Шоу Красного Скелтона: История американского комедийного телесериала

Television series

The Red Skelton Show is an American television comedy/variety show that aired from 1951 to 1971. In the decade prior to hosting the show, Richard "Red" Skelton had a successful career as a radio and motion pictures star. The MGM agreement with Skelton for television performances did not allow him to go on the air before September 30, 1951. After two seasons on Sunday nights, the program was picked up by CBS in the fall of 1953 and moved to Tuesday night, the time slot with which it would become primarily associated during most of its run. After his first CBS season the program was moved to Wednesday night and expanded to an hour for the summer of 1954 only; it was then reduced back to a half hour for a time, later expanded again, returning to Tuesday night, where it would remain for the next sixteen years (co sponsored by Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk between 1955 and 1962). The program was produced at Desilu Productions and CBS Television City in Hollywood, and over five years, from 1955 through 1960, was telecast in color approximately 100 times. In 1960, Skelton purchased the Chaplin studios, with plans to continue using the facility for his television show and for making films. It was the most colorcast of the few programs CBS aired in color during this period. By 1960, CBS no longer manufactured television sets (unlike its rival NBC's parent company, RCA) and pulled the plug on colorcasts. With the exception of a few specials and some yearly broadcasts of The Wizard of Oz, CBS would not colorcast again on a regular basis until the 1965–66 fall season, when the network could no longer avoid public demand amidst rising sales in color television sets. Skelton was infatuated with his appearance on color television, and he cajoled CBS to colorcast the program (In 1961, Skelton also invested in three rental remote vans which had full live, film, and color videotape capability). Although visionary, the venture in color was premature and, when it failed, CBS bought Skelton's facilities (formerly Charlie Chaplin Studios) as part of renewing Skelton's contract. From 1956 to 1962, Sherwood Schwartz (later widely known for creating the popular sitcoms Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch, among others) was head writer of Skelton's show, for which Schwartz won an Emmy Award in 1961.

In September 1962, the program was again expanded to a full hour (becoming The Red Skelton Hour) and remained in this longer format for the balance of its CBS run. The format of the program itself during this period was quite simple.

This pre opening format was changed slightly each year during the rest of the show's CBS run, but followed this basic format. Instead of a traditional opening title card, announcer Art Gilmore would intone, “From Television City in Hollywood,” and Skelton would perform a brief comedic blackout sketch, ending with the show's resident vocal group (the Skeltones) singing the words "The Red Skelton Hour" (beginning in the 1964–65 season, Skelton would simply stand alone, smiling and waving at the camera, spotlighted on a darkened stage as the shot zoomed in (dressed in some seasons as one of his various characters), as Gilmore would announce the title, and (in later seasons) the singers sang the title), leading into a brief musical "song and dance" number (about 90 seconds long) performed in lyrical song by several smiling male and female dancers as they danced and moved cheerfully across the large stage. This introductory number would have a certain visual theme, such as gardening, college football, the signs of the zodiac, etc., and the set, the dancers’ costumes, and the lyrics of the dancers’ song would reflect the theme. After the dancers sang the first two stanzas, they continued the song, singing “our guest star ” followed by the guest's name, matched with a camera shot of the guest (most evenings there was at least one major celebrity guest as well as a musical guest); “David Rose and his orchestra,” with a shot of Rose; the singers (originally the Modernaires; the Skel tones by 1963; by the fall of 1964 as the Alan Copeland Singers (Copeland, the credited vocal arranger of the show, was originally a member of the Modernaires); and by the 1969–70 season as The Jimmy Joyce Singers and the dancers (introduced after 1964 as the Tom Hansen Dancers, after the show's credited choreographer); and finally introducing Skelton as the star of the show; the assembled dancers looking "stage left" anticipating Skelton's entrance on stage to begin his opening monologue. For the final CBS season (1969–70), a cold open blackout sketch was added, featuring the antics of two alien moon men, green in color, performing comedic antics on the moon, as the song Mah Nà Mah Nà was playing. This led immediately into the dancers' routine.

After the opening song and dance routine, Skelton opened with a monologue. The monologue often lapsed into character humor, including "Gertrude and Heathcliff, the Two Seagulls", which he performed by crossing his eyes and sticking his thumbs into his armpits for "wings". (Johnny Carson, who was a writer on this program for a period, reminisced about writing for this spot.) Skelton performed the "Doughnut Dunkers," one of his earliest signature routines, in a 1964 episode during this monologue.

