Red Skelton
We know him as Freddy the Freeloader, Clem Kaddidlehopper, Cauliflower McPugg and Dead Eye. His career spanned over fifty years and he conquered every entertainment medium from vaudeville to television. He is Red Skelton, who's remarkable skill to evoke emotional responses from laughter to tears from his audiences have marked him as one of the greatest and best loved comedians. In his biography of this great comedian, Arthur Marx captured the many and diverse aspects of Red Skelton. While he was a comedic clown on the outside, like many other comedians, Skelton's home life was anything but funny. Marx illustrates how Skelton's private life was full of tragedy, including the death of his only son from leukemia, the suicide of his wife, and his own near mental collapse. Marx says that through much of his life, "Skelton was an unhappy and tormented individual, a sad and lonely man who trusted practically no one and who was as unreachable as a distant star." Skelton was the son of a circus clown was raised in poverty, he quit school at the age of seven and tr
But, first and foremost Marx says, Skelton was a clown. In fact, Skelton was also a painter, whose paintings of clowns brought in a fortune after he left the television industry. The paintings sold for upwards of $80,000 each, earning him over $2.5 million annually as an artist. Not only did the paintings bring him an income, but Skelton was also an avid supporter of children's charities. It was all too common to see Skelton donate a painting to be auctioned off to benefit a variety of children's charities. Continuing the story of Skelton's career, Marx points out that Skelton made his debut on Broadway and radio in 1937 and on film in 1938 on the show Having Wonderful Time. At that time, known as Richard Skelton, he performed some of his own pieces such as a demonstration of how different people walk up and down stairs. That appearance, Marx says, may have been Skelton's big break. He was signed by MGM in 1940 to serve as comedy relief in films such as Flight Command. However, that role changed in 1941 in the film Whistling in the Dark, when he proved he could carry
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Approximate Word count = 726
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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