American pantomimist and radio and television comedian, host, and star performer: Richard Bernard Skelton. If you were lucky to listen to the Red Skelton Show then you are one of the thousands that sat mesmerized by the antics of this funny, boyish, teddy-bearish, lovable, open and sincere, often looney human being.
He solidified fame with the debut of his national NBC radio show in 1941. During WWII, Skelton served in the US Army and performed numerous comedy shows for troops. In 1951, he helped popularize television with The Red Skelton Show, which aired for 20 years and won multiple Emmy Awards.
He was the top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton’s career began in his teens as a circus clown and from there he went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs, and casinos, while also pursuing a career as a painter. In the early 1960s, Skelton was the first CBS television host to begin taping his weekly programs in color.
The Red Skelton Show, unlike other variety series, did not rely solely on guest stars every week. Red Skelton provided an abundance of laughter that often included a touch of wisdom in his delightful jokes and quotes:
“I looked up my family tree and found out I was the sap. If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner. Television: A medium – so called because it is neither rare nor well done. Television: The device that brings into your living room characters you would never allow in your living room. If I make a fool of myself, who cares? I’m not frightened by anyone’s perception of me.”
Red Skelton was born in Vincennes, Indiana. He was the son of a Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus clown named Joe who died in 1913 shortly before the birth of his son. At the age of 10 Red was spotted by entertainer Ed Wynn in front of the Pantheon Theatre in Vincennes selling newspapers.
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. The experience triggered Skelton lifetime’s career as a performer.
By age 15, Skelton hit the road full-time as an entertainer, working everywhere from medicine shows and vaudeville to burlesque, showboats, minstrel shows, and working in the same circus as his father once did.
“I’m a Republican, and everybody who knows me knows it. But I’m an American first, and I want to see my country and my president succeed. I think it’s time to pull together. Dieting: A system of starving yourself to death so you can live a little longer. I eat a lot of fruit, and my doctor said I could have one beer a day. So I fill the tub with beer and get in, eating a banana as I bathe.”
While performing in Kansas City in 1930, Skelton met and married his first wife, Edna Stillwell. The couple divorced 1943, but Stillwell remained one of his chief writers. In 1945, he married Georgia Davis. Life would soon throw a curve ball to change his life and entertainment.
“Kids, they are a pain in the neck when they’re around. After they’re gone, you’d give your right arm to have them back. My dad always said, ‘Find a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.’ Any kid will run any errand for you, if you ask at bedtime. The time a child learns to walk and the time a child learns to drive are two of the most dangerous periods in a parent’s life.”
His famous “Pledge Of Allegiance,” in which he explained the meaning of each and every word on a program in 1969 has become a perennial favorite for public broadcast on major patriotic holidays.
Red and Georgia had two children, Richard and Valentina. Richard’s childhood death of leukemia devastated the family, especially Red. Georgia and Red eventually divorced, but Georgia continued in her role as his manager until the ‘60s. In 1976 Georgia committed suicide on the anniversary of their son’s death. Deeply affected by the loss of his ex-wife, Red would abstain from performing for the next decade and a half, finding solace only in painting clowns.
“I wasn’t a very good student, but I was the best one in my row. My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people. I told my wife the truth. I told her I was seeing a psychiatrist. Then she told me the truth: that she was seeing a psychiatrist, two plumbers, and a bartender. All men make mistakes, but married men find out about them sooner.”
Skelton “reflected a bygone – perhaps mythical – era; he was a Norman Rockwell of performing arts. His humor was as basic as a pie in the face. His performance is anything but arcane. The reasons people laughed at or with Red Skelton is right there, open, obvious, transparent.”
“I may be a little nuts,” grinning lovably, “but as long as I’m making lots of money, you know they’re not going to lock me up. I have a little car, but I’m not worried. It’s insured against theft, vandalism, and making the last payment. There are three signs of old age: loss of memory … I forget the other two. Old age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places. I’ve put on a lot of weight… I only weighed six and a half pounds when I was born.”
Near the end of his life, Skelton said his daily routine included writing a short story a day. He collected the best stories in self-published chapbooks. He also composed music which he sold to background music services such as Muzak. Among his more notable compositions was his patriotic, “Red’s White and Blue March.”
Skelton also kept himself busy as a major supporter of children’s charities, including the Shriner’s Crippled Children’s Hospital and the Red Skelton Foundation in Vincennes, Indiana, which cares for needy children.
“Live by this credo: have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness. Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations. Heard about the young deaf boy who used sign language – One day he told his mother a dirty joke and she washed his hands out with soap.”
At the end of every show, Skelton would become serious and express his gratitude to his audience for their love and laughter. His signature closing line became “Good night and may God bless.”
“If by chance someday you’re not feeling well and you should remember some silly thing I’ve said or done and it brings back a smile to your face or a chuckle to your heart, then my purpose as your clown has been fulfilled.”