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free redskekton radioshow downloads OTR.Network Library (BETA) The OTR.Net work Library is a free resource for Old Time Radio (OTR) fans. We have over 12,000 OTR shows available for instant listening. Scroll down to see the shows. If you'd like to contact us, send your email to Ken Varga at [email protected]. November 1, 2014 --After a long absence, I plan to start updating this site again. That means new shows are on their way! Please give me a month or so to get back in the swing of things. Thanks all for the donations to keep it going during all of these quiet years. The reserve fund has dwindled, but we still have some left. Please chip in if you have a few extra bucks. There is now a column you can checkmark to make it a monthly donation if that works for you. Red Skelton. Red Skelton's radio career started on Rudy Vallee's Royal Gelatin Hour before joining NBC's 1939 variety series Avalon Time. Broadcast from Chicago, Avalon Time featured country singer Red Foley and Red Skelton's wife and gag writer, Edna Stillwell. Red Skelton was drafted into the Army in March 1944, but returned to NBC in December of 1945, with the same sponsor and timeslot. The Red Skelton Show ran on radio until May 1953. Red Skelton starred in his own television program from 1951 to 1971. Skelton introduced the first two of his many characters during the show's first season. Clem Kadiddlehopper was based on a Vincennes neighbor named Carl Hopper, who was hard of hearing. Skelton's voice pattern for Clem was very much like that of the later cartoon character, Bullwinkle. They were sufficiently similar to cause Skelton to contemplate filing a lawsuit against Bill Scott, who voiced the cartoon moose. The Mean Widdle Kid, or "Junior", was a young boy full of mischief, who typically did things he was told not to do. "Junior" would say things like, "If I dood it, I gets a whipping.", followed moments later by the statement, "I dood it!" Skelton performed the character at home with Edna giving him the nickname "Junior" long before it was heard by a radio audience. While the phrase was Skelton's, the idea to try using the character on the radio show was Edna's. Skelton starred in a 1942 movie of the same name, but did not play "Junior" in the film. When MGM decided to use the phrase for the movie, they did so without the permission of either Skelton or his Raleigh cigarettes sponsor; Skelton asked for $25,000 from the studio in damages. The phrase was such a part of national culture at the time, when General Doolittle conducted the bombing of Tokyo in 1942, many newspapers used the phrase, "Doolittle Dood It" as a headline. In 1943, after a talk with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Skelton used his radio show to collect funds for a Douglas A-20 Havoc to be given to the Soviet Army to help fight World War II. Asking children to send in their spare change, Skelton raised enough money for the plane in two weeks. He named the bomber "We Dood It!" In 1993, the pilot of the plane was able to meet Skelton and thank him for the bomber. Skelton also added a routine he had been performing since 1928. Originally called "Mellow Cigars" by Skelton, the skit entailed an announcer who became ill as he smoked his sponsor's product. Brown and Williamson, the makers of cigarettes, asked Skelton to change some aspects of the skit; Skelton renamed the routine "Guzzler's Gin", where the announcer became inebriated while sampling and touting the imaginary sponsor's wares. While the traditional radio program called for its cast to do an audience warm-up in preparation for the broadcast, Skelton did just the opposite. After the regular radio program had ended, the studio audience was treated to a post-program performance. Skelton would then perform his "Guzzler's Gin" or any of more than 350 routines for those who had come to the radio show. Skelton updated and revised his post- show routines as diligently as those for his radio program. As a result, studio audience tickets for the Skelton radio show were in high demand; there were times where up to 300 people needed to be turned away for lack of seats. The Skelton divorce in 1943 meant that Red had lost his married man's deferment; he was once again classified as 1-A for service. He was drafted into the Army in early 1944. Both MGM and his radio sponsor tried to obtain a deferment for the comedian, but to no avail. Skelton's last Raleigh. radio show was on June 6, 1944, the day before he was formally inducted. Without its star, the program was discontinued, and the opportunity presented itself for the Nelsons to begin a radio show of their own, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Skelton suffered a nervous breakdown while in the Army and was discharged on September 18, 1945. His sponsor was eager to have him back on the air, and Skelton's program began anew on NBC on December 4, 1945. Skelton brought with him many new characters that were added to his repertoire: Bolivar Shagnasty, described as a "loudmouthed braggard", Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer who had hit the canvas too often, Deadeye, a cowboy who could not get anything right, Willie Lump-Lump, a fellow who had a few too many drinks, and San Fernando Red, who never met a scam he did not like and also had political aspirations. By 1947, Skelton's musical conductor was David Rose, who would go on to television with him. Skelton had worked with Rose during his time in the Army and wanted Rose to join him on the radio show when it went back on the air in December 1945. On April 22, 1947, Red was censored by NBC two minutes into his radio show. Red and his announcer Rod O'Connor began to talk about Fred Allen being censored during Allen's NBC show the previous week; they were silenced for 15 seconds. Comedian Bob Hopewas also given the same treatment once he began referring to the censoring of Allen. Skelton forged on with his lines for his studio audience's benefit. The material Skelton insisted on using had been edited from the script by the network before the broadcast. Skelton's words after he was back on the air were, "Well, we have now joined the parade of stars." Skelton had been briefly censored the previous month for the use of the word "diaper". After the April incidents, NBC indicated it would no longer pull the plug for similar reasons. Skelton changed sponsors in 1948; Brown and Williamson, owners of Raleigh cigarettes, withdrew due to program production costs. Skelton's new sponsor was Procter & Gamble's Tide laundry detergent. He changed networks the next year, going from NBC to CBS. The Paley plan that offered stars significant tax savings if they incorporated, then sold their shows to CBS, covered radio shows only. Skelton's radio show was on CBS until May 1953. After Skelton's network radio contract was over, he signed with Ziv Radio for three years for a syndicated radio program in 1954. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1994. Red Skelton. A vaudeville and burlesque performer who worked his way up from the bottom of the rung clubs and show boats to play the Paramount Theatre in NYC, Red Skelton entered films in 1938 and went on to appear in some two dozen musicals and comedies through the 1940s, mostly for MGM. Skelton, who had his own radio show from 1941-53, embraced TV in 1950 and gained his greatest fame there, showcasing his gift for pantomime and his memorable characterizations, such as Freddy the Freeloader, on the long-running "The Red Skelton Show" which ran on NBC from 1951- 53, then on CBS from 1953-70, and finally on NBC for its last year 1970-71. Skelton was a physical comedian, and his work showed the influence of the circus his father had performed in, down to the clown-like floppy hats and facial expressions. He had a humble quality, not just in the essence of. his characters, but in his modest bows to the audience, during which Skelton would hold his tongue gently between his teeth and just say thank you. (In reality, Skelton was said to be anything but modest when it came to taking credit for his work. He was lax in admitting he even had writers on his TV series.) Skelton was a star of the MGM lot in the 40s and his films, some of them with Lucille Ball, were financially successful, although few have subsequently been recognized as classics. Skelton's repertoire of characters had been developed on stage and on radio--where he had worked before a live audience. His TV show had no other regulars, save his bandleader, David Rose, until 1970 when some skit performers were added for one season. Instead, they had Skelton, doing characters such as The Mean Widdle Kid, Clem Kadiddlehopper, the rustic Sheriff Deadeye, the West's worst nightmare, the drunken Willie Lump-Lump and Freddy the Freeloader, a speechless hobo. (The Freddy sequences were always performed in pantomime.) Skelton always ended his program thanking the audience and with the words "God bless!" Skelton wrote much of his own material, although he had a full staff of writers as well.

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