In The
Movies

1938 Having a Wonderful Time (71 minutes) Director: Alfred Santell. Screenplay: Arthur Kober, from his play. Stars: Ginger Rogers, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Peggy Conklin, Lucille Ball, Lee Bowman, Eve Arden, Dorothea Kent, Richard (Red) Skelton.

1940 Flight Command (116 minutes) Director: Frank Borzage. Screenplay: Wells Root, Commander Harvey Haislip. Stars: Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, Walter Pidgeon, Paul Kelley, Nat Pendleton, Shepperd Strudwick, Red Skelton.

1941 The People vs. Dr. Kildare (78 minutes) Director: Harold S. Bucquet. Screenplay: Willis Goldbeck, Harry Ruskin. Stars: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day, Bonita Granville, Alma Kruger, Red Skelton.

1941 Whistling in the Dark (77 minutes) Director: S. Sylvan Simon. Screenplay: Robert MacGunigle, Harry Clark, Albert Mannheim, based upon a play by Lawrence Gross and Edward Childs Carpenter. Stars: Red Skelton, Conrad Veidt, Ann Rutherford, Virginia Grey, “Rags” Ragland, Henry O’Neill, Eve Arden.

1941 Lady be Good (111 minutes) Director: Norman Z. McLeod. Screenplay: Jack McGowan, Kay Van Riper, John McClain. Songs: George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein 2nd, Roger Edens, Arthur Freed. Stars: Eleanor Powell, Ann Southern, Robert Young, Lionel Barrymore, John Carroll, Red Skelton, Virginia O’Brien.

Red Skeltons First Movie

Movie Trailer from Ship Ahoy

Starring Red Skelton

1942 Ship Ahoy (95 minutes) Director: Edward Buzzell. Screenplay: Harry Clork. Stars: Eleanor Powell, Red Skelton, Bert Lahr, Virginia O’Brien, Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra.

1942 Maisie Gets Her Man (85 minutes) Director: Roy Del Ruth. Screenplay: Betty Reinhardt, Mary C. McCall, Jr. Stars: Ann Southern, Red Skelton, Allen Jenkins, Donald Meek, Walter Catlett, Fritz Feld, Ben Weldon, “Rags” Ragland.

1942 Panama Hattie (79 minutes) Director: Norman Z. McLeod. Screenplay: Jack McGowan, Wilkie Mahoney, based upon a play by Herbert Fields and B.G. DeSylva. Songs: Cole Porter. Stars: Red Skelton, Ann Southern, “Rags” Ragland, Ben Blue, Marsha Hunt, Virginia O’Brien.

1942 Whistling in Dixie (74 minutes) Director: S. Sylvan Simon. Screenplay: Nat Perrin, additional dialogue by Wilkie Mahoney. Stars: Red Skelton, Ann Rutherford, George Bancroft, Guy Kibbee, Diana Lewis, Peter Whitney, “Rags” Ragland.

1943 DuBarry was a Lady (101 minutes) Director: Roy Del Ruth. Screenplay: Irving Brecher, adaptation Nancy Hamilton, additional dialogue Wilkie Mahoney, based upon the play by Herbert Fields, B.G. DeSylva. Songs: Cole Porter. Stars: Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly, “Rags” Ragland, Zero Mostel, Donald Meck, Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra.

1943 Thousands Cheer (126 minutes) Director: George Sidney. Screenplay: Paul Jarrico, Richard Collins. Stars: Kathryn Grayson, Gene Kelly, and all-star appearances which include Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Red Skelton, Eleanor Powell, Ann Southern, Lucille Ball, Virginia O’Brien, Frank Morgan, Lena Horn, Marsha Hunt, Donna Reed, Margaret O’Brien.

1943 I Dood It (102 minutes) Director: Vincente Minnelli. Screenplay: Sig Herzig, Fred Saldy, a remake of Buster Keaton’s Spite Marriage (1929), with additional gags by Keaton. Stars: Red Skelton, Eleanor Powell, Richard Ainley, Patricia Dane, Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra.

1943 Whistling in Brooklyn (87 minutes) Director: S. Sylvan Simon. Screenplay: Nat Perrin, additional dialogue by Wilkie Mahoney. Stars: Red Skelton, Ann Rutherford, Jean Rogers, “Rags” Ragland, Ray Collins, Henry O’Neill, Leo Durocher and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1943 Bathing Beauty (101 minutes) Director: George Sidney. Screenplay: Dorothy Kingsley, Allen Boretz, Frank Waldman, additional gags by Buster Keaton. Stars: Red Skelton, Esther Williams, Basil Rathbone, Ethel Smith, Harry James and His Music Makers.

