Red Skelton celebrated in hometown
Hundreds of clowns take to the streets in his honor.
Theatres were "palaces" to comic Red Skelton, and now he has one of his own. Nine years after his death, Vincennes University has unveiled the Red Skelton Performing Arts Center.
After years on the stage, Skelton premiered his radio show in 1941, and, in 1951, he starred in "The Red Skelton Show." He also starred in more than 30 movies and painted "creepy" portraits of clowns. Tom Smothers of the Smothers Brothers headlined the weekend-long celebration, which jumpstarted a campaign to build a Red Skelton museum in Vincennes, the comic's hometown. Approximately 300 clowns were part of a parade in his honor. And children everywhere might have hid in terror.