The Red Skelton Show

From: Wikipedia.org
In 1951, NBC beckoned Skelton to bring his radio show to television. His characters worked even better on screen than on radio. Television also provoked him to create his second best-remembered character, "Freddie the Freeloader," a traditional tramp whose appearance suggested the elder brother of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus clown Emmett Kelly. Announcer/voice actor Art Gilmore, who voiced numerous movie trailers in Hollywood in the 1940s and '50s, became the announcer on the show, with David Rose and his orchestra providing the music. A hit instrumental for Rose, called, "Holiday for Strings," was used as Skelton's TV theme song. During the 1951-52 season, Skelton broadcast live from a converted NBC radio studio. When he complained about the pressures of doing a live show, NBC agreed to film his shows in the 1952-53 season at Eagle Lion Studios, next to the Sam Goldwyn Studio, on Santa Monica Boulevard, in Hollywood. Then, the show was moved to the new NBC television studios in Burbank. Declining ratings prompted NBC to cancel his show in the spring of 1953. Beginning with the 1953-54 season, Skelton began doing his shows for CBS, where he remained until 1970. Biographer Arthur Marx documented Skelton's personal problems, including heavy drinking, as well as disappointing ratings. An appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show apparently was the beginning of a turn-a-round for Skelton's television career. He curtailed his drinking and recognized that he did have loyal fans. His ratings at CBS began to improve.

In the early 1960's, Skelton was the first CBS television host to begin taping his weekly programs in color, after he bought an old movie studio on La Brea Avenue (once owned by Charlie Chaplin) and converted it for television productions. He tried to encourage CBS to tape other shows in color at the facility, although most shows were taped in black-and-white at Television City, near the Farmers Market in Los Angeles. However, CBS president William S. Paley had generally given up on color television after the network's unsuccessful efforts to receive FCC approval for CBS' "color wheel" system (developed by inventor Peter Goldmark) in the early 1950s. Although CBS occasionally would use NBC facilities or its own small color studio for specials, the network avoided color programming --except for telecasts of The Wizard of Oz and Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella -- until the fall of 1965, when both NBC and ABC began televising most of their programs in RCA's compatible color process. By that time, Skelton had abandoned his own studio and moved to Television City, where he resumed programs until he left the network. In 1962, CBS expanded his programs to a full hour.

At the height of Skelton's popularity, his son was diagnosed with leukemia. In 1957, this was a virtual death sentence for any child. The illness and subsequent death of Richard Skelton, at age 13, left Skelton unable to perform for much of the 1957-1958 television season. The show continued with guest hosts that included a very young Johnny Carson. CBS management was exceptionally understanding of Red's situation; and, no talk of cancellation was ever entertained by Paley. Skelton would seemingly turn on CBS and Paley after his show was cancelled by the network in 1970.

Linked from nostalgia and retrospection posts:

• VARIETY SHOWS
• 1957 TV Guide Covers
• 1960 TV Guide Covers
• 1961 TV Guide Covers
• 1966 TV Guide Covers
• 1970 TV Guide Covers