Officials with the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy say they welcome students inside to learn more about this famed comedian.
The museum has been on campus for a long time, but executive director Ann Pratt started in 2011 “when it wasn’t built yet,” she said.
“We opened on Red’s 100th birthday,” Pratt said.
The idea to create a museum dedicated to the career of Red Skelton, who was born and raised in Vincennes, came from former VU president Dr. Philip Summers.
“He just wanted to honor Red’s legacy,” Pratt said.
The museum’s curator, Mark Kratzner, was willing to help.
“I tried to network with Dr. Summers here and visit and keep up to date on what’s going on with the museum. Eventually, I moved down here to be a part of the community, and I volunteered for the festivals that were happening at the parades to help build up the museum,” Kratz said.
The curator has always been a fan of Red Skeleton and his style of comedy.
“I like nonverbal comedy, and when I found out Red Skeleton was from Indiana, that gave me more interest in Red Skeleton’s life and (I) focused on him. He was just an expert mime and was able to tell a story without saying a word,” he said.
Although this museum attracts an older generation of visitors, Pratt and Kratz are still trying to bring VU students in to learn more about Skelton’s life and career.
“We felt like was (building it on campus was a great asset) because often times celebrity museums are stand-alone museums and they end up closing because the people that remember that celebrity are no longer there,” Pratt said. “But by being on a university campus, it allows us to stay relevant and to stay in the forefront of people’s minds.”
Pratt said students move through the Red Skelton Performing Arts Center, which is adjacent to the museum itself, multiple times a day, often wandering in out of curiosity.
But both Pratt and Kratz want to do more.
“We do some programming that could attract students; we have a monthly film series, and students do come to that,” Pratt said. “(Students are) always welcome to (come to) the museum. Over the years, we worked on different discounts for students or free student days.”
One example, she said, is waiving the entry fee on the first Sunday of every month.
The Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy has also done collaborative work with some of VU’s faculty.
“They will have their students, as one of their assignments, come through and do a report on Red Skeleton because they feel like if there are going to be students in this building taking classes and learning their trade, then they should know who it’s named after,” Pratt said.
And many students, Kratz said, are familiar with Red Skelton, whether they realize it or not. One example is the Looney Tunes character “Yosemite Sam,” who was inspired by Red Skeleton’s character “Deadeye.”
Kratz and Pratt said they want to use examples like that to help “students make the connection” to Red Skelton, thereby sparking an interest in the museum’s collection of his memorabilia.
The museum is currently undergoing a more than $4 million expansion courtesy of a donation from Red Skelton’s widow, Lothian Skelton, who lives in California. The additional space will feature additional exhibit areas to house more of Skelton’s art, among other things.
“His painting is really important to Ms. Skelton, so she really wanted us to have a larger space to display more of his artwork,” Pratt said. “He was a prolific artist.”
The expansion is set to be completed in November 2025.
For more information, you can learn about the museum at https://www.redskeltonmuseum.org.
