Red Skelton
Faye Dunaway hosts a behind-the-scenes look at the Hollywood star-making machine.
A documentary film about dancing on the screen, from it's orgins after the invention of the movie camera, over the movie musical from the late 20s, 30s, 40s 50s and 60s up to the break dance and the music videos from the 80s.
This performance was recorded live on Red Skelton's 70th Birthday on 18 July 1983 and released on the pay cable channel HBO on 22 April 1984. The recording took place before the Royal Family at London's Royal Albert Hall and before a packed house of Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen. Red tosses off jokes, one-liners, and works through elaborate pantomime routines both classic and new. Highlights include Skelton's uproarious "Guzzler's Gin" routine, his "Fisherman and the Little Boy" mime, and his heartbreaking "Old Man Watching a Parade." Additionally , he mimes a scarecrow and an old golfer. His legendary rapport with audiences is clearly evident here.
Freddie the Freeloader sets out to have Xmas dinner in a very expensive New York restaurant with his good friend, the Professor. Along the way he stops in a hospital to entertain some children on Xmas. Red Skelton does a couple of songs on his own & a duet with Vincent Price.
Glenn Ford narrates this hilarious look back at the greatest comedians in movie history.
Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical numbers.
Rudolph must find Happy, the baby new year, before the midnight of New Year's Eve.
Various MGM stars from yesterday present their favorite musical moments from the studio's 50 year history.
An all-star cast joins Red Skelton in this lavish 60-minute salute to circus clowns.
Set in 1910. In order to boost circulation of his newspaper, Lord Rawnsley offers £10,000 to the first person who can fly across the English Channel.
Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.
A behind-the-scenes drama concerning Ed Wynn's performance as Army in Playhouse 90: Requiem for a Heavyweight (1956).
Ocean's 11 is the 'Rat-Pack' comedy about robber Danny Ocean and his gang's attempt to rob the five biggest casinos in Las Vegas.
Swindlers con a lunchroom clerk into doing them a favor, supposedly on behalf of the FBI.
Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a very short period for those days.
Ambrose C. Park, left on a park bench as an infant with an impulsive need to find his parents, is an assistant to a diamond cutter. Shyster lawyer Remlick, in a strategy to get a fabulous uncut diamond through Ambrose, arranges for Emily Drummon, Duke Fargoh and Maggie Drummon to pose as Ambrose's long-lost parents and sister. The diamond, through many comic situations, is acquired and the gang is going to have Ambrose cut the diamond, and relieve him of the two stones and his parental illusions at the same time. But Maggie, who has no taste for the deception, tips Ambrose off and a wild chase ensues. At the end, Ambrose is very happy as he can now marry his "sister."
On Christmas Eve, suffering from a case of writer's block, screenwriter Mark Christopher and his gofer Virgil get an unexpected visit from Sergeant Maizel. Knowing Christopher is working on a juvenile delinquent script, the sergeant brings by delinquent Susan thinking she will inspire Christopher while providing a place for her to spend the holidays outside of juvenile hall.
Once a famous Ziegfeld star, Dodo Delwyn, is reduced to playing clowns in burlesque and amusement parks as a result of his drinking. His son Little Dink idolizes Dodo and faithfully believes in a comeback. He persuades "Uncle" Goldie, Dodo's agent in the good old days, to find a booking for Dodo. He can't, and Dink is sent to live with his remarried-and-wealthy mother, Paula. The unhappy Dink runs back to his father. His welcome return gives Dodo the courage needed to try a knockabout TV show offered by Goldie
Three broke Broadway producers are desperately looking for backers for a new show. When they are about to give up, one of them discovers that they are an heir to a Parisian dress salon. Off to Paris they go!
Joe, inventor in an American Small town of 1895 has problems with his new invention, a car, driven with a gasoline motor. Everybody is making fun about his "crazy invention", only his girl friend believes in him. When he's halfway successful, another woman tries to win his heart, and his girl-friend thinks he has quit with her. But on a race for those new horse-less vehicles, he gets in trouble and only his former girl friend is able to help him.
A Texas carnival showmen team is mistaken for a cattle baron and his sister.
The Red Skelton Show is an American variety show that was a television staple for two decades, from 1951 to 1971. It was second to Gunsmoke and third to The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings during that time. Skelton, who had previously been a radio star, had appeared in several motion pictures as well. Although his television series is largely associated with CBS, where it appeared for more than fifteen years, it actually began and ended on NBC. During its run, the program received three Emmy Awards, for Skelton as best comedian and the program as best comedy show during its initial season, and an award for comedy writing in 1961.
Song-and-dance man Bert Kalmar can't continue his stage career after an injury for while, so he has to earn his money as a lyricst. Per chance he meets composer Harry Ruby and their first song is a hit. Ruby gets Kalmar to marry is former partner Jessie Brown, and Kalmar and Jessie prevent Ruby from getting married to the wrong girls. But due to the fact, that Ruby has caused a backer's withdrawal for a Kalmar play, they end their relation.
Pirdy is accident prone. He has been denied insurance from every company in town because he is always getting hit or hurt in some way. On the day that he meets the lovely Ellen of the Yellow Cab Co., he also meets the crooked lawyer named Creavy. Pirdy is an inventor and when Creavy learns about elastic-glass, his new invention, he makes plans to steal the process. With the help of another con man named Doksteader, and the boys, he will steal this million dollar invention no matter who gets hurt.
