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[[Image:Red_Skelton_bw_01.jpg|thumb|Red Skelton]]
[[Image:Red_Skelton_bw_01.jpg|thumb|"When the stork bought you, Clem, I shoulda shot him on sight!" Red Skelton, the clown prince of television.]]


'''Bernard Richard "Red" Skelton''' ([[July 18]], [[1913]] – [[September 17]], [[1997]]) was an American comedian born in [[Vincennes, Indiana]] who started in [[vaudeville]] as a teenager, worked his way up to [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] shows, secondary roles in [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] movies, [[radio]] performances and finally popularity in the early days of [[television|TV]]. His [[Eponym|eponymous]] [[variety show]] ran alternately on the television networks [[CBS]] and [[NBC]] from [[1951]] through [[1971]]. (See: ''[[The Red Skelton Show]]''.)
'''Red Skelton''' (b. Bernard Richard Skelton,[[July 18]], [[1913]], [[Vicennes, Indiana]] – d. [[September 17]], [[1997]], [[Palm Springs, California]]) was an American comedian whose greatest impact---in a career which began as a teen circus clown and graduated to [[vaudeville]], [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]], [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] films, and [[radio]]---began when he reached stardom with [[television]]'s ''[[The Red Skelton Show]]'' ([[CBS]], [[1951]]-[[1970]]; [[NBC]], [[1971]]).


==Greasepaint In His Blood==
During [[World War II]], Skelton helped sell [[war bonds]], and served as a private in an entertainment unit. He had also become a popular radio presence and a capable film addition, but it was when he moved to television in 1951---the same year in which [[CBS]] introduced [[Lucille Ball]] to American television viewers---that Skelton found his true audience. Arguably, Skelton may be remembered best in the persona of a circus [[clown]], in traditional makeup — he may have come by this by nature, being the son of a [[Hagenback-Wallace Circus]] clown who died before Skelton was born. His best-known clown persona was Freddy the Freeloader, who wore traditional tramp clown makeup comparable to [[Emmett Kelly, Jr.]] (Jazz legend [[Miles Davis]] may or may not have named "Freddie Freeloader," a key composition on his groundbreaking ''Kind of Blue'' album, after Skelton's character.)
He became famous for a series of characters based on traditional [[circus]] clowning, but he probably came by that honestly---he was the son of a [[Hagenback-Wallace Circus]] clown who died shortly before he was born. Skelton himself got one of his earliest tastes of show business with the same circus as a teenager. Before that, however, he had been given the show business bug at age ten by entertainer [[Ed Wynn]] (remembered best, perhaps, as whacky Uncle Albert in ''[[Mary Poppins]]''), who spotted him selling newspapers trying to help his family. After buying every newspaper in Skelton's stock, Wynn took the boy backstage and introduced him to every member of the show with which he was traveling. By age fifteen, Skelton had hit the road full-time as an entertainer, working everywhere from medicine shows and vaudeville to [[burlesque]], showboats, [[minstrel shows]], and circuses.


==Air and Celluloid==
⚫
His best-remembered character of any kind, however, may have been goofy Clem Kadiddlehopper, a country bumpkin with a big heart, a slow wit, and an accidental knack for upstaging high society slickers---even if he couldn't upstage his cynical father. ("When the stork brought you, Clem, I shoulda had him shot on sight!") In fact, Bullwinkle J. Moose---the witless foil of Rocky the Flying Squirrel---was said to be so similar-sounding to Clem Kadiddlehopper that Skelton's representatives were said to have hinted at legal action against ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show'' creator Jay Ward. Ward, who rarely missed a trick with his satirical cartoon, hit back with a segment in which Bullwinkle addressed the Skelton complaint---in a deliberate mimicry of Clem Kadiddlehopper.
While performing in [[Kansas City]] in [[1930]], Skelton met and married his first wife, Edna Stillwell. The couple divorced in thirteen years later, but they remained cordial enough that Stillwell remained one of his chief writers. Seven years after their marriage, Skelton caught his big break in two media at once: radio and film. Beginning with ''Having a Wonderful Time'', Skelton appeared in over forty films for MGM in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1945, he married Georgia Davis; the couple had two children, Richard and Valentina; Richard's childhood death of [[leukemia]] devastated the household.


