Episode:  Appleby the Weatherman
Original Air Date:  1959/11/17
Guest Stars:  Peter Lorre, Mercedes McCambridge

Aww, Red started off by thanking everyone for an award he just one. A “Who’s Who…,” and showed the plaque.

“I don’t like anybody saying you’re the best at anything. I’m just part of a wonderful, great industry and I’m grateful that you folks like it. That’s about all I can say. Really.” - Red Skelton

Pantomime sketch about people on those “new” jets. Good stuff. I flew next to the scared guy a couple months ago…I almost forgot you could smoke on planes for awhile. Even cigars…wow.

Now I remember why that made air sickness bag

Time for the dancers. Theme:  landing on the moon, “We beat the Russians in coming here / the consequences may be severe.” Who knew the writers of The Red Skelton Show could accurately predict the lunar landing nearly a decade in advance…isn’t it always about real estate in the end? The advantages of living on the moon? No Smog.

Appleby the Weatherman Act I

It starts off with the US launching a super rocket. Why is the flight delayed? Appleby’s weather prediction.

“Whoever heard of snow in Florida?”…”Appleby’s right again.” Wow, George can call it down to the second. Man, now he’s getting all the elements.

“It’s raining cats and dogs. You can step into a poodle in a minute.”

Appleby can predict the weather to a second but can’t server his wife’s (Mc Cambridge)dinner properly. The gig is up!

“Your predictions? If it weren’t for my lumbago and my rheumatism you couldn’t predict a thing.”

“Yes. God bless your little aches n pains.”

Classic physical comedy going on.

Appleby’s  telling Canaveral they can launch based on how his wife’s stomach felt today.

Oh no. Yugabanian mobsters (Peter Lorre) are kidnapping George and making him the official weatherman of Yugabania

Appleby the Weatherman Act II

“The weather? It’s getting warmer too.”

George confesses to the Yugabanains that he gets his predictions from his wife’s aches and pains.

The other terrorist is Jamie Farr. NIIICE. I just noticed.

“You cost me a lot of money…I could have brought you both over, flown over on a family plan.”

Both captured, the Yugabanians tell them they have to predict the weather or die. George remove’s his wife’s gag, “I hate to get rid of this. That’s the best gag we’ve had so far.”

His wife isn’t feeling any pain because of the Yugabanian pain. George steps on her toe. She hits him with a beaker.

George has her feet in ice water with an electric fan blowing on her. Now George is going to have her sit on a block of ice. It’s a real block of ice and it’s messing George up.

George n his wife give them false predictions and try to sneak out. Come to find out the rocket is right outside the door…

Red’s doing the final bit of the show with the ice in his hand. It’s fun watching him try to hold on to it while he calls the guests out. He gives the ice to Peter Lorre n walks off stage. Nice

Final thoughts on Appleby the Weatherman

It was a nice episode. Not as aggressive or spontaneous. For a moment, Red’s joke about the gag summed up the episode. I think that’s where he got his inspiration. Ehh, whatareyagonnado? Not every one’s a winner.

And remember to check out http://www.TheRedSkeltonShow.com

Episode: Clem and the Beanstalk – Season 9 – Episode 29
Original Air Date: 1960/05/24
Guest Star: Mamie Van Doren, Peter Lorre

Okay, before I started I had to figure out, “who is Mamie Van Doren?” A quick search lets me know that, well now, she’s thaaaat Mamie Van Doren. One of the early sex symbols in American television history. Posed for Playboy in 1963 a couple times. Has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She might have even acted, too – given the Broadway credits.

Here we go. “Live from Hollywood; It’s the Red Skelton Show with David Rose and his orchestra.”

Oooh, they switched up the intro to also give props to David Rose as well as Mamie Van Doren and Peter Lorre.

“We were lucky to get Peter Lorre. I found him in an Easter Egg hunt,” - Red Skelton starts firing away already.

The reason they choose to do a show based on Jack and the Beanstalk:

“With all the politicians making speeches nowadays we thought we would do ‘Jack and the Beanstalk.’ That’s a fairy tale, too.”  1960 - (the time of the Nixon vs. Kennedy election).

Red’s gonna pantomime something other than little old man and the boy. He’s doing “The Ugly Duckling.”

The moderator’s left turn during the storytelling:  “People felt sorry for him and threw him poison popcorn.”

The dancers look all martian. I think they’re lost in space :-). They’re inviting us to Mars. They’re highly civilized. Man, every fabulous place seems caught up in tourism anymore :-P.

Red’s always good at pulling the tails off animals. Poor cow. Poor as Clem’s family.

“What do you take me for, a Mormon?” - Clem during the sale of the cow. Clem (Red) quickly corrected himself. Looks like the writing on the cue cards needs to be bigger. Another moment to show why live comedy can be so much fun to watch.

Apparently magic beans don’t grow as fast when you’re watching them. Ooh, it grew. Phew. Looks like an infomercial tomato planter.

Peter Lorre is the martian king. His sneaky, sly german cadence is timeless. The golden egg will “scramble the earth.”

His daughter is Mamie Van Doren. She can be a queen.

The beanstalk just happened to stop growing outside the martian window. Clem climbs it and sees the ‘giant.’

“I bet even Dean Martin’s never been this high.”

Oooh, martian Mamie is gonna do her dance of the heavenly bodies and place him under a spell. Lucky Clem. Easy way to sneak in a lip sync of a Broadway number.

Clem is too dumb to hypnotize. Martian Mamie thinks the human kiss might be a secret weapon. Clem shows her, again and again. Clems kisses have convinced Mamie to help save the world. The king has been hit with a stun gun. Clem’s gonna test how stunned the king really is:

“Before I go, tell me, what did you and Sidney Greenstreet really do with the Maltese Falcon?”

“You saw that? I’ll tell you what we did…” - The Martian King

“No. No one will ever listen to the end of ‘The Maltese Falcon.’” - the Martian King (Lorre).

Ma dropped the egg and the world blew up. Who’s to explain what happened to the earth? None other than “The Twilight Show’s,” Rod Serling.

Final Thoughts:

Clem and The Beanstalk has to be considered one of the classic The Red Skelton Show episodes. You had stars, the show ended with a twist, and it ended with Rod Serling. Also, filled with many, many one-liners both of political and general nature. The 1960 Political Primaries were heating up and Television was getting it’s hands into everything. Red’s humor was very indicative of Television’s influence in 1960, and using Clem Kadiddlehopper in the same way the Simpsons now use Homer Simpson to make light and references to the political and cutural news was pure genius.

Another episode review coming soon.