Red Skelton on RFD-TV...

Me and a Red Skelton VHS

I don't know how long it's been part of their line-up but I happened to be searching my on-screen program guide yesterday evening and seen where The Red Skelton Hour was airing at 7pm on RFD-TV. The episode's description included a title, 'The Fastest Crumb in the West'. I looked up that episode and found that it originally aired September 21, 1965 on CBS. The airing of Red's television series is a rarity...let alone the hour long version...and so with the news that his program is being re-aired on cable/satellite channel, RFD-TV, I thought it only necessary to provide a general overview of Red's career. This by no means is a definitive essay...only a general overview filled with information that you'll more than likely find all over the internet but perhaps not presented in a conversational style which is how I prefer to write. A lot of bloggers simply provide information, bullet points, or images...but I prefer to present my blog entries in a personal/conversational way so it doesn't come across overly technical (unless the topic calls for in-depth/technical information). Red's career path began at the age of 10. He was born July 18, 1913 in Vincennes, Indiana. Now, having been born in a river town, it was only natural for someone with a zeal for entertaining that he would eventually find himself on showboats of that time period. Red's earliest years in 'show business' included not only appearing on showboats, traveling in medicine shows, and reportedly was part of a traveling circus (in later years he was known for his paintings of clowns). His rise into show business found him branching into the burlesque circuit and then switching over, in 1934, to Vaudeville.

The time-line in Red's professional career shown that he established himself in the waning stages of Vaudeville considering that most performers had, by 1934, made the professional leap onto radio. His career as a Vaudeville performer, however, was short-lived due to the fact that radio was quickly replacing Vaudeville as a viable form of entertainment. Red's first forays into radio were in the form of guest appearances on Rudy Vallee's radio program, The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, in the fall of 1937. He went on to guest star a second time and then, in November 1937, he guest starred a third time on Rudy's influential program.

Research shows that Red began his film career in 1938 at RKO in a film titled Having Wonderful Time which starred Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Ginger Rogers. Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Jack Carson, and a host of other established radio/movie stars appeared in it. On the movie poster Red is billed as Richard (Red) Skelton. His film career is largely tied to MGM and he appeared in films as a star, supporting player, or in cameo roles. One of his films is titled The Clown, released January 16, 1953, and it's a dramatic movie. It was reported that early on when Red was doing screen tests in his attempt to get into films that he often had trouble reading dramatic parts due to his natural tendency to want to lighten a mood or be humorous. He eventually became one of the most dramatic performers you'd ever hope to see, if the story called for it, with most of the characters he portrayed in those type of films being sentimental or on the verge of mental or emotional collapse. In his pantomime sketches he was often fond of portraying those kinds of characters and could effectively convey a sense of sadness/tragedy through facial expressions alone. A lot of the films that Red appeared in for MGM fell under light entertainment/musical or broad comedy/slapstick. Some of his films are: I Dood It (1943), The Show-Off (1946), The Fuller Brush Man (1948), Neptune's Daughter (1949), The Yellow Cab Man (1950), and Public Pigeon Number One (1957). Those  particular films came later in his career...after he had established himself as a radio star...but let's back up several years...

Me and Red Skelton VHS collection

Those guest appearances on Rudy Vallee's radio series in 1937 led to his hosting a radio series titled Avalon Time which had originally been hosted by country music singer, Red Foley. There is a lot of conflicting information surrounding the hosting time-line of this series but I'm quoting information I found while researching for this blog entry. On the Radio Spirits WEBSITE for Avalon Time it gives Red's hosting tenure as January 7, 1939 to December 20, 1939. Red's biggest success came later on when he starred on The Raleigh Cigarette Program beginning October 7, 1941 on NBC. He created Clem Kadiddlehopper and Junior on this series. This series featured Red Skelton as it's star until June 6, 1944...Red was drafted into the military! He was in the military for over a year...discharged in September 1945 for medical reasons (he had suffered a nervous breakdown). Red returned to the NBC airwaves in December 1945 as host of The New Raleigh Cigarette Program. The bulk of Red's other characters emerged during this point in his career: Bolivar Shagnasty, Deadeye, San Fernando Red, Cauliflower McPug, and Willie Lump Lump. The good times with the Raleigh company came to an end in 1948 (the usual reason: budgetary concerns) and Red found himself hosting the self-titled Red Skelton Show for Tide, at the time, a relatively brand new detergent company. This series ran until the spring of 1949 on NBC radio. Afterward Red switched networks...joining the CBS radio line-up...following in the footsteps of Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, Amos 'n' Andy, and the ventriloquist/dummy duo of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. In the fall of 1949 The Red Skelton Show debuted on CBS with Tide remaining his sponsor until a switch to the Norge company. Red remained on CBS radio until June 25, 1952.

