An incredibly talented entertainer, Red Skelton came from very humble beginnings here in Vincennes, Indiana. He was the youngest in a family of four boys whose father passed away just months before he was born in 1913. Very early on he discovered a passion for entertainment and by the age of ten was part of a traveling “medicine” show. His career progressed from there to vaudeville, radio, film, and ultimately television and his own TV show for nearly twenty years. For most of the Twentieth Century he entertained Americans. He brought levity across the airwaves during the Depression, entertained American troops overseas, and brought his own brand of humor into our living rooms with the advent of television. Perhaps our parents’ generations were the ones to most thoroughly enjoy his style of comedy. We remember them using some of his lines and referring to the characters he invented as part of their lexicon. And although we are of the generation that actively embraced the irreverent humor for which NBC cancelled The Red Skelton Show, we too can appreciate his silly yet down to earth humor. It was fascinating today to visit the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy to learn more about this American icon.
A legend, indeed. The anniversray photo shows how many people touched our lives through the “small screen”, and what an impact programming had on our lives with All in the Family and the social issues they touched on, Mary Tyler Moore as a young single woman forging a career in an all-male newsroom, the horrors of war whether in reality in the news or in fictional programs, the delight of the family situation, western, country living, small-town living, it meandered through the decades. Red Skelton was also a gifted painter as well as an entertainer.