In [[1941]], Skelton premiered his own radio show, developing comic skits involving a number of clown characters, most of which accompanied him to television a decade later. These characters included Cauliflower McPugg, a punch-drunk boxer; Willie Lump Lump, a drunkard; The Mean Little Kid (his favourite phrase---"I dood it!"---became part of the American lexicon); San Fernando Red, a slickermaster con artist with a pair of crosseyed seagulls, Gertrude and Heathcliffe; and, especially, Clem Kadiddlehopper, a country bumpkin with a big heart, a slow wit, and an unintentional knack for upstaging high society slickers---even if he couldn't upstage his cynical father. ("When the stork bought you, Clem, I shoulda shot him on sight!")
⚫
Skelton would be inducted into the [[International Clown Hall of Fame]] in [[1989]], but as Kadiddlehopper showed he was far more than an interpretive clown. One of his best-loved routines was "The Pledge of Allegiance," in which he explained the pledge word by word. One of his last known on-camera interviews with Red 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]]''.


==The Picture Box Clown==
Skelton helped sell [[war bonds]] during [[World War II]] and served with an Army entertainment unit as a private. His radio show became increasingly popular as the 1940s wore on, and in 1951---the same year in which the network introduced ''[[I Love Lucy]]''---CBS beckoned Skelton to bring his radio show to television, where he found his true audience. His clown-based characters worked even better on screen than on radio, where they had worked well enough; television also provoked him to create his second best-remembered character, Freddy the Freeloader, a traditional tramp whose appearance suggested the elder, gray-haired brother of the famous [[Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus]] clown [[Emmett Kelly]]. (Jazz legend [[Miles Davis]] may or may not have named "Freddie Freeloader," a key composition on his groundbreaking ''Kind of Blue'' album, after Skelton's character.) And his weekly signoff ("Good night and God bless") became as familiar to television viewers as [[Edward R. Murrow]]'s "Good night and good luck" or [[Walter Cronkite]]'s "And that's the way it is."

⚫
Skelton built a loyal audience, on the basis of which he may have thought he could one-up a memorable cartoon character he thought had appropriated Clem Kadiddlehopper a little too acutely. Bullwinkle J. Moose---the witless foil of Rocky the Flying Squirrel---was said to be so similar-sounding to Clem that Skelton's representatives were said to have hinted at legal action against ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show'' creator Jay Ward. Ward, who rarely missed a trick with his satirical (if badly animated) cartoon, hit back with a segment in which Bullwinkle addressed the Skelton complaint---in a deliberate mimicry of Clem Kadiddlehopper.

⚫
Skelton would be inducted into the [[International Clown Hall of Fame]] in [[1989]], but as Kadiddlehopper showed he was more than an interpretive clown. One of his best-loved routines was "The Pledge of Allegiance," in which he explained the pledge word by word. One of his last known on-camera interviews with Red 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]]''.

==Off the Air==
Skelton kept his high television ratings into [[1970]] but he ran into two problems with [[CBS]]: [[demographics]] showed he no longer appealed to younger viewers, and his contracted annual salary raises grew disproportionately thanks to the [[inflation]] of the time and, as a CBS historian phrased it, "priced the cantankerous comedian right out of the market." Since CBS had earlier decided to keep another longtime favourite whose appeal was now strictly to elder audiences, ''[[Gunsmoke]]'', it's possible that without Skelton's inflationary contract raises he might have been kept on the air a few more years. He moved to [[NBC]] in [[1971]] for one season, then ended his long television career.
Skelton kept his high television ratings into [[1970]] but he ran into two problems with [[CBS]]: [[demographics]] showed he no longer appealed to younger viewers, and his contracted annual salary raises grew disproportionately thanks to the [[inflation]] of the time and, as a CBS historian phrased it, "priced the cantankerous comedian right out of the market." Since CBS had earlier decided to keep another longtime favourite whose appeal was now strictly to elder audiences, ''[[Gunsmoke]]'', it's possible that without Skelton's inflationary contract raises he might have been kept on the air a few more years. He moved to [[NBC]] in [[1971]] for one season, then ended his long television career.


