Freddie the Freeloader is losing his home in the dump! Then Mad scientist Dr. Schlepper transfers a human mind into a monkey’s body. But it doesn’t quite go as planned …
Dr. Schlepper – The Red Skelton Show season 3, broadcast December 8, 1953
Sleepover at Freddie the Freeloader’s
The Freddie the Freeloader sketch begins innocently enough, with everybody leaving after a sleepover at Freddie’s. And I mean everybody.
But then … the dump’s been condemned! Oh good, they’re improving the neighborhood!! But wait!! Freddie’s shack has been condemned! And he can’t afford to move to his ‘southern estate’. What to do? A quick land deal, selling the shack to an unsuspecting buyer! But Freddie doesn’t know that his potential buyer is actually a thief, on the run from the law, who plants the stolen radio in Freddie’s back pocket! And Freddie accidentally turns it on every time he sits down! Eventually leading to his arrest, since the police think that he’s the thief!
Dr. Schlepper
Dr. Schlepper is really an excuse for Red Skelton to clown around as a mad scientist, with lots of puns and prop comedy. Ending with a brain transfer to an uncooperative chimpanzee … That doesn’t ago quite as planned!
Cast of characters
- Red Skelton … Self – Host/Freddie the Freeloader/Gertrude and Heathcliffe/Dr. Rudolph Schlepper
- Jan Arvan … Pickpocket Hobo – Freddie Sketch
- Bert Nagle and Company … Themselves
- Neil the Chimp … Self
- David Rose and His Orchestra … Themselves
- Ray Kellogg … Police Officer – Freddie Skit
- Bob LeMond … Announcer
- John Gallaudet … Construction Foreman = Freddie Sketch(uncredited)
- Frank Gerstle … Construction Foreman, Freddie Sketch(uncredited)