Red Skelton and The Pledge of Allegiance
Monday, January 14th by carlaIn the sketch Skelton impersonates a teacher from his hometown, Vincennes, Indiana, who thinks the students don’t understand the meaning of the words they recite each morning. He speaks a few words of the pledge and then interprets them, eventually reciting the entire Pledge of Allegiance. It is a good example of the literacy strategy known as “think aloud.”
At the time he recorded these words, Skelton knew he was being nostalgic. The Supreme Court had ruled that schools could not require students to participate in prayer years earlier, in 1963. America had passed through the Korean War and Red Scare of the 50s and was then embroiled in the Vietnam War. Anti-war protesters burned draft cards and flags in the street. The Civil Rights Movement had forced us to deal with an especially ugly side of American life. Patriotism had become complicated. I mention Skelton’s presentation mostly out of nostalgia myself. Staying up late to watch The Red Skelton Show on our old black-and-white TV was a big treat when I was a kid. I recently visited the small white frame house where he grew up. Then I turned around 180 degrees, and there stood the proof that the American Dream is not entirely dead: the Red Skelton Performing Arts Center on the campus of Vincennes University. He was known as “America’s Clown,” but his most enduring legacy speaks almost wistfully of pride in one’s country. Wouldn’t it be a pity if someone said, “Recent polls don’t support it,” — and that be eliminated from our national discourse, too?
On this date in 1969 comedian Red Skelton presented his “Commentary on The Pledge of Allegiance.” It is archived at American Rhetoric, an extensive collection of speeches. Visitors to the site can listen to Skelton’s presentation via MP3 as they read the text.
Skelton concludes the presentation in his own voice, noting that, since those childhood days, two states had joined the Union and two words had been added to the Pledge, under God. “Wouldn’t it be a pity,” he asks, “if someone said, ‘That is a prayer’ — and that be eliminated from our schools, too?”