Skelton was said to be bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years to follow. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Governor's Award in [[1986]], he 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."
⚫
But in time Skelton became appreciated by the very generations---formerly thought too "hip" to appreciate him---whom CBS feared wouldn't sustain him. The best of his work is considered landmark broadcasting in terms of deepening the sensibilities of the classic, traditional clown, and if he wasn't quite the depth of humourist that such contemporaries as [[Fred Allen]], [[Jackie Gleason]], [[Lucille Ball]], and [[Jack Benny]] had been, Skelton nevertheless carved a broadcasting niche almost entirely his own.


==Aftermath==
⚫
Near the end of his life, Skelton said his daily routine included writing a [[short story]] a day (he collected the best ones in self-published chapbooks) and composing a piece of music a day (which he would then sell to providers of background music such as [[Muzak]]). He was also an accomplished [[painter]], mostly painting clowns as his subjects. His original [[painting]]s of clowns now sell for thousands of dollars.
Skelton returned to live performance after his television days ended, in nightclubs and casinos and resorts, as well as performing such halls as [[Carnegie Hall]]. Many of those shows yielded segments that were edited into part of the ''Funny Faces'' video series. He also resurrected a lifetime love of painting, usually of clown images, and his works began to attract prices over $80,000.


⚫
Near the end of his life, Skelton said his daily routine included writing a [[short story]] a day (he collected the best ones in self-published chapbooks) and composing a piece of music a day (which he would then sell to providers of background music such as [[Muzak]]).
⚫
Red Skelton died in a hospital in [[Palm Springs, California]] from an undisclosed illness on September 17, 1997. At the time of his death, he lived in [[Anza, California]]. He is buried in [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery]], in [[Glendale, California]].


⚫
Red Skelton died in a hospital in [[Palm Springs, California]] from an undisclosed illness on September 17, 1997. At the time of his death, he lived in [[Anza, California]]. He is buried in [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery]], in [[Glendale, California]].
⚫
==Filmography==


⚫
In time his comedy became appreciated by the very generations---thought too "hip" to appreciate him when CBS pursued their attention in the 1970s---whom CBS feared wouldn't sustain him as their parents and grandparents had. The best of Skelton's work is considered landmark broadcasting in terms of deepening the sensibilities of the classic, traditional clown, and if he wasn't quite the depth of verbal humourist that such contemporaries as [[Fred Allen]], [[Jackie Gleason]], [[Lucille Ball]], and [[Jack Benny]] had been, Skelton nevertheless carved a broadcasting niche almost entirely his own, and a fair volume of his work stands the test of time very well.

⚫
==Filmography==
*''[[Having Wonderful Time]]'' (1938)
*''[[Having Wonderful Time]]'' (1938)
*''[[Seeing Red]]'' (1939) (short subject)
*''[[Seeing Red]]'' (1939) (short subject)

Revision as of 22:41, 9 January 2006

File:Red Skelton bw 01.jpg
"When the stork bought you, Clem, I shoulda shot him on sight!" Red Skelton, the clown prince of television.

Red Skelton (b. Bernard Richard Skelton,July 18, 1913, Vicennes, Indiana – d. September 17, 1997, Palm Springs, California) was an American comedian whose greatest impact---in a career which began as a teen circus clown and graduated to vaudeville, Broadway, MGM films, and radio---began when he reached stardom with television's The Red Skelton Show (CBS, 1951-1970; NBC, 1971).

Greasepaint In His Blood

He became famous for a series of characters based on traditional circus clowning, but he probably came by that honestly---he was the son of a Hagenback-Wallace Circus clown who died shortly before he was born. Skelton himself got one of his earliest tastes of show business with the same circus as a teenager. Before that, however, he had been given the show business bug at age ten by entertainer Ed Wynn (remembered best, perhaps, as whacky Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins), who spotted him selling newspapers trying to help his family. After buying every newspaper in Skelton's stock, Wynn took the boy backstage and introduced him to every member of the show with which he was traveling. By age fifteen, Skelton had hit the road full-time as an entertainer, working everywhere from medicine shows and vaudeville to burlesque, showboats, minstrel shows, and circuses.

Air and Celluloid

While performing in Kansas City in 1930, Skelton met and married his first wife, Edna Stillwell. The couple divorced in thirteen years later, but they remained cordial enough that Stillwell remained one of his chief writers. Seven years after their marriage, Skelton caught his big break in two media at once: radio and film. Beginning with Having a Wonderful Time, Skelton appeared in over forty films for MGM in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1945, he married Georgia Davis; the couple had two children, Richard and Valentina; Richard's childhood death of leukemia devastated the household.