Me and Red Skelton DVDs

In the meantime, though, Red was one of the few radio performers who couldn't wait to get onto television. A lot of his contemporaries eased into a television schedule. Jack Benny, for example, continued his radio program for five years concurrent with his infrequent appearances with early television specials. Jack's final network radio series aired in May 1955...a full five years after debuting on television...but Jack never appeared in a weekly television series until 1960. Some radio performers, notably Fred Allen, attempted television programs but none of them caught on with a viewing audience even though, if you turn off the visual and just listen to the audio, his attempts at hosting television programs sound like his radio programs...but his television legacy is tied to his years as a regular panelist on What's My Line?. Red's television series debuted September 30, 1951 on NBC television...but his radio series was still airing on CBS. The radio series moved back to NBC in the fall of 1952 and Red's network radio career ended on May 26, 1953. The television series, in the meantime, moved to CBS in the fall of 1953 and it became one of the longest running variety/entertainment television shows on the network. It was part of the CBS television schedule until it's abrupt cancellation in the summer of 1970. The network was amidst it's re-programming where a concentrated effort was underway to re-brand the network and attract younger audiences and generate advertising revenue from the urban market...cancelling popular programs whose appeal was determined to be for those over 40, rural, conservative, and more strict with their money. Red went back to NBC and starred in his last regularly scheduled television series during the 1970-1971 season. His 20 year television series came to an end on NBC, ironically, the network he began his professional radio career with.

In quoted interviews from Red in the early '70s and later he often remarked that the CBS cancellation of his series must have had something to do with his political leanings (Republican) and pro-Military positions more than the overall age of his audience. It's been documented that he played to packed college campuses for years after CBS cancelled his show in 1970 and he'd often cite this as a way to show that he had appeal with younger audiences.

Me and Red Skelton VHS tapes

A lot of Red's television shows were never aired in syndication. This lack of syndicated exposure, of course, caused his series to become a 'lost' series to each generation of television viewers. Although a lot of the early television programs that featured former radio stars aren't as heavily played, even on classic TV outlets, Red's show was played even less frequently. Repeats of Jack Benny, by comparison, had a rather lengthy run on local PBS stations as well as the national CBN channel throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. Jack's television show is currently airing on niche channel, Antenna TV, as is the television series, Burns and Allen, starring George Burns and Gracie Allen. Red's series had a limited run in repeats in the latter half of the 1990s on PBS...and a lot of his television programs and sketches were becoming increasingly available on VHS home video. As you can see I have a lot of those VHS tapes and I've got several DVDs of his material. However, the release of his programs became infrequent on VHS, DVD, Blu Ray as time went by. The television series is currently airing on the RFD-TV line-up...one of those rare times where his television show is getting reran...but I don't know for how long it'll be on their line-up.

The New Scooby Doo Movies: The Almost Complete Collection...