This was followed by a guest star performance, often a singer. Musical accompaniment was generally provided by the show's orchestra and led by its well known bandleader, David Rose. He was also the composer of the show's familiar signature tune, "Holiday for Strings" Skelton, who had spent some time working for the same circus as a youth, copied his father's clown makeup for Freddie. During the sketches, Skelton and the celebrity guest star would sometimes break character and make good natured wisecracks at one another. In its later years, the show generally finished with "The Silent Spot", with Skelton pantomiming Freddie or another silent character. (It was hard for some younger viewers to accept that such an overwhelmingly visual, physical performer had once been a staple of radio.) After "The Silent Spot", the show closed with Red looking into the camera and saying sincerely, "Good night and may God bless."

CBS ended its association with the program in early 1970. This apparently marked the beginning of one of several attempts by CBS to downplay programming (even shows gaining relatively strong Nielsen ratings) whose primary appeal was to "Middle America", an audience more rural and also somewhat older than that generally desired by network television advertisers. Marketers were moving towards a younger, "hipper" and more urban audience (see the Rural Purge). However, the program that aired was quite different from the one that Skelton's CBS audience was used to seeing. The new set was dark, devoid of the bright and colorful backdrops that viewers had seen on CBS. The show was cut back to its original half hour length and it was moved from Tuesday to Monday nights. But perhaps the biggest change was that the show began to incorporate "regulars" for the first time along with Skelton, Rose, and Rose's orchestra. A repertory company of young, comic actors and actresses was added as well as veteran performers such as Eve McVeagh and The Burgundy Street Singers (previously seen after an abortive comeback on network television by 1950s folk singing star Jimmie Rodgers on ABC two years earlier.) The new format never really worked; the audience sensed that there was little chemistry between Skelton and his repertory company. The program ended in March 1971, although selected programs from this final season were rerun on NBC on Sunday nights during mid 1971 by Procter & Gamble, so it could be said that Skelton's network television career had ended exactly where it had begun. He was awarded the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Governors Award, a lifetime achievement award, in 1986. Skelton was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Television Hall of Fame in 1989.

Season Time slot (ET) Rank Rating 1951–1952 Sunday at 10:00–10:30 pm on NBC 4 50.2 1952–1953 Sunday at 7:00–7:30 pm on NBC 28 33.7 (Tied with The Lone Ranger) 1953–1954 Tuesday at 8:30–9:00 pm on CBS (September 1953June 1954)Wednesday at 8:00–9:00 pm on CBS (July–September 1954) Not in the Top 30 1954–1955 Tuesday at 8:00–9:00 pm on CBS (September–December 1954)Tuesday at 9:30–10:30 pm on CBS (January 1955June 1961) 1955–1956 14 32.3 1956–1957 15 31.4 (Tied with The Lineup) 1957–1958 28.9 1958–1959 12 28.5 1959–1960 5 30.8 1960–1961 19 24.0 1961–1962 Tuesday at 9:00–9:30 pm on CBS 6 27.1 1962–1963 Tuesday at 8:30–9:30 pm on CBS 2 31.1 (Tied with Candid Camera) 1963–1964 Tuesday at 8:00–9:00 pm on CBS 11 25.7 1964–1965 Tuesday at 8:30–9:30 pm on CBS 6 27.4 1965–1966 4 27.6 1966–1967 2 28.2 1967–1968 7 25.3 1968–1969 11 23.3 (Tied with Mission: Impossible and Bewitched) 1969–1970 7 23.8 1970–1971 Monday at 7:30–8:00 pm on NBC (September 1970March 1971)Sunday at 8:30–9:00 pm on NBC (June–August 1971) Not in the Top 30

+Primetime Emmy AwardsYearSeasonCategoryRecipient(s)Status1952OneOutstanding Comedy SeriesN/ABest Comedian or ComedienneRed Skelton1959EightOutstanding Comedy SeriesN/A1960NineOutstanding Comedy SeriesN/AOutstanding Directing for a Comedy SeriesSeymour Berns1961TenOutstanding Writing for a Comedy SeriesSherwood Schwartz, David O'Brien, Martin Ragaway,Arthur Phillips, Al Schwartz, Red Skelton1962ElevenOutstanding Comedy SeriesN/AOutstanding Directing for a Comedy SeriesSeymour BernsOutstanding Writing for a Comedy SeriesEd Simmons, David O'Brien, Martin Ragaway, Arthur Phillips,Al Schwartz, Sherwood Schwartz, Red Skelton1963TwelveOutstanding Variety SeriesN/AOutstanding Directing for a Comedy SeriesSeymour BernsOutstanding Writing for a Comedy SeriesEd Simmons, Dave O'Brien, Martin Ragaway, Arthur Phillips,Larry Rhine, Mort Greene, Hugh Wedlock Jr.,Red Skelton, Bruce Howard, Rick Mittleman1965FourteenOutstanding Individual Achievements in Entertainment – PerformersRed Skelton1966FifteenOutstanding Variety SeriesSeymour Berns1967SixteenOutstanding Video Tape EditingLewis W. Smith1970NineteenOutstanding ChoreographyTom Hansen