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ent001327-005

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ent001327-005
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    University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

    Red Skelton Page 5, He couldn?╟╓t wait to get backstage to thank Wynn. Learning that young Skelton was show business-struck, Ed told Red: "Always stick to comedy;?╟Ñ Says Red: ?╟╓?╟╓I?╟╓ve tried to follow his advice - even when I wasn?╟╓t funny.?╟Ñ Almost four decades later, Red appeared as himself in a Desilu Playhouse presentation dealing with Wynn?╟╓s actual TV debut in "Requiem for a Heavyweight." And Wynn has made frequent guest starring appearances through the years in "The Red Skelton Show." When Red was 10 he joined the aforementioned Doctor Lewis* medicine show at the princely salary of $10 per week. He performed with voice and ukelele on the tailgate of a truck while fellow cast members gathered the customers for the good doctor?╟╓s pitch and medicine sales. Skelton graduated to tent shows, riverboats, burlesque, minstrel shows and vaudeville. On one riverboat, he fell for the captain?╟╓s daughter. The skipper put his foot down - and young Skelton off - at the next landing. The Captain also dumped all of Skelton?╟╓s belongings into the river, leaving young Red with only the clothes on his back. "I guess he was upset," Red reminisces. For a time, Skelton traveled with "Tom Shows,?╟Ñ troupes which staged "Uncle Tom?╟╓s Cabin.?╟Ñ Red played every more...