Red Skelton and Clem Kadiddlehopper
1996; Indiana University Press; Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1942-9711
Autores Tópico(s)Media, Gender, and Advertising
ResumoFrom the books of George Ade, Kin Hubbard, and Will Cuppy to the television work of Herb Shriner and David Letterman, Indi ana's humor has long entertained the nation. But Red Skelton's more-than-fifty-year reign as a Hoosier comedy artist of national significance and his ongoing ties to the state?particularly as his character Clem Kadiddlehopper?place him in a peerless position among Indiana comedians. Since the 1930s Red, fittingly, has achieved success in every medium that he has attempted, including vaudeville, radio, television, and motion pictures. The cornerstone of the comedian's career is the unprecedented twenty-year televi sion run (1951-1971) of his variety show. All artists' backgrounds provide special insights into their work, but there seems to be a unique fascination with the biogra phies of humorists. Clowns comically comfort audiences with their physical and spiritual resilience. In addition, society seems espe cially spellbound with the clown chronicle that reveals tragic roots?the ability to provoke laughter despite personal sadness. Once again Skelton is in a unique category among Indiana humorists, for he survived the harshest of childhoods. His circus clown father died an alcohol-related death before Red was born, and as a youth he endured tattered clothing, taunts about his
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