Good night, and may God bless
26 January 24
Richard Bernard Skelton, better known as Red, was born 18 July 1913 in Vincennes, Indiana.
He was the fourth son of Ida and Joe Skelton. Joe was a grocer and had once been a circus clown.
Red sold newspapers when he was seven to earn money and at the same age was introduced to show business by comedian Ed Wynn who gave him his first taste of the stage at ‘The Pantheon Theatre’ in downtown Vincennes, Indiana, which was remodelled and the stage named in his honour. At age 10, he left home to travel with a medicine show through the Midwest and joined the vaudeville circus at 15, linking with the Hagenbeck-Wallace circus where his father had once been a clown. It is believed this later inspired the character he created of Freddie the Freeloader.
At age 18, he married Edna Marie Stilwell, an usher who became his vaudeville partner and later his chief writer and manager. He debuted on Broadway and radio in 1937 and on film in 1938. His ex-wife/manager negotiated a seven-year Hollywood contract for him in 1951, the same year The Red Skelton Hour (1951) premiered on NBC. For two decades, until 1971, his show consistently stayed in the top twenty, both on NBC and CBS.
Skelton had a long career in radio, films and television and was a multiple winner of the prestigious Emmy Awards. Some of the characters he created were Clem Kadiddlehopper, Boliver Shagnasty, Cauliflower McPugg, Willie Lump-Lump and San Fernando Red who had political aspirations and never met a scam he didn’t like.
His closing line of ‘Good night and may God bless’ was a ritual he established with his fans.
Skelton was drafted into the Army in 1944 but discharged a year later after suffering a nervous breakdown.
Before he reached the age of 40, he needed leg braces and a cane because of knee cartilage problems.
He used his ‘Guzzlers Gin’ comedy sketch as his successful 1940 screen test for MGM. It was later filmed in Ziegfeld Follies (1945). Although famous for his ‘drunk’ comedy sketches, he never drank and was, in fact, allergic to alcohol.
He was awarded two Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 6650 Hollywood Boulevard; and for Radio at 6763 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. In 1986, as Clem Kadiddlehopper, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Foolology from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.
Skelton was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 1989 and into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1994.
A bridge was built and named after him that spans the Wabash River separating Indiana and Illinois on US 50, just outside his hometown of Vincennes, Indiana. Vincennes University also built a Performing Arts Centre in his memory.
He was extremely offended by ‘blue humour’ and publicly made note of any comedian who used it because he felt that it cheapened the art of comedy. He very closely observed every skit that went on his show to make sure that it could not be twisted into a double entendre.
One of Red’s writers filled in for him one night when he took a serious fall, injuring himself. That writer’s name was Johnny Carson who later became one of the more famous American television comperes.
Red often said: ‘My mother told me something I’ve never forgotten: “Don’t take life too seriously, son, you don’t come out of it alive anyway.”
‘All men make mistakes, but married men find out about them sooner.
‘I always believed God puts each one of us here for a purpose and mine is to try to make people happy. If I can make people smile, then I have served my purpose for God.’