. The building includes an 850-seat theater, classrooms, rehearsal rooms and dressing rooms. The grand foyer is a gallery for Red Skelton paintings, statues and film posters. In addition to Vincennes University theatrical and musical productions, the theater hosts special events, convocations and conventions. Work is underway on the Red Skelton Gallery and Education Center to house the $3 million collection of Skelton memorabilia donated by Lothian Skelton. As of June 2009, part of the museum including a gift shop is open. In September 2010, the museum and the Indiana Historical Society
Indiana Historical Society
The Indiana Historical Society is one of the United States' oldest and largest historical societies and describes itself as "Indiana's Storyteller". Housed within the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center, it is located at 450 West Ohio St...
entered into a partnership for a permanent archive of Skelton's material. The museum received a one million dollar donation in November 2010. The Red Skelton Foundation also assists needy children in Vincennes with new clothing.
The Red Skelton Festival, June 14, 2008 in Vincennes, featured the "Parade of a Thousand Clowns," an Evening of Music, with Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...
, and clown seminars. Restoration is underway for the historic Vincennes Pantheon Theatre
Pantheon Theatre
The Pantheon Theatre was constructed in 1919 on the corner of 5th and Main Street in Vincennes, Indiana. It was built to hold 1200 people. One of the highest paid interior decorators in the world was hired to supervise the decorating of the theatre. The Pantheon's interior was highly embellished...
where Skelton performed during his youth.
Features
- Having Wonderful TimeHaving Wonderful TimeHaving Wonderful Time is a 1938 romantic comedy film released by RKO Radio Pictures.-Plot summary :A bored New York office girl , goes to a camp in the Catskill Mountains called Camp Kare Free, for rest and to get away from the noise, busy, city life and finds a handsome waiter , and they fall in...
(19381938 in filmThe year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,...
) - Flight CommandFlight CommandFlight Command is a 1940 film about a cocky U.S. Navy pilot who has problems with his new squadron and falls for the wife of his commander...
(19401940 in filmThe year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....
) - The People vs. Dr. KildareDr. KildareDr. James Kildare is a fictional character, the primary character in a series of American theatrical films in the late 1930s and early 1940s, an early 1950s radio series, a 1960s television series of the same name and a comic book based on the TV show, and a short-lived 1970s television series...
(19411941 in filmThe year 1941 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Citizen Kane, consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, was released in 1941.-Top grossing films :-Academy Awards:...
) - Whistling in the DarkWhistling in the Dark (1941 film)Whistling in the Dark is the first of three comedy films starring Red Skelton as Wally "the Fox" Benton, who writes and acts in radio murder mysteries. Wally is kidnapped by a greedy cult leader , who threatens to kill Wally's girlfriend and another young woman unless he concocts a perfect murder...
(1941) - Dr. Kildare's Wedding DayDr. KildareDr. James Kildare is a fictional character, the primary character in a series of American theatrical films in the late 1930s and early 1940s, an early 1950s radio series, a 1960s television series of the same name and a comic book based on the TV show, and a short-lived 1970s television series...
(1941) - Lady Be GoodLady Be Good (1941 film)Lady Be Good is the title of an MGM musical film which was released in 1941.The film starred dancer Eleanor Powell along with Ann Sothern, Robert Young, Lionel Barrymore, and Red Skelton. It was directed by Norman Z. McLeod and produced by Arthur Freed...
(1941) - Ship AhoyShip AhoyShip Ahoy is the title of a 1942 musical-comedy film produced by MGM, starring Eleanor Powell and Red Skelton.-Background:This was the first of two films in which Powell and Skelton co-starred...
(19421942 in filmThe year 1942 in film involved some significant events, in particular the release of a film consistently rated as one of the greatest of all time, Casablanca.-Events:...
) - Maisie Gets Her ManMaisieMaisie Ravier is a popular fictional character, the star of ten films and a radio show. She was played by Ann Sothern.After a string of films that failed to attract an audience, Sothern left RKO Radio Pictures and was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, making her first film for MGM in 1939...
(1942) - Panama HattiePanama HattiePanama Hattie is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Herbert Fields and B. G. DeSylva. It is also the title of a 1942 MGM musical based upon the play...