Scatterbrained Betty Barrett mistakes masseur Jack Spratt for Jose O'Rourke, the captain of the South American polo team. Spratt goes along with the charade, but the situation becomes more complicated when they fall in love. Meanwhile, Betty's sensible older sister Eve fears Betty's heart will be broken when Jose returns to South America. She arranges to meet with the real O'Rourke and love soon blossoms between them as well.
Poor Red Jones gets fired from every job he tries. His fiancée gives him one last chance to make good when he becomes a Fuller Brush man. His awkward attempts at sales are further complicated when one of his customers is murdered and he becomes the prime suspect.
Red Skelton plays Aubrey Filmore, a feather-brained but lovable bellboy who dreams of becoming an agent for the Union's secret service during the Civil War.
Texaco Star Theater is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successful examples of American television broadcasting, remembered as the show that gave Milton Berle the nickname "Mr. Television". The classic 1940–44 version of the program, hosted by radio's Fred Allen, was followed by a radio series on ABC in the spring of 1948. When Texaco first took it to television on NBC on June 8, 1948, the show had a huge cultural impact.
In 1915, Kansas theatre usher Merton Gill is a rabid silent-movie fan. When he brings Mammoth Studios free publicity by imitating star Lawrence Rupert's heroics, they bring him to Hollywood to generate another headline; he thinks he'll get a movie contract. Disillusioned, he haunts the casting offices, where he meets and is consoled by Phyllis Montague, bit player and stunt-woman. When Merton finally gets his "break," though, it's not quite what he envisioned.
The late, great impresario Florenz Ziegfeld looks down from heaven and ordains a new revue in his grand old style.
After breaking up with her fiancé, a gym teacher returns to work at a women's college, but a legal loophole allows him to enroll as one of her students.
This short celebrates the 20th anniversary of MGM. Segments are shown from several early hits, then from a number of 1944 releases.
Hat check man Louis Blore is in love with nightclub star May Daly. May, however, is love with a poor dancer, but wants to marry for money. When Louis wins the Irish Sweepstakes, he asks May to marry him and she accepts even though she doesn't love him. Soon after, Louis has an accident and gets knocked on the head, where he dreams that he's King Louis XV pursuing the infamous Madame Du Barry.
Constance Shaw, a Broadway dance star, and Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a keen fan of hers, marry after she breaks up with her fiancé. Connie thinks Joseph owns a gold mine, but he actually works as a presser at a hotel valet shop. When everyone learns what he really is, Joseph is banned from the theater. When he sneaks in again, he learns of a plot to set off a bomb in the adjoining munitions warehouse.
Acrobat Eddie Marsh is in the army now. His first act is to become friendly with Kathryn Jones, the colonel's pretty daughter. Their romance hits a few snags, including disapproval from her father. Eddie's also plagued by fear of having an accident during his family's trapeze act in the army variety show, which also features a gallery of MGM stars.
Radio crime show host "The Fox" finds himself on the trail of a serial killer while a suspect himself.
Radio sleuth Wally 'The Fox' Benton travels to Georgia with his fiancé Carol to be married; and to help Carol's college chum, Ellamae Downs, solve a mystery involving a murdered man, old Fort Dixon, and buried treasure.
Sailors and spies mingle in between the acts at Hattie's nightclub in the Canal Zone.
The operators of 'Silver Haven', a cultish group bilking gullible rich people out of money, is set to inherit a large sum after the deceased woman's heir also dies. Leader Joesph Jones decides to hurry the process along and kidnaps Wally Benton, his fiancé, and a friend, to further this goal. Wally, 'The Fox', is a radio sleuth who solves murders on the air. Jones wants him to devise a perfect murder, and isn't above killing others sloppily along the way to get his foolproof murder plot.
A variety of predicaments arise to distract Dr. Kildare from his wedding to Nurse Mary Lamont.
An ice skater sues Kildare (Lew Ayres) for malpractice after his roadside first aid leaves her paralyzed.
A rookie flyer, Ens. Alan Drake, joins the famous Hellcats Squadron right out of flight school in Pensacola. He doesn't make a great first impression when he is forced to ditch his airplane and parachute to safety when he arrives at the base but is unable to land due to heavy fog. On his first day on the job, his poor shooting skills results in the Hellcats losing an air combat competition. His fellow pilots accept him anyways but they think he's crossed the line when they erroneously conclude that while their CO Billy Gray is away, Drake has an affair with his wife Lorna. Drake is now an outcast and is prepared to resign from the Navy but his extreme heroism in saving Billy Gray's life turns things around.
When he is fired from his job, Red puts a hex on his boss. That evening, the boss goes to a nightclub and discovers that the hex worked.
Teddy, an overworked New York office girl, seeks 2 weeks of rest and relaxation at a camp in the Catskills. She is definitely not a happy camper because of the crowded and noisy conditions. She tries her best to fit in and, after an initial dislike, falls for college educated Chick, a waiter at the camp. Teddy becomes suspicious of his motives, however, and he becomes alarmed when she spends an innocent night in the cabin of a rival suitor. All ends happily, however, as their love proves true enough and trust triumphs over suspicions.
