Concert in Pantomime, The Red Skelton Hour with Marcel Marceau, season 15, originally aired January 18, 1966
Concert in Pantomime is an all-pantomime show. Even the Tom Hanson Dancers copy Bip the mime’s costume and makeup, and perform silently. Marcel Marceau as Bip performs skits of flying a kite, a circus performer, and a sculptor. Red Skelton mimes an astronaut, a boxer, a woman driver, and a little boy.
Skits
Red Skelton
- A Woman Driver
- Red mixes his pantomime of a woman applying makeup with her driving
- Looking at the New Baby
- That homely child can’t be mine … can it?
- The Fisherman and the Little Boy
- A funny routine with the “adult” fisherman being put to shame by the little boy … and how he reacts to it!
- The Prize Fighters
- Red pantomimes a fighter, who’s up against someone much larger.
- The Astronaut
- Red pantomimes an astronaut, who reluctantly goes on a space walk. Both funny and touching … especially the sad ending.
Marcel Marceau
- Marcel Marceau Flies a Kite
- Bip Goes to an Audition
- A very funny routine, where Bip auditions … and fails … with several musical instruments. But after pleading, he finally gets a job! With a very funny ending.
- Marcel Marceau as the Sculptor
- The Circus Performer
- A classic Bip pantomime, where he pantomimes first a circus strongman having trouble lifting weights. Then, a high-wire walker who’s more than a little nervous.
The Silent Spot – The Miracle of the Dolls
The Miracles of the Dolls is about dolls trying to make a little girl smile. The girl’s father comes home with three presents. The first is a white faced tin soldier, and the second is a red haired clown. But she leaves the nursery without reacting to either, or opening the third present.
At midnight, the two toys (Bip and Red respectively) come to life, and clownishly try to turn on the light. Eventually they succeed, and notice the unopened box rumbling. Gathering their courage, they open it … and it’s a cute Little Bo Peep doll (Melanie Alexander). That they promptly begin fighting over. The “courtship” is very funny, ending with the two clowns fighting behind her box. They come out, with their costumes mixed up. Shortly after, the little girl enters. She sees them in their mixed up costumes, and finally smiles.
Red Skelton’s closing remarks
Red speaks for the first time in the episode to close it:
“Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we sincerely thank you for allowing us to visit with you. And we hope the past hour has brought a smile to your face, or a chuckle to your heart. We hope that we’ve proved that “silence is golden”, that life is a scale, and laughter is but a weight placed on that scale to keep the even balance. And as long as that balance is equal, we can laugh together, we can live together, in peace and with understanding. Good night now, and may God bless.”