Movie Trailer from Whistling in Dixie
 

1946 Ziegfeld Follies (110 minutes) Director: Vincente Minnelli. (A revue.) Songs: Harry Warren, Arthur Freed, Ira and George Gershwin, Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin, Kay Thompson and Roger Edens. Stars: Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Lucille Bremer, Lucille Ball, Fanny Brice, Judy Garland, Kathryn Grayson, Lena Horne, James Melton, Red Skelton, Esther Williams, William Frawley, Virginia O’Brien, William Powell, and others.

1946 The Show-Off (83 minutes) Director: Harry Beaumont. Screenplay: George Wells, based upon the play by George Kelly. Stars: Red Skelton, Marilyn Marxwell, Marjorie Main, Virginia O’Brien, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, George Cleveland, Leon Ames.

1947 Merton of the Movies (82 minutes) Director: Robert Alton. Screenplay: George Wells, Lou Breslow, based upon the novel by Harry Leon Wilson and the play by George S. Kaufman, Marc Connelly, additional gags by Buster Keaton. Stars: Red Skelton, Virginia O’Brien, Gloria Grahame, Leon Ames.

1948 The Fuller Brush Man (93 minutes) Director: S. Sylvan Simon. Screenplay: Frank Tashlin, Devery Freeman. Stars: Red Skelton, Janet Blair, Don McGuire, Hillary Brooke, Adele Jergens.

1948 A Southern Yankee (90 minutes) Director: Edward Sedgwick. Screenplay: Harry Tugend, from a story by Melvin Frank, Norman Panama; loosely based upon Buster Keaton’s The General (1927), with additional gags by Keaton. Stars: Red Skelton, Brian Donlevy, Arlene Dahl, George Coulouris.

1949 Neptune’s Daughter (93 minutes) Director: Edward Buzzell. Screenplay: Dorothy Kingsley, additional dialogue by Ray Singer, Dick Chevillat. (Buster Keaton worked on a 31-page section of dialogue.) Stars: Esther Williams, Red Skelton, Richardo Montalban, Betty Garrett, Keenan Wynn.

1950 The Yellow Cab Man (85 minutes) Director: Jack Donohue. Screenplay: Devery Freeman, Albert Belch. Stars: Red Skelton, Gloria de Haven, Walter Slezak, Edward Arnold, James Gleason.

1950 Three Little Words (102 minutes) Director: Richard Thorpe. Screenplay: George Wells, based on the lives and songs of Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. Stars: Fred Astaire, Red Skelton, Vera Ellen, Arlene Dahl, Keenan Wynn.

1950 Duchess of Idaho (98 minutes) Red Skelton has a cameo in this Esther Williams feature. 1950 The Fuller Brush Girl (85 minutes) Inspired by Red’s Fuller Brush Man, Skelton has a cameo in this Lucille Ball film.

1950 Watch the Birdie (70 minutes) Director: Jack Donahue: Screenplay: Ivan Tors, Devery Freeman, a loose remake of The Cameraman (1928), with additional gags by Buster Keaton. Stars: Red Skelton (3 parts), Arlene Dahl, Ann Miller, Leon Ames.

1951 Excuse My Dust (82 minutes) Director: Roy Rowland. Screenplay: George Wells, with additional gags by Buster Keaton. Stars: Red Skelton, Sally Forrest, MacDonald Carey, William Demarest, Monica Lewis.

1951 Texas Carnival (77 minutes) Director: Charles Walters. Screenplay: Dorothy Kingsley. Stars: Esther Williams, Red Skelton, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Paula Raymond, Keenan Wynn.

1952 Lovely to Look At (105 minutes) Director: Mervyn LeRoy. Screenplay: George Wells, Harry Ruby, additional dialogue by Andrew Solt, based upon the musical comedy Roberta, from the novel by Alice Duer Miller, book and lyrics by Otto A. Harbach (additional and revised lyrics by Dorothy Fields), music by Jerome Kern. Stars: Kathryn Grayson, Red Skelton, Howard Keel, Marge Champion, Gower Champion, Ann Miller, Zsa Zsa Gabor.

1953 The Clown (91 minutes) Director: Robert Z. Leonard. Screenplay: Martin Rackin, a remake of The Champ (1931). Stars: Red Skelton, Tim Considine, Jane Greer, Loring Smith.