Red Skelton emerged from behind the stage curtain and burst into laughter at his own silliness. He couldn’t help himself, and neither could audiences. Skelton was a rubber-faced clown who sometimes played clowns on his long-running TV show. But his comic versatility, if not boundless, was wide open and on display each week.
“The Red Skelton Show: The Early Years 1951-1955” is an 11-DVD set with 90 episodes, some unseen since their original broadcast. Many were recovered from 16mm kinescopes discovered in Skelton’s archives. Surprisingly (because kinescopes can resemble the world from inside a fish bowl), the visual quality is high. The shows probably look better on DVD than they did when first aired, given the tube technology of those old TV sets.
Episodes were built around a short stand-up routine followed by a set of character-driven skits. Skelton was adept at goofy voices and slaphappy body language. He developed a set of pointedly idiotic characters, including the punchy ex-boxer, the cowardly tough guy, the golf pro whose clubs rolled closer to the hole than the balls—even when he produced a golf ball the size of a kick ball. He did impressions with varying degrees of success—a lousy Winston Churchill, a decent Edward G. Robinson, a good impersonation of a typical American politician on the podium.
“The Red Skelton Show: often had star-power guests, including George Raft, Bela Lugosi teamed with Lon Chaney Jr., Peter Lorre. Sometimes he included interesting musical acts such as The Treniers, a jumping R&B act with wild choreography. Among the bonus materials in the new collection is a biography of the comic.
