Research Catalog

Title

Red Skelton : the mask behind the mask / Wes D. Gehring.

Author

Gehring, Wes D.,

Publication

• Indianapolis, Ind., USA : Indiana Historical Society Press, 2008.
• ©2008

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xxxiv, 362 pages : illustrations; 24 cm.

Summary

For twenty years, Hoosier comic Red Skelton entertained millions of viewers who gathered around their television sets to delight in the antics of his notable characters. Gehring examines the man behind the characters-- someone who never let the facts get in the way of a good story. He delves into Skelton's hardscrabble life with a shockingly dysfunctional family in the southern Indiana community of Vincennes, his days on the road on the vaudeville circuit, the comedian's early success on radio, his up-and-down movie career with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and his sometimes tragic personal life.

Series Statement

Indiana biography series

Uniform Title

Indiana biography series.

Subjects

• Skelton, Red, 1913-1997
• Biographies
• Comedians > United States > Biography

Genre/Form

Biographies.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages [355]-362).

Contents

Foreword / by Valentina Marie Skelton Alonso -- Preface -- Prologue -- The early years -- Clarence Stout and other early Skeleton mentors -- First wife mentor: Edna Stillwell Skelton -- Early star status: memorable 1937 -- Roller-coaster years: 1938-40 -- Major stardom: movies, radio and a touch of "Hope" -- War year complexities: radio and redefining Red's relationship with Edna -- War year complexities: movies, military, and marriage -- Resuming a film career: the Buster Keaton factor -- A small-screen Chaplin wannabe and the two Mrs. Skeltons -- Racking up the pressure -- Triumph and tragedy in the 1950s -- The Skeltons in Palm Springs: paradise or prison? -- The last act.

ISBN

• 9780871952752
• 0871952750

LCCN

2008032320

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library