Red Skelton rose from poverty to become one of the most popular comedians of his day. A comedic genius, he created a gallery of comedic personas: Clem Kaddidlehopper, the Mean Little Kid, San Fernando Red, Freddie the Freeloader and others, which allowed him not only to amuse but also to engage in wry commentary about some of the foibles of his time. Skelton the man was fairly simple: he liked to make people laugh, and he loved God, Country and Kids. The love of God and his dying son I have written about in the post The Pope, the Clown and the Cross. Skelton’s love of God and Country shines through in his rendition of the Pledge of Allegiance which I have written about here.
His love of kids was no mere entertainer’s pose as the following anecdote illustrates:
His name was Richard but we knew him as Red Skelton.”
At Thanksgiving we thank God for the blessings he has showered upon us. It helps when we do this if we realize what is truly important in life. Skelton understood this simple fact of our existence.
What a story!
Thank you, Don.
“Good night and may God bless”.
That is an awesome story.
(Also: YAY!!! email comments are back!)
Thank you Karl and Foxfier. It is nice when talent in some area of life is alloyed with the person possessing it basically being a nice guy, and that combination occurred in Red Skelton.
Who knows? Red’s ability to lighten the hearts of the children helped in added lift to the plane.
Wonderful story.
Thank you, Don. Happy Thanksgiving to you and the entire TAC family!
Happy Thanksgiving Day to you and yours F7!
I got to watch a few VHS tapes of him my mom had. His sketch as a Roman slave is one of my favorites.
The man had a great talent (his pantomime was amazing) tempered by all accounts with a genuine soul. With him, i know heaven won’t be boring.