ent001330-007

RED PALETTE I jSharon ?√ß&?·L A rence United Pre^s Intorri^ affipl Someone once described Red Skelton as "a funny man who through the years has become more than a comic...he is now of the world's great clowns, a man who, like all great clowns, can make you cry as well as laugh." The thousands of visitors to Red's first art exhibit discovered this is true not only of Skelton the performer but of Skelton the artist as well. "I came to the exhibit out of sheer curiousity," explained one woman who spent two hours examining the fifty-two Skelton oil paintings in the Emerald Room of Las Vegas' famous Sands Hotel. "I've always admired Red as a performer, but I never dreamed that his paintings would be anything more than a pleasant diversion. ' "Now I know that his paintings have the same sensitivity that he displays as a clown. "He's great!" The happy management at the Sands had anticipated that perhaps a couple of hundred people would stop by to see the paintings, but they were soon to find out over three thousand people found the exhibition one of the highlight of their trip to Las Vegas. Many of them made more than one trip to enjoy the exhibition held last June and July. One impressed local resident offered the star $8,000 for one of his paintings. Others made similar bids. And no one was more delighted with the paintings' reception than Sfefclton himself who is touchingly humble and thrilled with the attention. This first exhibit came about when Jack Entratter, President of the