Backyard Adventures

BACKYARD ADVENTURES 2014 Pike Publishing 17 A museum honoring America's Comedian Red Skelton opened last July 13 at Vincennes University. The Red Skelton Museum of Comedy opening marked Skelton's 100th birthday across the street from his boyhood home. The museum is a study of what modern digital technology and interactive displays can do. Not only is the museum paying tribute to Red Skelton, is it an educational facility that teaches people about comedy from one of the great American masters of comedy. "We want to introduce Red Skelton and his humor to new generations," said Anne Pratt, director of market- ing and development. Last year, the museum opened their first phase and this year in July they will open Phase 2, which will feature more interactive exhibits. "We wanted to get the museum opened for Red's 100th birthday, so there was a rush to get it done last year, but we just weren't going to be able to do it all. So we opened it in phases." The annual Red Skelton Festival this year will be on June 6 and 7. It will feature the Parade of Clowns at Patrick Henry Square in Vincennes at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 7 and then Red Skelton films and tributes at 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Then on June 8, the museum will close and installation of phase two will start, with a target of reopening on July 26. The museum features numerous interactive exhib- its. One will play clips of Skelton doing his physical humor and rubber face expressions. Then visitors can record themselves on film attempting the same expressions. They can play the recording back to see how close they could get to Skelton's version. Each of Skelton's characters, from Clem Kadiddle- hopper, George Appleby, San Fernando Red, Sheriff Dedad Eye, Cauliflower McPupp to Skelton's favorite, Freddie the Freeloader, has a display case with the outfits Skelton used. There is also a video display near the glass-encased costume that will play clips of Skelton doing that character. In the Freedie the Freeloader case is his actual suit- case where he kept his make-up and costume items. Pratt said Skelton told his wife "If the house catches on fire, get that suitcase out." One of the exhibits has the various hats he wore. The visitor can don the hat and do their own rendition of that character. Another is a vanity mirror set up with digital cam- eras. The person sitting at this can paint his or her face up digitally and get their clown make-up face just the way they want it. Then they press a button and it moves that face to their own face in the mirror and whatever facial expressions they make with their face, the face in the mirror makes. "It is our most poplar station. Kids and adults both love it," said Pratt. A few minutes later, when an elementary school group went through the museum on a tour, they backed up at the make-up table and squealed with laughter as they made up their faces. The kids separated out and made their way through the museum, checking out each of Skelton's charac- ters. Most of the group were seeing them for the first time. Their tour began with Pratt telling the students how Skelton got into show business. She told a story about his father dying before Skel- ton was born in a house across the street from the mu- seum. He had to work as a young boy. So at the age of 11, he was selling newspapers in front of the Pantheon theatre, when a man came up to Skelton and asked if he was going to attend the show. Skelton said he couldn't because he couldn't afford the price of a ticket and he had to sell all of his newspapers. The man then asked him if he would buy all of his newspapers and give him a dollar if he would attend the show. Skelton agreed and ran home to tell his mother. She even gave him a nickel to spend at the show. When Skelton got to the show that night, he found out the man who bought him the ticket was actually the performer. The man had Red brought back stage. He then took Skelton up to the curtain and held him up so he could see the crowd. When Skelton saw the crowd through the curtain he said, "This is what I'm going to do." Skelton went on from his humble beginnings to appear in 41 movies, have a television show that lasted for 20 years and endear himself to millions around the world for his light-hearted humor. A clown at heart, Skelton played numerous characters that were the main stay of his popular show that ran on net- work television from 1951 to 1971. But his work went farther than that. He had a role in 41 movies, and was a painter and composer. He did numerous marches and numerous paintings of clowns, one of his favorite subjects to paint, are on display in the museum. Skelton also was a faithful supporter of the USO, doing numerous shows for the troops. He also helped with Shriners and Masons. Another example of his Patriotic work is his special version of the Pledge of Allegiance. It is one of the last video exhibits visitors can watch just before exiting the museum. The museum is now reintroducing Skelton's unique sense of humor and good-heartedness to the new generations everyday. They are open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Self- guided and guided tours are available. The museum can be contacted at 812-888 -4184 and redskeltonmu- seum.org. relive a lifetime of LAUGHTER STORY AND PHOTOS BY ANDY HEURING Elementary school students ham it up on the impromptu stage of the Red Skelton Museum of Comedy during a field trip to the museum. Anne Pratt, Director of Marketing for the museum, designs her own personal clown face make-up (at left). Above she tries out her clown abilities with the digital clown face layer applied to her face as she moves and talks. R E D S K E L T O N M U S E U M O F C O M E D Y

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