Edna Stillwell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | May 25, 1915 |
| Died | November 15, 1982 (aged 67) |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouses | Leon George Pound (m. 1963) |
Edna Stillwell (May 25, 1915 - November 15, 1982) was a comedy and screenwriter best known for her work with Red Skelton.
Edna Stillwell | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Born | May 25, 1915 |
| Died | November 15, 1982 (aged 67) |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouses | Leon George Pound (m. 1963) |
Edna Stillwell (May 25, 1915 - November 15, 1982) was a comedy and screenwriter best known for her work with Red Skelton.
Edna Marie Stillwell was born in Missouri to parents George Vincent Stillwell and Dollie Belle Tarwater. [1] She had three older siblings: Ethel, Orville, and Frances. At the age of 14, she was working as an usherette at Loew's in Kansas City, where she met comedian Richard "Red" Skelton. [2] [3] Shortly after, she met him again at a dance marathons also known as a walkathon, where she had been a cashier and Skelton was the master of ceremony. [4] Stillwell married Skelton on June 1, 1932 in Kansas City, Missouri, when she was 16 years old and he was 19 years old. [5] [3]
After the wedding, Stillwell assumed the role of business manager for Skelton after haggling with the manager of the walkathon in St. Louis who wanted to cut the entertainer's salary, leading Stillwell to approach the man and successfully demand more money. [5] They settled on a salary of $100 a week for the Skelton but over time she eventually negotiated it up to $500 a week for his walkathon gigs. [2]
Stillwell was not only Skelton's manager but was also a formidable comedy writer who wrote extensively for Skelton. [6] At the time, she was the only female gag writer in the business. [3] Skelton repeatedly credited Stillwell for helping him build his successful career. [2]
Stillwell was the mastermind behind many of Skelton's most popular skits and characters. [6] Skelton's famous "Doughnut Dunkers" routine, which helped him earn celebrity status, took shape after the couple had breakfast in a diner in Montreal where Stillwell had the idea for the new routine as she and Skelton watched a man with his donuts and coffee. [4] Stillwell wrote a little skit about a little man dunking his doughnut in his coffee, with Skelton's exaggerated visual impressions of the different ways in which to dunk and eat a doughnut. The skit not only won them the Loew's State Theater contract in New York City with generous compensation, it also opened the door to many more opportunities for Skelton in the entertainment world. [5] Stillwell is also credited for dreaming up Skelton's famous Mean Widdle Kid character, also known as "Junior," shortly after the couple married as Skelton performed the character at home with Stillwell. [5] [7] That soon famous phrase "I dood it!" was all Skelton's creation, but the idea of refining the character for use in radio shows was Stillwell's idea. [6]
When Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time in 1938 on NBC, Stillwell also joined the show's cast in the role of heckler, throwing insults at Skelton. [8] Stillwell was also a writer for the show and developed a system of selecting written materials from the other show writers, adding her own, and filing away unused gags and lines for later use. [9] Stillwell is credited as a writer on The Raleigh Cigarette Program radio show, which starred Skelton. [8] She was also the chief writer on The Red Skelton Show which aired from 1951 to 1971. [8] [10]
In 1942, Stillwell announced she was filing for divorce from Skelton, but that she would remain as his manager and continue to write material for him. [11] [9] Their divorce was finalized in February 1943. [12] Stillwell also remained the manager of Skelton's financial accounts as Skelton was known to spend money with reckless abandon. [3] She managed Skelton's career until 1952, and in return she was paid a handsome weekly salary for her efforts. [13]
In November 1945, Stillwell married Hollywood film director Frank Borzage. They later divorced in 1949. [14] [15]
In 1963, she married businessman Leon George Pound. They remained together until Pound's death in 1976. [15]
Edna Stillwell died on November 15, 1982, at the Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance, California at the age of 67, from cancer. [15]
John Herbert Gleason, known as Jackie Gleason, was an American actor, comedian, writer, and composer also known as "The Great One". He developed a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, and was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy, exemplified by his city bus driver character Ralph Kramden in the television series The Honeymooners. He also developed The Jackie Gleason Show, which maintained high ratings from the mid-1950s through 1970. The series originated in New York City, but filming moved to Miami Beach, Florida, in 1964 after Gleason took up permanent residence there.
