Now Performing in the Red Skelton Tribute Theater 167 East Wears Valley Road Suite #17 (Shops of Pigeon Forge) Pigeon Forge, TN 37863
Red Skelton on Radio
Before Red Skelton ever had his own radio show, he appeared on the Rudy Vallee show August 12th, 1937.
He was given a great introduction about how Red was a funny man that was going places. His career was on the move and most of his comedy was observational humor. Red Skelton did a bit he had been doing in Vaudeville, the routine was called "Dunking Donuts".
Red Skelton always was one who liked to wander off script a bit and do a few adlibs. Rudy Vallee was a man who did just just the opposit, he stuck to what the script said. When these two got together it was reported that after a few of Red's adlibs Rudy was lost and threw the script on the floor. Red Skelton was noted as saying all of Rudy's Ad-libs were all over the floor.
The show received many letters requesting that Red appear on his show again. Red Skelton made several appearances on the Rudy Vallee show before he was offered to host a show on NBC.
On October 1, 1938, Red Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of "Avalon Time" on NBC. Edna Stillwell, Red Skelton's first wife and career manager also joined the show. Red Skelton continued to host the show until late 1939 when he began his career in movies with MGM.
His success in the movies got him an offer to do his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarettes Program, on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson, Ozzies wife Harriet, who worked under her maiden name Hilliard, was a vocalist who also worked with Skelton in the skits.