Me and the Scooby Doo Movies; 2020

This DVD consists of 23 episodes of the Saturday morning animated series, The New Scooby Doo Movies, which originally aired in first-run production on CBS from September 9, 1972 until October 27, 1973. The series officially consists of 24 episodes (16 produced in 1972 and 8 produced in 1973) but there wasn't an agreement met with the copyright holders of The Addams Family and so the Scooby Doo episode featuring the characters from The Addams Family aren't included here...which is why the DVD is titled The New Scooby Doo Movies: The (Almost) Complete Collection. I had previously purchased a 2005 DVD release titled The Best of the New Scooby Doo Movies. In that collection there are 15 episodes...at that point in time the rights to the remaining episodes hadn't been cleared. Now fast-forward from 2005 to 2019. On June 4, 2019 this DVD was released. The collection contained the 15 episodes from the 2005 release plus 8 additional episodes that had become cleared by their copyright holders. However, in between the time that the 2005 collection was issued and the spring of 2019, the only hold out was the rights to the episode guest starring The Addams Family. This is only my opinion but I assume the executives in charge of releasing/manufacturing this DVD (Warner Brothers) didn't want to keep the episodes on hold any longer while they awaited a potential change of mind from The Addams Family legal team and so they issued 23 of the 24 episodes in a June 2019 release, The New Scooby Doo Movies: The (Almost) Complete Collection. In case the fans didn't want to re-purchase the 15 episodes already released back in 2005 there was a companion DVD with the newly acquired 8 episodes called The Best of the New Scooby Doo Movies: The Lost Collection. I have the 2005 DVD release and I purchased the 23 episode DVD release last year. I did that because I decided to have nearly all of the episodes from this series housed in one collection...instead of having the 2005 DVD of 15 episodes and a 2019 DVD of 8 episodes.

The purists are furious because it doesn't feature The Addams Family and as a result, infuriating them anymore, the opening title sequence is an alternate version...not the one that originally aired. The audio/vocal track heard in the alternate opening sequence is the same and some of the animated sequences featuring the main characters from the series remain intact from the original 1972-1974 broadcasts but notably missing are the images of the guest stars. As the years went on and copyright ownership constantly changed hanged due to business acquisitions it meant that television reruns of The New Scooby Doo Movies as the 1980s and early 1990s came and went were limited to showing only the episodes that were approved by a legal team representing the celebrities who lent their voice and likeness to the series. Episodes of the series reran in 2 parts rather than air in an hour long format as they did when they originally aired on Saturday mornings in the early '70s. Anyway, by the latter half of 2018 the rights were secured to 8 remaining episodes of the series and so in the summer of 2019 along came this DVD of 23 of the 24 episodes.

Now then...here are the episodes that appear on this 2019 collection:

Disc One:
1. The Ghastly Ghost Town (with The Three Stooges)
2. The Dynamic Scooby Doo Affair (with Batman and Robin)
3. The Frickert Fracas (with Jonathan Winters)
4. Guess Who's Knott Coming To Dinner (with Don Knotts)

Disc Two:
1. A Good Medium is Rare (with Phyllis Diller)
2. Sandy Duncan's Jekyll and Hyde (with Sandy Duncan)
3. The Secret of Shark Island (with Sonny and Cher)
4. The Spooky Fog (with Don Knotts)

Disc Three:
1. The Ghost of Bigfoot (with Laurel and Hardy)
2. The Ghost of the Red Baron (with The Three Stooges)
3. The Ghostly Creep from the Deep (with The Harlem Globetrotters)
4. The Haunted Horseman of Hagglethorn Hall (with Davy Jones)

Disc Four:
1. The Phantom of the Country Music Hall (with Jerry Reed)
2. The Caped Crusader Caper (with Batman and Robin)
3. The Loch Ness Mess (with The Harlem Globetrotters)
4. The Mystery of Haunted Island (with The Harlem Globetrotters)

Disc Five:
1. The Haunted Showboat (with the cast from Josie and the Pussycats)
2. Mystery in Persia (with the cast from Jeannie)
3. The Spirited Spooked Sports Show (with Tim Conway)
4. The Exterminator (with Don Adams)

Disc Six:
1. The Weird Winds of Winona (with the cast of Speed Buggy)
2. The Haunted Candy Factory (with Cass Elliot)
3. The Haunted Carnival (with Dick Van Dyke)

When you look at those hour long episodes and the wide variety of special guest stars you'll see that some celebrities made multiple vocal appearances. You'll also notice that in some cases Scooby Doo and the gang meet celebrities mostly representative of a by-gone era. The Three Stooges, by 1972, were still hugely popular on television through repeated play of their classic live action short subject films. There were comic book adaptations and animated cartoons depicting The Three Stooges along side the television airings of their Columbia Studios films during the 1960s (they made 190 short subject comedy films for the studio). The Stooges themselves, however, professionally retired in 1970. By this time the third stooge was Joe DeRita, who went by the stage name Curly Joe. The vocalization for Moe Howard was supplied by Pat Harrington, Jr. while Daws Butler supplied the vocals for Larry Fine and Curly Joe. The irony is Daws incorporated a few 'nyuk, nyuk' catchphrases associated with the original Curly (played by Moe's brother) which weren't part of the 'Curly Joe' character. Larry Fine and Moe Howard died in 1975.

