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rnmmmrnmmm npHE GREAT clown Red Skelton JL is more than an artist of film and TV?╟÷his paintings are eagerly sought by keen collectors. His first exhibition came about when Jack Entratter, president of the Sands Hotel and an old Skelton friend, noticed a pile of paintings in a closet at Red?╟╓s home in Palm Springs. ?╟úRed, these shouldn?╟╓t be buried away,?╟╓?╟╓ commented Entratter, a serious art collector himself, adding with mounting enthusiasm: ?╟úLet?╟╓s do an exhibition at the Sands.?╟Ñ t & ?╟úAh-h-h, they?╟╓re not good enough,?╟Ñ Skelton shrugged. ?╟úWho?╟╓d be interested??╟Ñ Entratter convinced the sometimes shy clown that the paintings deserved to be seen. Maurice Chevalier was his first would-be client. ?╟úRed was really floored,?╟Ñ remembers his friend A1 Freeman. ?╟úChevalier has a 5-million dollar collection of art at his French residence and here he was talking about putting a Skelton original in the middle of his Cezannes, Van Goghs and Renoirs!?╟Ñ Jimmy Durante and others also wanted his paintings. One keen buyer offered 8000 dollars. ?╟úThe paintings take me anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours,?╟Ñ says the clown, with more honesty than most painters who assure you that each canvas took months to complete. Skelton usually does his paintings in his Palm Springs swimming pool* chewing on a cigar he never smokes and dipping his brush into the pool. People often comment about the elongated faces and big eyes of Skelton?╟╓s subjects. ?╟úThe first thing I notice about a person are his eyes,?╟Ñ he explains. ?╟úTo me the eyes are the fumance of the soul and when I paint, I exaggerate to capture the true person as I see him. ?╟úThe faces are thin because I?╟╓m trying to express the real person, not the fat that they might have accumulated through the years. That?╟╓s not really an integral part of their personality.?╟Ñ ?╟  Asked which is his favorite among his own work, Red replies: ?╟úI haven?╟╓t painted it yet. I just haven?╟╓t done the one that I really want to paint. I don?╟╓t know if I ever will.?╟Ñ # TV WEEK VICTORIAN, TASMANIAN, SOUTH AUSTRALIAN, WEST AUSTRALIAN, NORTH QUEENSLAND AND SOUTHERN NSW EDITIONS: Printed and published by Southdown Press Pty. Ltd., 33 Rosslyn St., Melbourne, C.1. 34 4111. NSW EDITION: Printed by Cumberland Newspapers Pty, Ltd., M2 Macquarie St., Parramatta. Published and distributed by Mirror Newspapers Ltd., 6) Xippax St., Sydney. 2 0924. QUEENSLAND EDITION: Printed, published and distributed by Mirror Newspapers Ltd., 367 Brunswick St., Valley, Brisbane. 50131. OCTOBER 3, 1964?╟÷TV WEEK