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MANSION'S MULLICA TAKES ART OF IMITATION TO NEW HEIGHTS;
MEMORIES OF RED SKELTON SOAR WITH FLATTERY
Never underestimate the power of a chance encounter.
Legendary comedian Red Skelton learned that as a boy, and Tom Mullica
discovered it later in life from Red Skelton himself!
Mullica, a celebrated entertainer in his own right, appears daily at
The Mansion Theatre in Branson in what critics have described as "the
funniest and most successful tribute show in America," a show that
transports audiences into a virtual Red Skelton performance featuring his
most memorably hilarious and equally touching routines.
"Red came to see me when I was doing comedy and magic at The
Tom-foolery, my club in Atlanta," Mullica says, describing what would
become for him a life-transforming meeting. "Red spent two hours with me
after the show and told me that he really liked what I did. Best part was
when he said he'd give me permission to use any of his material if I would
simply clean up my show and aim it toward families."
That may have been the best advice ever offered by a show business
mentor, because Tom Mullica went on to develop his act and dazzle
audiences across North America, Europe and Japan. Fine-tuning a spot-on
Red Skelton impersonation has been the work of more than a decade, but has
resulted in the widespread acclaim of those who fondly remember the
rubber-faced clown. And, through the timelessness of Skelton's routines,
there is a new and continually growing younger generation of fans who are
captivated by the Mullica tribute.
While Skelton first made his mark on stage and in radio and film,
"people best remember Red from his 16 years on CBS television on Tuesday
nights. What they can't recall so well," Mullica says, "is when he passed
away." Indeed, having died in 1997 within weeks of Princess Diana and
Mother Teresa, Skelton's passing practically slipped by the public. But it
was about that time that Mullica was putting legs to the tribute show he
had been writing about the man with whom he had bonded in friendship for
18 years.
Red Skelton's character-driven sketches are very much the heart of the
Mullica homage. The palette of playful personages includes Freddy the
Freeloader, Clem Kadiddlehopper, the Mean Widdle Kid, George Applebee (the
hen-pecked husband) and more. Branson audiences have found one of the most
moving moments of the performance to be the "Pledge of Allegiance,"
Skelton's patriotic interpretation of the nation's loyalty oath, told from
the perspective of a teacher Red had when he was a child in school in
Vincennes, Indiana.
According to Mullica who weaves a biography of the comedian into every
show, Vincennes is where Red Skelton first got a taste of what it might be
like to perform on stage. "Red was selling newspapers on the street when a
man came up and asked what there was to do in town. Red told the man about
a show at the vaudeville theater where someone named Ed Wynn would be
performing. The man not only bought a paper from the boy, he bought every
paper Red had left and handed him a ticket to the show. Red was in the
audience that evening, only to discover the star on stage was the man who
bought his newspapers, Ed Wynn himself!" The vaudevillian Wynn was a
clown who learned a few tricks himself at the knee of his own boyhood
hero, W.C. Fields. And so the legacy of heroic inspiration continues with
Mullica now being embodied by Red.
Despite his uncanny resemblance to the comedian, fully becoming Red
Skelton had its challenges. "The voice was hard," says Mullica. "It came
last." After months of studying Red Skelton television appearances,
memorizing routines and bringing into perfection every nuance of every
facial expression on every one of Red's classic characters, the baritone
Mullica had to heighten the pitch of his voice a little to convince
audiences his take-off was a faithful one.
The likeness was good enough to win him one very important fan, Red's
widow, Lothian Skelton. "It took a while for Red's wife to publicly
endorse and authorize my act," explains Mullica between shows. "Turns out
she was still mourning his loss and needed time to discover that I had the
best interests of his memory at heart. And now we're good friends."
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, Red Skelton would be
flattered indeed by the work of Tom Mullica. In 2009
BransonCritic.com awarded Tom the Editor Award for best tribute artist in
Branson.
"RED - A Tribute by Tom Mullica runs at 10:00 a.m. daily except
Sunday at The Mansion Theatre in Branson.
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Tom Mullica's love affair with show business began in
1953 in Waupun, Wisconsin when, as a five-year-old child, he decided to be
a clown. Two years later he discovered magic and not long after combined
the two. In addition to magic and clowning, he is a highly skilled
ventriloquist and pantomimist. Tom is now CEO of Van Blaine
Productions.
Tom enlisted in the Army at age 18 and after 3 years
in Korea and Germany, moved to the magic capitol of the world, Colon,
Michigan, where he built illusions and demonstrated magic for the famous
Abbott's Magic Company. Tom then moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he
attended bartending school and opened his own nightclub called The
Tom-foolery Magic Bar Theatre. His popularity in Atlanta led to an
appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, World's Greatest Magic,
Penn & Teller, Viva Variety and hundreds of television appearances
throughout the world. With countless hotel and casino performances in
Atlantic City and Las Vegas, Tom Mullica remains one of the greatest
variety acts of our time. Between 1976 and 1987,the Tom-foolery was
visited by countless notables -including alongtime favorite of Tom's...
Red Skelton.
