Today's post commences with the Guzzler's Gin routine (from Ziegfeld Follies) by Red Skelton, the ubiquitous comedian of radio, movies and TV for six decades who was born on this day in 1913.
Red was a gifted physical comedy performer and the most old-school of all the old-school comics (with the possible exception of his friend and frequent collaborator Lucille Ball).
Here's Red with Jerry Lewis, a fellow baggy pants comedian who relished extemporaneously improvising bits of business and responding to the energy of the audience. Note that Jerry, always (like Danny Kaye) a musical song-and-dance comedian, brings a bit of terpsichore into the mix. Not surprisingly, Red responds instinctively and matches Jerry's fancy footwork step-by-step.
The Red Skelton TV show was a mainstay in our household and countless others from the 1950's through its last season in 1970-1971. Twenty episodes from the black & white seasons of The Red Skelton Show can be seen in their entirety on this YouTube playlist.
This writer's favorite of Red's characters was Clem Kadiddlehopper, who enters the following sketch at 1:44.
One of the best aspects of The Red Skelton Show was how guest stars had an opportunity to shine in the sketches.
Red began his movie career with appearances in the Ginger Rogers - Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. vehicle Having A Wonderful Time and the Vitaphone short subjects The Broadway Buckaroo and Seeing Red.
As a result of his very successful radio program, Red Skelton was soon signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he appeared in 17 movies. These included three entertaining light comedy whodunits in The Whistling series, in which Red plays radio murder mysteries star Wally "the Fox" Benton, who ends up inevitably in real-life capers.
One of the popular Maisie comedies starring actress-comedienne-singer-dancer Ann Sothern features Red in a supporting role.
There would be turns in the big-budget musicals Panama Hattie and Du Barry Was A Lady.
Red and Lucille Ball tear it up together in the most memorable scenes from Du Barry Was A Lady.
As co-star of the Esther Williams vehicle Bathing Beauty, Red contributed slapstick comedy to the aqua-queen's milieu.
In other MGM features (A Southern Yankee, Watch The Birdie, The Yellow Cab Man, The Fuller Brush Man) Red is the star of the show. One indication of how quickly Skelton's star rose: he was spoofed by MGM's King Of Cartoons, Tex Avery!
While it has been many moons since this writer saw the Red Skelton feature films on television (even TCM), have a soft spot for Three Little Words, the musical starring Fred Astaire in which Red played ace songwriter Harry Ruby. Granted, it's not the rowdy, rollicking and double entendre-filled biopic we'd like to see with Bert Wheeler & Robert Woolsey playing Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby - but we love seeing Fred n' Red together just the same.
The article by author and comedy historian Trav SD on his Travalanche website that reviews films of Red Skelton in detail is a worthy guide to Red's movie career.
A Southern Yankee is a very good comedy and definitely one of Red's best movies - and all at Way Too Lazy To Write A Blog wish there were even MORE gags written by uncredited scenarist/script doctor Buster Keaton in the mix.
This writer, even as a child watching Red on TV, had mixed emotions about his over-the-top comedic approach, so Buster's Rx, to get Red to tone down his goofiness a bit and let the story drive the comedy, is just what the doctor ordered. Wish they had made seven or eight movies together!
Buster's autobiography claims that The Great Stone Face made MGM an extremely generous offer to be the supervising writer, de facto producer and assistant director of the Skelton series - and not take a cent of salary unless the finished products proved themselves at the box-office. Too bad Metro didn't take him up on the offer. A Southern Yankee is full of Buster's creative ideas - and could have been even better, with more Keaton material and an even more toned down Red.
Watch The Birdie is a loose remake of Keaton's last great silent epic, The Cameraman.
Red was a truly ubiquitous presence on TV, both via his own show and in guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and the television programs of Lucille Ball and other top comedians.
Red Skelton did not retire after his TV show left the airwaves in 1971. He continued performing his standup act for audiences, well into his eighties.
In the following clip, Lucy, arguably the comedy star most similar to and sympatico with Red, gives Mr. Skelton a lifetime achievement Emmy.
This mid-July stretch presents a veritable bonanza of showbiz birthdays, with Red today, Jimmy Cagney, comediennes Phyllis Diller and Cass Daley born on July 17 and both Ginger Rogers and Barbara Stanwyck on July 16. Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog extends our thanks and a respectful tip of the Fred Astaire top hat to all of them!
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