(1942) - Whistling in DixieWhistling in DixieWhistling in Dixie is a 1942 crime comedy film, the second of three starring Red Skelton as murder mystery writer and amateur crime solver Wally Benton and Ann Rutherford as his girlfriend...
(1942) - DuBarry Was a LadyDuBarry Was a Lady (film)DuBarry Was a Lady is a 1943 Technicolor film, starring Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, and Gene Kelly, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is based on the 1939 stage musical of the same name....
(19431943 in filmThe year 1943 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 3 - 1st missing persons telecast * February 20 - American film studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor films....
) - Thousands CheerThousands CheerThousands Cheer is a 1943 American comedy musical film released by MGM. Produced at the height of the Second World War, the film was intended as a morale booster for American troops and their families.-Plot:The film is essentially a two-part program...
(1943) - I Dood ItI Dood ItI Dood It is a 1943 MGM musical-comedy film starring Red Skelton and Eleanor Powell, and directed by Vincente Minnelli. The screenplay is by Fred Saidy and Sig Herzig and the film features Richard Ainley, Patricia Dane, Lena Horne and Hazel Scott...
(1943) - Whistling in BrooklynWhistling in BrooklynWhistling in Brooklyn is the third and last film starring comedian Red Skelton as radio personality and amateur detective Wally "The Fox" Benton. Wally prepares to marry his girlfriend, but gets sidetracked when he is mistaken for a serial murderer...
(1943) - Bathing BeautyBathing BeautyBathing Beauty is a 1944 musical starring Red Skelton, Basil Rathbone and Esther Williams and directed by George Sidney.Although this was not William's screen debut, it was her first Technicolor musical. The film was initially to be titled "Mr. Co-Ed" with Red Skelton having top billing...
(19441944 in filmThe year 1944 in film involved some significant events, including the wholesome, award-winning Going My Way plus popular murder mysteries such as Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Laura.-Events:*July 20 - Since You Went Away is released....
) - Ziegfeld FolliesZiegfeld Follies (film)Ziegfeld Follies is a 1945 Hollywood musical comedy film directed by Lemuel Ayers, Roy Del Ruth, Robert Lewis, Vincente Minnelli, Merrill Pye, George Sidney and Charles Waters...
(19461946 in filmThe year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a...
) - The Show-Off (1946)
- Merton of the MoviesMerton of the MoviesMerton of the Movies is a 1919 book written by Harry Leon Wilson. In 1922, it was adapted into a Broadway play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. A 1924 silent movie version was directed by James Cruze and starred Glenn Hunter who had created the role on Broadway...
(19471947 in filmThe year 1947 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 22 - Great Expectations is premiered in New York.*November 24 : The United States House of Representatives of the 80th Congress voted 346 to 17 to approve citations for contempt of Congress against the "Hollywood Ten".*November 25...
) - The Fuller Brush ManThe Fuller Brush ManThe Fuller Brush Man is a 1948 comedy film starring Red Skelton as a door-to-door salesman for the Fuller Brush Company who becomes a murder suspect.-Cast:*Red Skelton as Red Jones*Janet Blair as Ann Elliott*Don McGuire as Keenan Wallick...
(19481948 in filmThe year 1948 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Laurence Olivier's Hamlet becomes the first British film to win the American Academy Award for Best Picture.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :...
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- A Southern YankeeA Southern YankeeA Southern Yankee is an American comedy film, directed by Edward Sedgwick, starring Red Skelton and Arlene Dahl, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. A semi-remake of Buster Keaton's The General , Skelton plays a Union soldier who spies for the Confederacy during the American Civil War....
(1948) - Neptune's DaughterNeptune's Daughter (1949 film)Neptune's Daughter is a 1949 musical romantic comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Esther Williams, Red Skelton, Ricardo Montalbán, Betty Garrett, Keenan Wynn, Xavier Cugat and Mel Blanc...
(19491949 in filmThe year 1949 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello...
) - The Yellow Cab ManThe Yellow Cab ManThe Yellow Cab Man is a 1950 comedy film directed by Jack Donohue starring Red Skelton, Gloria DeHaven and Edward Arnold. The inventor of unbreakable glass tries to sell it to a taxicab company, hoping that they will make unbreakable windshields.-Cast:*Red Skelton as Augustus 'Red' Pirdy*Gloria...
