America's Beloved Clown, Red Skelton Never Forgot His Humble Beginnings or His Hoosier Hometown

March 11, 7:16 PMHoosier Travel ExaminerJackie Sheckler Finch

Previous Next

Comment Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Hoosier Travel Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

A large mural in downtown Vincennes, Indiana, honors native son Red Skelton..

Jackie Sheckler Finch

Selling newspapers on a corner, the redheaded kid was asked by an out of towner what there was to do in the tiny Indiana burg of Vincennes.

Gesturing across the street to a theater, the 9-year-old answered that a famous comedian was going to appear that night. When the stranger asked if the boy would be in the audience, the youngster said that he didn’t have the money and had to finish selling his papers.

Upon hearing that, the stranger bought the remainder of the papers – paying $1 for three newspapers that sold for three cents each at the time. He also said he would talk to the theater manager about getting the child in for the show. The boy ran home, gave the money to his mother and hurried back to the theater where a balcony seat was waiting for him.

“When the show began and the performer walked out from behind the curtain, the boy was shocked,” said Phillip Summers, coordinator of the Red Skelton Performing Arts Center Project. “The star of the show was Ed Wynn – the stranger who had bought his newspapers.”

During intermission, the performer invited the boy backstage and held him up to peer through the curtains. “That was the boy’s first look at an audience,” Phillips says. “He would often reminisce later that was when he fell in love with the audience.”

BELOVED ENTERTAINER

Named Richard Skelton, the Hoosier boy got his nickname because of his red hair and grew up to become one of the most beloved entertainers of his era. Red’s radio show debuted in 1941, and 10 years later “The Red Skelton Show” premiered on NBC. Red spent 20 consecutive years on NBC and CBS. Only Ed Sullivan, who spent 24 straight years on the air, had a longer stay.

Red starred in more than 30 movies and wrote 5,000 musical pieces and several children’s books. Later in life, he started painting and his clown portraits sold for more than $80,000 each. He died Sept. 17, 1997, of pneumonia in a California hospital at age 84.

Reminders of Red Skelton are all over Vincennes – his birthplace, the Pantheon theatre where he performed, a colorful downtown mural, his father’s grave, and the wonderful $16.8 million theater dedicated in his honor in 2006, the Red Skelton Performing Arts Center at Vincennes University.

In his honor, Vincennes holds an Annual Red Skelton Festival each June. The event  features The Parade of a Thousand Clowns, followed by a festival of food, entertainment and games, along with entertainment at the Red Skelton Performing Arts Center.

“Red Skelton never forgot his hometown,” says Shyla Beam of the Vincennes/Knox County Convention and Visitors Bureau. “And we’ve never forgotten him.”

For more information: Contact the Vincennes/Knox County CVB at 800-886-0400 or check out the website at www.vincennescvb.org