Laurel and Hardy are an iconic comical duo and it's safe to assume that in 1972 their likeness and name were still synonymous with classic film comedy, as were The Three Stooges. However, by the time The New Scooby Doo Movies came along in 1972 both of those comic icons had passed away. Stan Laurel, born in 1890, died in 1965 (74 years old) while Oliver Hardy, born in 1892, died in 1957 (65 years old). Nevertheless the iconic comedy duo were still popular and so they, too, made an appearance on this 1972 animated series. The voice of Oliver Hardy was performed by Jim MacGeorge while Stan Laurel's voice was performed by Larry Harmon. The two voice actors had previously provided the vocals for Laurel and Hardy in a syndicated cartoon series which aired during the 1966-1967 season. There were 156 five minute adventures produced. In the 1980s Jim MacGeorge, who visually looks like Stan Laurel, appeared in live action commercials as Laurel along side Chuck McCann as Hardy.

In addition to the episodes guest starring The Three Stooges (2 episodes) and Laurel and Hardy (1 episode) there are guest appearances by characters who had appeared on animated series of their own. The cast of Josie and the Pussycats guest star in an episode. The cast of Speed Buggy guest stars and then there's an episode featuring the cast of Jeannie (Jeannie, Cory, Henry, and Babu). Animated versions of The Harlem Globetrotters had been depicted on television prior to this 1972 Scooby Doo series but the exhibition basketball team known for their tricks and skills hold the record for most appearances on this series...three episodes. The real-life Globetrotters didn't provide their voices for the animated appearances. Scatman Crothers, most notably, provided the voice of Meadowlark Lemon and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson voiced Bobby Joe Mason. Batman and Robin appear as guests in two episodes. Their animated history dates back to 1967 when the Filmation Studio released The Superman/Batman Hour of Adventure. The voice of Batman was supplied by legendary radio and television character actor, Olan Soule. Robin was voiced by disc jockey Casey Kasem...several years before taking on the role of Shaggy in the Scooby Doo cartoons in 1969 and eventually becoming nationally and internationally famous as the host of American Top-40 beginning in 1970. In the two Scooby Doo episodes guest starring Batman and Robin both Olan and Casey reunited as the Caped Crusaders. Ted Knight returned as the voice of Penguin and Joker. Olan and Casey would continue to voice the Dynamic Duo on ABC Television's Super Friends series (produced by Hanna-Barbera) throughout the rest of the 1970s and into the mid 1980s.

The rest of the episodes in the 1972 Scooby series feature the actual celebrities voicing their animated versions. The main vocal performers are Don Messick (Scooby Doo; Sebastian; additional voices); Casey Kasem (Shaggy; Robin; Alexander Cabot II; additional voices); Frank Welker (Fred; additional voices); Nicole Jaffe (Velma); and Heather North (Daphne). This series would mark the final time Nicole Jaffe voiced Velma on a regular basis. She reprised the role several decades later in a direct-to-video animated Scooby film but as far as the television episodes are concerned this 1972 series was her last as Velma. John Stephenson, a vocal legend for Hanna-Barbera, was on hand for this Scooby series providing vocals for an assortment of villains and an occasional good guy.

A modern-day version of this series is the most recent incarnation of the Scooby Doo franchise. That series is called Scooby Doo and Guess Who?. I'm not into modern-day celebrities or contemporary television productions (beyond news and sports programs) and so I've never watched too many episodes of that current Scooby series but my guess is it captures the essence of the 1972 series but places it squarely into modern times.