In 1941, Skelton premiered his own radio show, developing comic skits involving a number of clown characters, most of which accompanied him to television a decade later. These characters included Cauliflower McPugg, a punch-drunk boxer; Willie Lump Lump, a drunkard; The Mean Little Kid (his favourite phrase---"I dood it!"---became part of the American lexicon); San Fernando Red, a slickermaster con artist with a pair of crosseyed seagulls, Gertrude and Heathcliffe; and, especially, Clem Kadiddlehopper, a country bumpkin with a big heart, a slow wit, and an unintentional knack for upstaging high society slickers---even if he couldn't upstage his cynical father. ("When the stork bought you, Clem, I shoulda shot him on sight!")

The Picture Box Clown

Skelton helped sell war bonds during World War II and served with an Army entertainment unit as a private. His radio show became increasingly popular as the 1940s wore on, and in 1951---the same year in which the network introduced I Love Lucy---CBS beckoned Skelton to bring his radio show to television, where he found his true audience. His clown-based characters worked even better on screen than on radio, where they had worked well enough; television also provoked him to create his second best-remembered character, Freddy the Freeloader, a traditional tramp whose appearance suggested the elder, gray-haired brother of the famous Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus clown Emmett Kelly. (Jazz legend Miles Davis may or may not have named "Freddie Freeloader," a key composition on his groundbreaking Kind of Blue album, after Skelton's character.) And his weekly signoff ("Good night and God bless") became as familiar to television viewers as Edward R. Murrow's "Good night and good luck" or Walter Cronkite's "And that's the way it is."

Skelton built a loyal audience, on the basis of which he may have thought he could one-up a memorable cartoon character he thought had appropriated Clem Kadiddlehopper a little too acutely. Bullwinkle J. Moose---the witless foil of Rocky the Flying Squirrel---was said to be so similar-sounding to Clem that Skelton's representatives were said to have hinted at legal action against The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show creator Jay Ward. Ward, who rarely missed a trick with his satirical (if badly animated) cartoon, hit back with a segment in which Bullwinkle addressed the Skelton complaint---in a deliberate mimicry of Clem Kadiddlehopper.

Skelton would be inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 1989, but as Kadiddlehopper showed he was more than an interpretive clown. One of his best-loved routines was "The Pledge of Allegiance," in which he explained the pledge word by word. One of his last known on-camera interviews with Red 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.

Off the Air

Skelton kept his high television ratings into 1970 but he ran into two problems with CBS: demographics showed he no longer appealed to younger viewers, and his contracted annual salary raises grew disproportionately thanks to the inflation of the time and, as a CBS historian phrased it, "priced the cantankerous comedian right out of the market." Since CBS had earlier decided to keep another longtime favourite whose appeal was now strictly to elder audiences, Gunsmoke, it's possible that without Skelton's inflationary contract raises he might have been kept on the air a few more years. He moved to NBC in 1971 for one season, then ended his long television career.

Skelton was said to be bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years to follow. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Governor's Award in 1986, he 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."

Aftermath

Skelton returned to live performance after his television days ended, in nightclubs and casinos and resorts, as well as performing such halls as Carnegie Hall. Many of those shows yielded segments that were edited into part of the Funny Faces video series. He also resurrected a lifetime love of painting, usually of clown images, and his works began to attract prices over $80,000.

Near the end of his life, Skelton said his daily routine included writing a short story a day (he collected the best ones in self-published chapbooks) and composing a piece of music a day (which he would then sell to providers of background music such as Muzak).

Red Skelton died in a hospital in Palm Springs, California from an undisclosed illness on September 17, 1997. At the time of his death, he lived in Anza, California. He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California.

In time his comedy became appreciated by the very generations---thought too "hip" to appreciate him when CBS pursued their attention in the 1970s---whom CBS feared wouldn't sustain him as their parents and grandparents had. The best of Skelton's work is considered landmark broadcasting in terms of deepening the sensibilities of the classic, traditional clown, and if he wasn't quite the depth of verbal humourist that such contemporaries as Fred Allen, Jackie Gleason, Lucille Ball, and Jack Benny had been, Skelton nevertheless carved a broadcasting niche almost entirely his own, and a fair volume of his work stands the test of time very well.

Filmography

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