Isaiah Edwin Leopold, better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian. He began his career in vaudeville in 1903 and was known for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor, which continued into the 1960s. His variety show (1949–1950), The Ed Wynn Show, won a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award.
Richard Red Skelton was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.
David Daniel Rose was a British-born American songwriter, composer, arranger, pianist, and orchestra leader. His best known compositions were "The Stripper", "Holiday for Strings", and "Calypso Melody". He also wrote music for many television series, including It's a Great Life, The Tony Martin Show, Little House on the Prairie, Highway to Heaven, Bonanza, Leave It to Beaver, and Highway Patrol, some under the pseudonym Ray Llewellyn.
The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, is a radio and television comedy series. The show ran for over three decades, from 1932 to 1955 on radio, and from 1950 to 1965 on television. It won numerous awards, including the 1959 Emmy for Best Comedy Show, and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century American comedy.
The Red Skelton Show is an American television comedy/variety show that aired from 1951 to 1971. In the decade prior to hosting the show, Richard "Red" Skelton had a successful career as a radio and motion pictures star. Although his television series is largely associated with CBS, where it appeared for more than sixteen years, it actually began and ended on NBC. During its run, the program received three Emmy Awards, for Skelton as best comedian and the program as best comedy show during its initial season, and an award for comedy writing in 1961. In 1959 Skelton also received a Golden Globe for Best TV Show.
Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall was an English stage, screen, and radio actor who starred in many popular and well-regarded Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s. After a successful theatrical career in the United Kingdom and North America, he became an in-demand Hollywood leading man, frequently appearing in romantic melodramas and occasional comedies. In his later years, he turned to character acting.
Dorothy Kingsley was an American screenwriter, who worked extensively in film, radio, and television.
Don Wilson was an American announcer and actor in radio and television, with a Falstaffian vocal presence, remembered best as the rotund announcer and comic foil to the star of The Jack Benny Program.
Marvel Marilyn Maxwell was an American actress and entertainer. In a career that spanned the 1940s and 1950s, she appeared in several films and radio programs, and entertained the troops during World War II and the Korean War on USO tours with Bob Hope.
Franklin Pangborn was an American comedic character actor famous for playing small but memorable roles with comic flair. He appeared in many Preston Sturges movies as well as the W. C. Fields films International House, The Bank Dick, and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break. For his contributions to motion pictures, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street posthumously on February 8, 1960.
Ed Gardner was an American comic actor, writer and director, best remembered as the creator and star of the radio's popular Duffy's Tavern comedy series.
I Dood It is a 1943 American musical-comedy film starring Red Skelton and Eleanor Powell, directed by Vincente Minnelli, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The screenplay is by Fred Saidy and Sig Herzig and the film features Richard Ainley, Patricia Dane, Lena Horne, and Hazel Scott. John Hodiak plays a villain in this production, just his third movie role. Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra provide musical interludes.
Ilka Chase was an American actress, radio host, and novelist.
John DeBella is an American former DJ who played a major role in developing the morning zoo format. Until his retirement in June 2023, he hosted the morning John DeBella Show on 102.9 WMGK-FM in Philadelphia.
Having Wonderful Time is a 1938 American romantic comedy film adapted from Arthur Kober's 1937 Broadway play of the same name, directed by Alfred Santell and starring Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. along with Lucille Ball and Eve Arden. It was Red Skelton's film debut.
Edna Cecil Cunningham was an American film and stage actress, singer, and comedienne.
Truman Bradley was an actor and narrator in radio, television and film.
Avalon Time is an American old-time radio comedy/variety program that ran from 1938 to 1940 on NBC's Red Network. The program was named after its sponsor, Avalon cigarettes. Over the course of its run, Avalon Time was also sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh Pipe Tobacco and the Bulova Watch Company.
The Raleigh Cigarette Program was an American old-time radio comedy program that starred comedian Red Skelton.