Learn to Dance in Ten Easy Lessons or One Hard One

Learn to Dance in Ten Easy Lessons or One Hard One – The Red Skelton Show, season 1, originally aired December 30, 1951

Learn to Dance in Ten Easy Lessons or One Hard One – with Clem Kadiddlehopper learning to dance, Red Skelton and Lucille Knoch demonstrate My First Dance, and Red and Lucille are Marooned together in a Tide commercial.

Monologue

It never rains in California…

A lot of things happened out here in California this week. I won’t say it rained a little …. A lot of the sunshine did go down the drain, though.
Santa Anita opened — that’s a big race track we have out here. It opened and I went out to watch the horses swim around the track …
The rain didn’t seem to bother anyone going to Santa Anita. When they found out back in Washington how much money they took in at the track yesterday, Truman wants to throw out Congress and put in horses!

Post Christmas

Christmas is over now. I got a pair of shoes from Georgia, a pair of socks from Valentina, and a pair of shoe strings from Richard. My feet had a very Merry Christmas.

Little boys

There were a group of little boys were talking, and I overheard them. “What does your father do for a living?” “He’s a banker. What do your pop do?” “He’s an architect, he puts up big buildings.” He turns to Richard, “What does your father do?” He says, “Oh, you wouldn’t be interested.” “No, what he do, what he do?” “Not too much of anything …. Any he does, they laugh at him.”

Red then does a funny pantomime on how to imitate a drunk …. So that on New Years, the people who don’t get drunk won’t feel left out!

My First Dance

Red Skelton, as a nervous young man at his first dance. Lucille Knoch is his unfortunate dance partner. “You’re very light on my feet.” He steps on her feet, slips on his new shoes, has his belt give out, etc.

At the end, Red asks, “May I have the last dance with you?” Lucille simply responds, “You just had it,” and walks off.

Red then takes a moment to talk with the audience about the lovely Lucille Knoch from Nashville, Tennessee. He then talks about lovely girls, and segues into the next segment …

Pantomime of a girl getting up in the morning

Red stated that his father first did this pantomime for the Hagenbeck Wallace circus, 50 years prior. He also performed it in the movie Bathing Beauty. Either way, it’s a hilarious pantomime that has to be viewed to be appreciated.

It deals with the girl getting up, stretching, fixing her hair, applying cold cream, makeup and lipstick, etc.

The part where Red pantomimes putting on a girdle is laugh out loud funny all by itself! And of course, putting on a dress. That zips up in the back, of course. And then, stockings. And finally, fixing “her” hair.

Skelton Film Scrapbook – Marooned

Marooned, with Lucille Knoch and Red Skelton - a Tide commercial

Marooned is a very funny Tide commercial. It deals with Lucille Knoch and Red Skelton being shipwrecked on a desert island for two years. There’s a lot of verbal humor in a short amount of time.

Lucille Knoch: Two years on this island, without seeing a human being.
Red Skelton: I’m with you, dear.
Lucille Knoch: [looks at him] Like I said, two years on this island, without seeing a human being.

Red Skelton: Sitting here all day, all night, two years nothing to do, nothing to do.
Lucille Knoch: [Simply looks at the audience and shakes her head]

And, of course Tide saves the day, making Red’s shirt sparkling white so a passing ship can see it.