Red visited the Tom-foolery in 1980 and liked the
show so much he spent two hours with Tom afterwards. Tom occasionally
included some suggestive material in his comedy routines at the time and
Red proclaimed, "I'll tell you what Tom, if you clean up your act, you can
use my material." He told Tom that his humor was too suggestive and that
it shocked people into laughing. He instructed Tom to do every show as if
his mother, a priest, and a nun were in the audience. Tom's approach to
comedy changed that very night. One of the dominant factors in Tom's life
has been the quiet, sincere friendship he developed with Red Skelton over
the years that followed. Never a night went by at the Tom-foolery that Tom
didn't mention Red. This friendship took on an even more significant,
poignant turn for Tom when Skelton sent him W.C. fields' famous twisted
pool cue. Fields used the twisted pool cue in a classic vaudeville routine
with Ed Wynn eliciting laughs under the pool table. Finally, Fields
"discovered" Wynn under the table and walloped him with the cue. Fields
had taken a liking to Red Skelton and had given him the cue about a year
before he died. Tom feels he can never achieve a higher tribute than that
in Red's note which accompanied the pool cue. . ."I don't know of anyone I
would rather pass it on to for safekeeping than you!"
After 11 years performing at the Tom-foolery, Tom
wanted to move on. He asked Red for his advice and he suggested, "Take
10-15 minutes of your best material and perform it pantomime to music and
you'll be able to work any place in the world - you'll have no language
barrier." Tom took Red's advice and after six months of rehearsal moved to
Paris, France where he was one of the featured acts at the world famous
Crazy Horse Saloon. Tom returned to America in 1991 and continued his
comedy magic career until 1996 when he began writing RED SKELTON (A
Performance Tribute) which is now featured in theaters throughout America
and Canada.
Tom and Mrs. Lothian Skelton Grand Opening Gala Performance the
Red Skelton Performing Arts Center Vincennes, IN, 2006
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One of the GREATEST variety acts of our time
Tom Mullica has
performed all over the world and continues to confuse and amuse audiences
wherever he goes. Acclaimed as one of the world's greatest comedy
magicians, Tom Mullica is a one-of-a-kind act that has not, or can not, be
duplicated!
TELEVISION
Late Night with David Letterman (NBC) - 1984
Showtime Cable Comedy
Special - 1988
The Wil Schriner Show (CBS) - 1988
Incredible Sunday
(ABC) - 1988
The Patrick Sebastien C'est Fou Show (Paris, France) -
1989
Frances Andreu Magic Spectacular (Barcelona, Spain) -
1990
Patrick Sabatier Avis de Recherche (Paris, France) - 1990
The
Best of Magic (Thames TV, London, England) - 1990
World Circus Special
(Brussels, Belgium) - 1991
Juan Tamarez Magic Special (Madrid, Spain) -
1992
Attention Magic (Paris, France) - 1993
World's Greatest Magic
I(NBC) - 1994
Bij Van Duin Variety (Amsterdam, Holland) - 1995
The
Coliseum Show (Tokyo, Japan) - 1995
Jack Dee Show (London, England) -
1995
Glicksritter Show (Hildershum, Holland) - 1996
Stuff the White
Rabbit (Manchester, England) - 1996
The Harald Schmidt Show (Cologne,
Germany) - 1996
Friday Night (NBC) - 1997
Viva Variety (Comedy
Central) - 1997
Abracadabra Show (Brussells, Belguim) - 1997
Maury
Povitch (WB Network) - 1998
Talk Soup (E) - 1998
Penn & Teller's
Sin City (FX Network) - 1999
Wheel of Fortune (Lisbon, Portugal) -
1999
Just for Laughs Comedy Festival (Montreal, Canada) -
1999
Magie, Spéciale Las Vegas (Paris, France) - 2000
Jim Stafford's
Knuckleheads (Branson, MO.) - 2007
STAGE - FILM
Grand Prize Winner, Siegfried & Roy Golden Lion Award
Magic
Desert Seminar (Las Vegas) - 1980-99
The Magic Castle (Hollywood, CA.)
- (numerous)
FISM International MagicCompetition (Den Haag,
Netherlands) - 1988
Genting Highland Resort & Casino (Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia) - 1988-89
The Punchline Comedy Club (Atlanta, GA.) -
1988
Evian Les Bains Casino (Evian Les Bains, France) - 1989
Crazy
Horse Saloon (Paris, France) - 1989-90-91
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
- 1992
The Sands Hotel - Bare Essence - (Las Vegas, NV.) - 1993
FISM
International MagicConvention (Yokohama, Japan) - 1994
Alfred Hayes
Variety Show (Sydney, Australia) - 1996
Caesars Magic Empire (Las
Vegas, NV.) - 1996-97
Resorts Hotel/Casino (Atlantic City, NJ.) -
1997
John Stuart's Comedy Legends (Valley Forge, PA.) - 1998
A
Tribute to Red Skelton (Debut) The Plaza Hotel (Las Vegas, NV.) -
1998
RED - A Tribute by Tom Mullica - 1998-2009 American/Canadian
Tour
Finding Forrester - 2001 Andy Williams Variety Show - (Branson,
MO) 2009
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