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ent001327-003
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University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

Red Skelton Page 3. sharpest possible edge; he rewrites and polishes his gag routines until every word has a little meaning all its own. This striving for the ultimate is part Skelton and part others. When he wanted out of his first medicine show because he couldn?╟╓t learn any more about that type of activity, the impressario, one Doctor R. E. Lewis, allowed him to leave if young Red would promise faithfully "always to go forward." This Red has always tried to do. Tears later, George M. Cohan came to see a vaudeville bill including an act titled "Woods and Skelton." After the show, Cohan came backstage to advise Red to leave the act. "I have to eat," explained Skelton. "Do you want to eat now and starve later?" Cohan asked. Red left. Many of the top stars of show business, no mean performers themselves, marvel at Skelton?╟╓s talent for change-of- pace which can put an audience, roaring with laughter, into an instantly sober and meditative (and always tearful when seeing his unforgettable "Old Man Watching a Parade" windup) mood. Beyond question, the Red Skelton of today is the product of a hard and grueling lifetime of yesterdays. The Skelton saga began in Vincennes, Indiana on July 18, 1913. He never knew his father - a onetime circus clown, student of law, college speech instructor - who died two more...