Red Skelton Christmas Show

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Red Skelton Christmas Show, featuring "Freddie and the Yuletide Doll", as well as guest-starring Harpo Marx

A wonderful collection from Red Skelton's long-running television series. It consists of three routines - Freddy and the Yuletide Doll, Willy LumpLump's sideways room,, and The Silent Spot, co-starring Harpo Marx.

In Freddy and the Yuletide Doll, Freddy the Freeloader is all alone on Christmas, where he finds a Raggedy Ann doll that's been dropped by a shopper. Freddy daydreams the doll coming to life, as the lovely Cara Williams, and a courtship of sorts happens, with Freddy at his finest -- playing a tune on icicles, skating with the Doll on ice, etc. -- of course, this bliss is rudely shattered at the end when he wakes up, and the shopper retrieves the doll. A truly bittersweet episode, made all the more poignant in that it's silent -- neither Freddy, the Doll, nor the shoppers and other people utter a single word, although there is some nice singing by some strolling Christmas carolers.

In the Willy LumpLump episode, one of the most famous (and most expensive) skits ever filmed is presented. In a nutshell, Willy's long-suffering wife tries to shock him out of drinking by making his room sideways, so that when he pours a drink, it 'falls up', etc.

In The Silent Spot, Red is portraying an American soldier during World War I. On the opposite side, separated by a thin wall of sandbags, is Harpo Marx, a German soldier. In this hilarious, silent skit, the two learn to make friends, not war, including a hilarious moment when they play checkers, with Harpo cutting the buttons off of Red's shirt with his bayonet (for the checker pieces, of course) -- with an excellent ending, as the two privates are forced to fire upon each other by their respective superior officers.

I rate it 5 clowns on a 5-clown scale.

Bibliography for Red Skelton

Books about Red Skelton

Seeing Red : The Skelton in Hollywood's Closet, by Wes D. Gehring, Steve Bell: A recent (published in 2001) biography of Red Skelton, America's favorite clown. Well-done, well-written, and very enjoyable -- recommended reading.
Red Skelton by Arthur, Marx: An older biography of Red Skelton (published in 1979), somewhat more critical, and not nearly as current as 'Seeing Red'
The Great Clowns of American Television, by Karin Adir: Not limited solely to Red Skelton, but still includes some interesting anecdotes and stories about Red.

Movies with Red Skelton

The Red Skelton Show - Clown Prince Boxed Set: A collection of Red's TV show, with selected scenes from 1951 through 1971 -- a 7 DVD set
Red Skelton:Christmas Show: A collection of some of the special Christmas episodes of Red's TV show -- a personal favorite, including a re-telling of one of O. Henry's short stories, starring Freddy the Freeloader
Red Skelton's Christmas: Another collection of Red's Christmas sketches, this time on DVD
Ziegfeld Follies (1946): Notable for Red's "When Television Comes" sketch -- otherwise a collection of musical & dance numbers -- very nice, if you're into musicals
The Fuller Brush Man (1948): A straightforward romantic comedy, with Red pursuing the girl amid slapstick humor. Well-done, funny, Red Skelton (though that's repetitive).
Neptune's Daughter (1949): Primarily a vehicle for Esther Williams, but with Red scoring much laugh time as part of the mixed-up romance
Three Little Words (1950): A personal favorite, since it stars Red Skelton & Fred Astaire, in a semi-biographical telling of a famous songwriting team. Red is as amusing as ever, but also sings, dances, etc. -- quite well.
Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1979): I really, really dislike virtually any Rankin-Bass holiday production. This sequel to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is no exception. Red Skelton does the voice of Father Time & Baby Bear, but still... it's a Rankin-Bass. If you like it, that's fine; we all have our different tastes.