Newsletter November 2023

Hello everyone and happy November!  Here’s the Hollywood 360 newsletter, November 2023 / Vol. 31.  As someone on our mailing list, you’ll receive the most current newsletter via email on the first day of every month.  If you don’t receive it by the end of the first day of the month, check your spam folder as they often end up there.  If it is not in your regular email box or in your spam folder, contact me at carlpamari@gmail.com and I’ll forward you a copy.  The monthly Hollywood 360 newsletter contains articles from my team and the full month’s detailed schedule of classic radio shows that we will be airing on Hollywood 360.  Each month, I’ll provide historical information on one of the classic radio shows we’ll present on Hollywood 360. For Thanksgiving, we’ll have six wonderful holiday programs, including a 1951 episode of The Red Skelton Show so don’t miss it.  And speaking of Red Skelton, here’s an article about him that I hope you’ll enjoy.  

The Many Careers of Red Skelton by Carl Amari and Martin Grams 

Red Skelton’s brand of entertainment – top-notch, wholesome comedy and musical interludes — maintained a level of consistency that won him a devoted radio (and TV) following for decades.  He was a light comedian with a background in burlesque and vaudeville, always ready to clown around and ridicule himself. Known for his sharp tongue and sassy jokes, Skelton was the consummate professional on air.

Skelton made his radio debut in 1937 on Rudy Vallee’s The Fleishmann’s Yeast Hour and in 1938 replaced Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time on NBC. His wife Edna joined the cast under her maiden name; a talented writer, she finalized many of his bits. Two years later Skelton got his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program, in October 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson, and his wife, Harriet, was the show’s vocalist and worked with Skelton in bits.

In addition to satirizing events in the newspaper headlines, Skelton performed routines regularly featuring characters such as “Junior, the mean widdle kid.” This naughty child contemplated the consequences of his bad behavior with the immortal catchphrase: “If I dood it, I get a whippin’ … but I dood it!”  Many of the comedian’s stock characters, including singing cab driver Clem Kadiddlehopper; “Deadeye,” the fastest gun in the west; and “Willie Lump-Lump,” the loveable poet, soon found their way into listeners’ hearts.  Skelton had an enormous file of gags that he consulted daily – but he often improvised, on the spot, to emphasize a joke.

As Skelton’s radio ratings soared, so did his celebrity status.  During the notorious talent raids of 1949, CBS lured Skelton away from NBC in exchange for a large slice of financial pie. The move ensured Skelton’s transition to television, where he delighted a generation of baby boomers who had missed out on his radio comedy.

Although a big hit on radio, it was movies, television and his passion for painting clowns that brought Skelton his greatest success. Throughout the 1940s and 50’s, he starred in 19 films, including Ship Ahoy (1941), I Dood It(1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946) and The Clown (1953). His television show premiered in 1951 and garnered huge ratings. 

Throughout his life, he loved to paint clowns. Sales of his original oil paintings, prints and lithographs earned him millions per year in his later years.  Shortly after his death in 1997, his art dealer said Skelton made more money on his paintings than from his television work.  

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Sincerely,

Carl Amari