Red Skelton - America's Favorite Clown

By Felice Prager

I watched Red Skelton with my grandmother when she babysat for me when I was very young, and all she ever did was complain that Red Skelton laughed at his own jokes. It really bothered her. I never had a problem with it. I loved his characters and it seemed like Red Skelton was an integral part of my growing years and my early TV memories. However, my grandmother, for some reason, saw this as a reason to decide he was unprofessional. What was very strange was how my grandmother complained non-stop about Skelton, yet she never tried to change the channel.

Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton was born on July 18, 1913, in Vincennes, Indiana. His father, a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, died shortly before Skelton's birth. Skelton got his first taste of show business at the age of seven from Ed Wynn at a vaudeville show. According to entertainment legend, Wynn saw Skelton selling newspapers in front of the Pantheon Theatre in Vincennes; Skelton was trying to help his family. Wynn bought every one of the newspapers, and then he took Skelton backstage and introduced him to the entire cast.

By the age of 10, Skelton left home to travel with a medicine show through the Midwest. At 15, he joined the vaudeville circuit and at 17, he married Edna Marie Stilwell, an usherette who eventually became his vaudeville partner and later his chief writer and manager. He debuted on Broadway and radio in 1937 and in film in 1938. He drafted into and served in the U.S. Army during World War II from 1944-1945. During this time, he had a nervous breakdown, was hospitalized for three months, and was subsequently discharged.

His first wife, Edna Marie Stilwell negotiated a seven-year, $5 million Hollywood contract for Skelton - eight years after they divorced. Skelton appeared in 30 MGM films in the 1940s and 1950s and on radio shows that led to his long television career.

The Red Skelton Show premiered on NBC in 1951. This show remained on the air for twenty years and was consistently in the top twenty on both NBC and CBS. Skelton insisted on getting scenes done on the first take, even when it meant ad-libbing around missed lines and problems with props. This might reflect the giggling Skelton did on stage that so offended my grandmother. Skelton was particularly bothered by off-color, offensive humor and carefully monitored his show to make sure there were no double entendres slipped into the show. On one occasion, one of Skelton's writers had to fill in for him because Skelton had taken a serious fall and injured himself.

This substitute was Johnny Carson! In 1960, Skelton purchased the old Charlie Chaplin Studios where his weekly show was produced. This opened the way for Skelton to produce the first live color production company in Hollywood. Skelton invented many well-known and well-loved characters for the show including Freddie the Freeloader, Clem Kaddiddlehopper, Bolivar Shagnasty, J. Newton Numbskull, George Appleby, Cauliflower McPugg, Willie Lump-Lump, San
Fernando Red, and his seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe.

Though he often portrayed inebriated characters, Skelton did not drink. In fact, he was allergic to alcohol. He signed off each show with, "Good night, and May God bless." This became as well known as those sign-offs done by news broadcasters of the time.

In 1986, as Clem Kaddiddlehopper, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Foolology from Indiana's Ball State University. He was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Radio Hall of Fame in 1994.

His personal life did not mirror his professional life. After his divorce from Stilwell in 1943, he married Georgia Davis with whom he remained married from 1945 until 1971, when they divorced. Their son, Richard, died from leukemia at age thirteen. So broken up by his son's death, Skelton was unable to perform for almost a year after this. Skelton divorced Georgia Davis in 1971. In 1976, Georgia committed suicide by gunshot on the anniversary of their son's death. Devastated by the loss of his ex-wife, Skelton stopped performing.

His third marriage was to Lofthian Toland from 1973 until his death in 1997. She was a good deal younger than Skelton was. He did not associate with other comedians. Later in his career, he began painting clowns that were widely popular and extremely valuable - some selling for as much as $80,000. In fact, after the cancellation of his variety show, he earned $1.5 million annually as an artist. He was an avid supporter of children's charities.

Skelton died of pneumonia on September 17, 1997, in Palm Springs, California at the age of 84. A bridge was built and named after him that spans the Wabash River separating Indiana and Illinois on US 50, just outside of his hometown. There is also a building named in his memory at Vincennes University.