The Red Skelton Show
| The Red Skelton Show | |
|---|---|
Red Skelton and Mickey Rooney at dress rehearsal for The Red Skelton Show at studio 33, January 15, 1957.
|
|
| Also known as | ''The Red Skelton Hour'' |
| Genre | Variety |
| Directed by | Seymour Berns Jack Donohue John Gaunt Ed Hiller Bill Hobin Terry Kyne Howard A. Quinn Martin Rackin |
| Presented by | Red Skelton |
| Voices of | Art Gilmore |
| Theme music composer | David Rose |
| Opening theme | "Holiday for Strings". (Date of Registration with U.S. Copyright 26-3-1942) |
| Composer(s) |
David Rose Jack Lloyd Alan Copeland Nelson Barclift |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 20 |
| No. of episodes | 672 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Guy Della-Cioppa |
| Producer(s) |
Cecil Barker Seymour Berns Ben Brady Dee Caruso Perry Cross Gerald Gardner Red Skelton Douglas Whitney |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes (1951–1962; 1970–1971) 45–48 minutes (1954; 1962–1970) |
| Production company(s) | Van Bernard Productions Sursum Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network |
NBC (1951–1953; 1970–1971) CBS (1953–1970) |
| Picture format |
Black-and-white (1951–1955; 1958–1965) Color (1955–1958; 1965–1971) |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | September 30, 1951 – August 1, 1971 |
The Red Skelton Show is an American variety show that was a television staple for two decades, from 1951 to 1971. It was second to Gunsmoke (1955–1975) and third to The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–1971) in the ratings during that time. The host of the show, Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton, who had previously been a radio star, had appeared in several motion pictures as well. Although his television series is largely associated with CBS, where it appeared for more than fifteen years, it actually began and ended on NBC. During its run, the program received three Emmy Awards, for Skelton as best comedian and the program as best comedy show during its initial season, and an award for comedy writing in 1961. In 1959 Skelton also received a Golden Globe for Best TV Show.
Red Skelton's network television program began at the start of the 1951 fall season on NBC (for sponsor Procter & Gamble). The MGM agreement with Skelton for television performances did not allow him to go on the air before September 30, 1951. After two seasons on Sunday nights, the program was picked up by CBS in the fall of 1953 and moved to Tuesday night, the time slot with which it would become primarily associated during most of its run. After his first CBS season the program was moved to Wednesday night and expanded to an hour for the summer of 1954 only; it was then reduced back to a half-hour for a time, later expanded again, returning to Tuesday night, where it would remain for the next sixteen years (co-sponsored by Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk between 1955 and 1962).
The program was produced at Desilu Productions and CBS Television City in Hollywood, and over five years, from 1955 through 1960, was telecast in color approximately 100 times. In 1960, Skelton purchased the Chaplin studios, with plans to continue using the facility for his television show and for making films. It was the most colorcast of the few programs CBS aired in color during this period. By 1960, CBS no longer manufactured television sets (unlike its rival NBC's parent company, RCA) and pulled the plug on colorcasts. With the exception of a few specials and some yearly broadcasts of The Wizard of Oz, CBS would not colorcast again on a regular basis until the 1965-66 fall season when the network could no longer avoid public demand and rising sales in color television sets.
...
Wikipedia