Red Skelton

For our part in Project Hometown, Indiana, our 4th grade class decided to learn more about a famous hometown hero, Red Skelton. As time passes, fewer and fewer people are going to remember this wonderful, small-town comedian, who's fame took him to great heights, and we wanted to make sure this doesn't happen. We spent more than two months researching the internet and working together as a class to piece together all of our information. We drew pictures of our favorite Red Skelton character, and worked in groups to come up with information in four areas that we felt were important to us: Childhood; School/Teachers/Classmates; Friends; Influences in his life; and Local Landmarks related to his life.

Mrs. Kelly's students began by sending e-mails and "snail mail" letters to various newspapers and radio stations in the area asking about information on Red Skelton. Click the thumbnail at left to see the letter they sent. Click the "Back" button on your browser to return to this page.

Several people responded with information about our topic. Click HERE to read what they told us.

Watch us at work!

Once we completed our research, we wrote our findings for addition to the web page. Here's what we discovered...

Red's family lived in many places like Eberwine Ave., 825 Emison Ave., and 1021 N. 9th St. Red had two older brothers, Paul and Chris.

Group #2 Schools, Teachers and Classmates, by Andrew, Christina, Cole, and Karley

We are here to talk about Richard Bernard Eheart. If you can guess, that's Red Skelton. We want to tell you about Red's school, teachers and classmates.
Richard went to Harrison School and Riley School. Andria Ross, one of his grade school teachers, was at Riley and Mr. Laswell, another one of his teachers, was at Harrison School. Red Skelton also attended Clark Middle School.

Group #3 Friends, by Brittney, Lindsey, Rebecca, and Zack

Red Skelton had many friends, some famous and some not. Many people thought he was funny. They wanted to be just like him.

Some were not really his friends, but more of fun like Tom Mullica. When he was in the 4th grade he was in a talent show. He volunteered for magic and jokes. He was not happy on how the show was going, so before the curtains closed he told a joke he heard on Red's show. His mom and dad laughed so hard they cried. Everybody was laughing and crying.

So you see, everybody was and still is, Red's friend.

Group #4 Influences on his life, by Ali, Jaymison, Morgan, and Sara

Red Skelton's father was a comedian and was a big influence in his life. Another influence was Ed Wynn. Mr. Wynn was a comedian Red Skelton met early on as he was beginning his career as a comedian.

Mr. Laswell was one of Red Skelton's elementary teachers at Harrison School. Mr. Laswell explained the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance in class one day. Red Skelton recited this on his TV show one night because it was something that inspired him at an early age. That same reading is still popular today.

Tom Mullica is a comedian who is famous now because of his impersonation of Red Skelton. This way, we won't forget about Red Skelton.

Group #5, Local Landmarks, by Bailey, Logan, Megan and Will

Red Skelton was born and lived at 111 Lyndale Ave. in Vincennes, Indiana. He also lived at Everwine Ave. and Terre Haute Rds., 825 Emison Ave. and 1021 N. 9th St., all in Vincennes. There used to be a building called the Pantheon Theater on Main Street where he put on shows and where he sold sandwiches to customers. The building is still standing but it's not a theater anymore.

" When my grandpa was little he went to the theater and watched Red Skelton." --Megan

Red Skelton was born on July 18, 1913 and he died September 17, 1997. He died of pneumonia. He was a big supporter of Shriner's Hospital. His full name is Richard Bernard Skelton. For a nickname, his name is Red.

Student Artwork

Students also drew pictures of their favorite Red Skelton characters as part of the project. Representative examples can be seen below. Click on each link to open the picture. Click the "BACK" button on the browser to come back here.

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