The Red Skelton Hour

It was wonderful to have a youth where our family would get together weekly to watch the miracle performer of all time Red Skelton. Red had world class scripts or could be an ad-lib genius and improvise to perfection. The characters he created are beloved for the ages, Clem Kadiddlehopper, San Fernando Red, Freddie the Freeloader, Cauliflower McPugg, tippler Willie Lump-Lump, Sheriff Deadeye, Lord Beaverhead, and George Appleby. He had the cream of the crop of entertainers including, John Wayne, Milton Berle, Martha Raye, Tim Conway, Phyllis Diller, Mickey Rooney, Nipsey Russell, George Gobel, Robert Goulet, Merv Griffin,Vincent Price, Lou Rawls and Liberace. The wonder was our family felt like we were part of his family. The whole world was a better place when Red Skelton was in it.

Red Skelton was one of the first to recognize that television was a coming medium of entertainment. He was not the only Hollywood personality to do this, but the difference between them and him is that he was on top on the big screen. Many had careers extended or a new lease on life was given to Hollywood names that no longer had box office pull. That was not true with Red Skelton, when he debuted in 1951 on CBS television he was on top of his box office appeal.

What a rich array of characters he brought to the small screen. Anyone my age and a bit younger remembers Clem Kadiddlehopper, San Fernando Red, Freddie the Freeloader and so many more. These are indelible impressions formed on America's consciousness when it needed a laugh or two.

The thing that always impresses me about Red Skelton is that he was so good at all types of comedy, he was quick with some unwritten dialog, he could do standup, he was a pantomimist the equal of Harpo Marx in my opinion. No less an authority than Groucho Marx thought that. I think Red Skelton would have been a big star on the silent screen when pantomime was what it was all about.

He was the son of a former circus clown turned druggist and that's where he got his love for entertaining. He always described himself as a first and foremost a clown. But he was the proverbial sad clown, he had a lot of troubles in life with the substance abuse of his wife Georgia, and the death of their son Richard from leukemia. I well remember that being a big news item when I was a lad.

He said he was put on earth to make people laugh, and Red, so you did.

This show is the best show that I have seen in a long time. It has my old buddy Red Skelton. I think this show is extrordinary If you want laughs, watch this This show is very well done

I just watched a Christmas special with Red and a group of people. To this day he is still one of the best comedians of all time! I remember growing up and never missing his show. Always knowing he prided himself on being funny and clean in his humor! It is not surprising that he lasted so many years on tv. A bright and shining moment from history that few will ever forget!

The networks always took the trouble until the very end with Red to write scripts & provide an orchestra (Nelson Riddle) & create an outstanding forum for Red to perform on. In turn Red showed how he could clown in every direction.

Each show would open with some music & dancing. Then Red would do a monologue & he could do a monologue very well. Johnny Carson, as a writer for Red, went to school & learned from Red how to do monologues which served Johnny well for 30 years when he took over the Tonight Show & late night TV. He had learned from the best.

In fact, Red taught Johnny how to ad-lib and Red was the master of the ad-lib. No matter what part of the show something went wrong in, Red would ad-lib something & make it funnier for his viewers. After the monologue, there would always be a sketch with Red as one of his characters. This is usually when his guest stars for that show would appear.

Almost everybody appeared as a guest on his shows. It didn't matter if they were other comedians or serious dramatic actors, they would appear with Red and he would play off all of them with his unique comedy. After the sketch, some shows would then feature either a musical guest or a Nelson Riddle number.

Then would come the "silent spot". These were classic sketches in which you hoped the picture on your screen (pre TV cable) wasn't too snowy so you could see what was so funny. In a way, the Silent Spot & Jackie Gleason's "The Poor Sole" who also did silent comedy were the only silent comedy the Vietnam Generation were really exposed too.

Then Red would close the show by coming on stage & politely wishing all a "good night & God bless." He was right, God did bless us that his talent was with us so many years on this show. Skelton's comedy was never cerebral, just always funny.

His prowess with Physical Comedy was only rivaled by Jackie Gleason, but Red was just a little better at the physical. Even in later years when Johnny Carson did sketches on TONIGHT which he tried physical comedy, a lot of his inspiration came from working with Red. This was an era of kinder, gentler comedy. There were no dirt, or lewd routines. Red did do political humor. Johnny Carson picked up on that too.

I wish they would produce some of the entire seasons of The Red Skelton show on DVD. The singlets I have seen on VHS & DVD so far don't do overall justice to him. Red's movies were too few, though some of them were quite good. If the seasons came out, a couple of Red's shows that would be interesting would be the night Johnny Carson replaced an injured Red, & the often forgotten show where Red was ill & Ed Sullivan stepped in to replace Red!!. Red later returned the favor on the ED SULLIVAN SHOW when Ed was ill too.

Those were the days, & now all these folks are gone. If DVDs get far enough into the Skelton archives, they won't be forgotten.