(19501950 in filmThe year 1950 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 15 - Walt Disney Studios' animated film Cinderella debuts.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:*Ambush...
) - Three Little WordsThree Little Words (film)Three Little Words is a 1950 American musical film biography of the Tin Pan Alley songwriting partnership of Kalmar and Ruby and stars Fred Astaire as lyricist Bert Kalmar, Red Skelton as composer Harry Ruby, along with Vera-Ellen and Arlene Dahl as their wives, with Debbie Reynolds in a small but...
(1950) - Duchess of IdahoDuchess of IdahoDuchess of Idaho is a musical romantic comedy produced in 1950 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, it was the fourth film pairing Esther Williams and Van Johnson...
(1950) - The Fuller Brush GirlThe Fuller Brush GirlThe Fuller Brush Girl is a 1950 slapstick comedy starring Lucille Ball and directed by Lloyd Bacon. Animator Frank Tashlin wrote the script. Ball plays a quirky door-to-door cosmetics salesperson for the Fuller Brush Company...
(1950) cameo - Watch the Birdie (1950)
- Excuse My Dust (19511951 in filmThe year 1951 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian film-makers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...
) - Texas Carnival (1951)
- Lovely to Look AtLovely to Look AtLovely to Look At, an adaptation of the Broadway musical Roberta, is a 1952 MGM musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy.-Plot:Tony Naylor, Al Marsh and Jerry Ralby are looking for backers for their new Broadway show. They have just run out of options when Al gets a letter from his Aunt's attorneys...
(19521952 in filmThe year 1952 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 10 - Cecil B. DeMille's circus epic, The Greatest Show on Earth, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City....
) - The Clown (19531953 in filmThe year 1953 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*September 16 — The Robe debuts as the first anamorphic, widescreen CinemaScope film.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:A...
) - Half a Hero (1953)
- The Great Diamond Robbery (1954)
- Susan Slept HereSusan Slept HereSusan Slept Here is a 1954 romantic comedy film starring Dick Powell and Debbie Reynolds. It was based on the play of the same name by Steve Fisher and Alex Gottlieb...
(1954) cameo - Around the World in Eighty DaysAround the World in Eighty Days (1956 film)Around the World in 80 Days is a 1956 adventure film produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists. It was directed by Michael Anderson. It was produced by Michael Todd, with Kevin McClory and William Cameron Menzies as associate producers. The screenplay was written by James...
(19561956 in filmThe year 1956 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 5 - The Ten Commandments opens in cinemas and becomes one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, currently ranking 5th on the list of all time moneymakers * February 5 - First showing of documentary films by...
) cameo - Public Pigeon No. One (19571957 in filmThe year 1957 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 21 - The movie Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, opens.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue-Awards:...
) - Ocean's 11 (19601960 in filmThe year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...
) cameo - Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying MachinesThose Magnificent Men in Their Flying MachinesThose Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes is a 1965 British comedy film starring Stuart Whitman and directed and co-written by Ken Annakin...
(19651965 in filmThe year 1965 in film involved some significant events, with The Sound of Music topping the U.S. box office.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...
) - Rudolph's Shiny New YearRudolph's Shiny New YearRudolph's Shiny New Year is the 1976 stop-motion animated sequel to the 1964 television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, produced by Rankin/Bass.-Plot:...
(19761976 in filmThe year 1976 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*March 22 - Filming begins on George Lucas' Star Wars science fiction film...
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Short subjects
- The Broadway Buckaroo (19391939 in filmThe year 1939 in motion pictures can be justified as being called the most outstanding one ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year .- Events :Motion picture historians and film often rate...
) - Seeing Red (1939)
- Radio BugsOur GangOur Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...
(19441944 in filmThe year 1944 in film involved some significant events, including the wholesome, award-winning Going My Way plus popular murder mysteries such as Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Laura.-Events:*July 20 - Since You Went Away is released....
) (voice) - Weekend in Hollywood (19471947 in filmThe year 1947 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 22 - Great Expectations is premiered in New York.*November 24 : The United States House of Representatives of the 80th Congress voted 346 to 17 to approve citations for contempt of Congress against the "Hollywood Ten".*November 25...
) - The Luckiest Guy in the World (1947) (voice)
- Some of the Best (19491949 in filmThe year 1949 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello...
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