Christae Evanson
Clowning Paper
Professor Boughn
April 2, 2011
My earliest memories of the late great Red Skelton are of watching “The Best of Red Skelton” PBS special with my Grandma while eating grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup when I was about 8. I remember my Grandma and Mom always being such a fan of his physical comedy and family friendly humor. So I definitely decided he was the clown for me to research.
Although there is some controversy regarding his age, he was said to have been born July 18, 1913. His father, Joe who passed away before he was born was said to have been a clown with Hagenbeck & Wallace Circus. At age 10 Ed Wynn discovered him peddling newspapers outside the Pantheon Theatre in Vincennes Illinois. By the time Red was 15, he was working full time in all sorts of traveling acts such as vaudeville and showboats, including the Hagenbeck & Wallace Circus which his father had been a part of.
Around 1930 he had a vaudeville act with Edna Stillwell, who later became his wife. They ended up divorcing later. Red became very fortunate in having a successful career in both film and radio, and Broadway. In 1938, Red made his film debut in “Having a wonderful time”. Between the 1940’s-1950’s, Red had a very successful career with MGM doing nearly 30 films.
His radio show ran from 1941-1953. Aptly named, “The Red Skelton” show, Red had his own very specifically unique style of clowning. His most famous characters were “Clem Kadiddlehopper, the country bumpkin, Willy Lump Lump, a drunken sot, Cauliflower McPugg, a punch-drunk boxer, The Mean Widdle Kid, who's most famous expression, "I Dood It," became a national slogan, San Fernando Red, a likable rogue and con man, and his famous cross-eyed seagulls, Gertrude and Heathcliffe.” (Red Skelton Biography)
He married his second wife Georgia Davis in 1945. He had two children, one of which was killed by Leukemia. That tragedy taking such a toll on the family, Red divorced Georgia in 1972.
In 1951, Red had his own T.V. show, which received extremely high ratings in its first year, and only grew in popularity thereafter. His most famous character was the loveable tramp clown Freddy the Freeloader.
Red won the Emmy in 1953 for Best comedy show. His show moved from NBC to CBS and won a subsequent Emmy in 1961 for Outstanding Writing Achievement.
One of his most famous phrases was his sign off of “Good Night and God Bless”. A phrase I always loved hearing and found very comforting. Unfortunately in 1970, CBS cancelled the show due to rising production cost and because they felt the material they show cased needed to appeal to a more mature demographic. This blow deeply hurt Red and it seemed as though he never recovered from than cancellation. A very memorable moment was in 1986, when Red was presented the Governor's Award of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences at the Emmy Awards Show when he stated,” "I want to thank you for sitting down, I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me" after receiving a standing ovation.
His show was reinstated in 1970, but it didn’t have the success of his former show and was cancelled a year later.
He spent some time reverting back to live performances touring all over, including Carnegie Hall. He also continued to pursue another passion of his, painting making additional income.
Red paid homage to his late son by donating money and establishing The Red Skelton Foundation in his hometown to help needy children.
One of his greatest statements found on the Funny Faces video regarding his character is this:
"I get asked all the time; where did you get the idea for Freddie the Freeloader, and who is Freddie really? Well, I guess you might say that Freddie the Freeloader is a little bit of you, and a little bit of me, a little bit of all of us, you know. He found out what love means. He knows the value of time. He knows that time is a glutton. We say we don't have time to do this or do that. There's plenty of time. The trick is to apply it. The greatest disease in the world today is procrastination. And Freddie knows about all these things. And so do you. He doesn't ask anybody to provide for him, because it would be taken away from you. He doesn't ask for equal rights if it's going to give up some of yours. And he knows one thing ... that patriotism is more powerful than guns. He ís nice to everybody because he was taught that man is made in God’s image. He’s never met God in person and the next fella just might be him. I would say that Freddie is a little bit of all of us." (Red Skelton Biography)
I love that Red’s performances and ideals appeal to both children and adults. His working has so many varying ideas and levels. He didn’t care about was politically correct or socially correct, but cared deeply about imparting his beliefs through performance.
In 1989 he was inducted into the Clown Hall of Fame.
Red died of pneumonia in his home in Rancho Mirage, California.
Interesting that he didn't explain about the "god" line more--I would have liked to hear him go on.
ReplyDeleteMe too! I think it would've been interesting.
ReplyDelete