Red Skelton's Pledge of Allegiance

[twyacht]

Another great one M'ette!!!
Red was the best.

+1 Maybe that version could make it into some of today's schools.

[atmiller]

Thank you. 

[gunman1911]

Well stated from a man with so much wisom  Thank you Mam, I will pass this one on to others.

[Hazcat]

I must be an old fart cause I remember seeing him do this on his show.

Can yoy imagine hime being "allowed" to do that today>  Sad thought, but I'm afaraid true.

[MikeBjerum]

Haz, your making me feel old with your comment.  I can remember this and a few others he did as if it were yesterday.  However, I remember the 60's better than I remember ... I remember ... that meal I ate ... breakfast ... that's it ... breakfast.

I remember Red and his reflections like this and his prayers, and I also remember John Wayne with the same.  Sure there were others, but at any time in any place you could count on these two to stand up and speak their mind.

Like was said earlier, can you imagine any talk show host today bringing these guys on knowing they could and would stand up and give a message like this?

[Sponsor]

[k39noodles]

Hi M'ette,

You're certainly taking me down a few trips to Memory Lane.  This posting jogged lose a recollection of this recitation from one of the classic comics of the past Century.  You also reminded me of two of the best kept secrets in Hollywood.  One is the fact that there was an award that was much more rare and certainly more coveted than an Oscar.  The second was that the hottest ticket in town, was to attend the DRESS rehearsal for Red's TV show.  I made it in only once, and that was because I was working with a man by the name of Sy Bartlett, and he got me in.

Sy was born somewhere in Eastern Europe, and like so many naturalized citizens, was extremely patriotic.  He was a young producer at 20th Century Fox when WWII broke out.  He immediately enlisted in the Army Air Corps., and ended up, in the 8th Air Force, as an aide to Curtis LeMay, and was the one who planned the raids on the Schweinfurt.  Sy wrote a book about the experience, and when he returned to Hollywood, after the war, produced the movie - based on his book - "Twelve O'Clock High".

I hate to repeat myself, but to relate, once again, how a-political Hollywood used to be, LeMay remained a good friend, and stood as GodFather to Sy's son, and had no problem with Sy writing speeches for JFK. 

I was "loaned" to Sy for a couple of months to help organize tons of material, he had obtained from his many Government contacts, regarding the last months of Che Guevara's life in Bolivia.  It resulted in a dreadful movie, with Richard Harris, Jack Palance and Omar Sheriff.  I don't think many people saw it.

But . . .

We would work long into the evening, but, lots of folks used to drop by Sy's office after sundown for drinks so the last few hours weren't too grueling.  One evening we knocked off early and a bunch of us went to the Skelton dress rehearsal.  Now, like almost all comics of his day, Red had come up through burlesque.  This was in the mid-sixties and before one heard much public profanity.  From the first table read of the script, through the Tech rehearsal, Red would work doggedly on the show - as it was written.  But the dress rehearsal was all Red's.  This was for his people, and he knew that the "in" audience that grew over the years, was there by choice.  It was a very BLUE show.  Not raunchy, shock-value blue, but hilarious, brilliant sky blue, delivered at a machine gun pace.  I saw Jonathan Winters there that night, actually sitting in the aisle with tears running down his face.

He was one of only a couple of people I've known who could say anything - WITHOUT BEING OFFENSIVE.  He didn't have the happiest life, in some areas, but was made more perfect by troubles.

Many years later, I shared my life with a woman who was one of the dancers on Red's show.  That dress rehearsal was the highlight of her week for a few years.

Later,

Bill  (k39noodles)