Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy Executive Director Anne Pratt sorts through stacks of Red Skelton’s sketches and hand-drawn cartoons Monday afternoon, ones that will be set up alongside a new traveling exhibit set to be erected there on March 15. From Pencils to Pixels is a traveling exhibit drawn from the collections of the Indiana Historical Society and the Indiana State Library, among other institutions, and examines the life and work of some of Indiana’s most famous cartoonists. Sun-Commercial photo by Jill Erwin
Inside the large archive room at the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy, executive director Anne Pratt sorts through stacks of Skelton’s sketches and hand-drawn cartoons.
From one stack, Pratt pulls out a proof copy of a 1960s era Gravette Giant Story Coloring Book — this one featuring cartoon ducks.
“Red was actually a cartoon artist, and he did these big coloring books back in the 1960s and 1970s,” Pratt said. “He did all the artwork and the poems himself.”
A table of archives reveals page-after-page of Skelton’s various duck characters — a “lame duck” walking with a cane, a “duck out of water,” wandering through a desert filled with cacti.
“He was so witty,” Pratt said, looking at the cartoons with a smile.
The director says she and the museum’s collection consultant and curator, Mark Kratzner, are carefully sifting through the collection of cartoons and sketches in preparation for a new exhibit, set to open March 15.
From Pencils to Pixels is a traveling exhibit drawn from the collections of the Indiana Historical Society and the Indiana State Library, among other institutions, and examines the life and work of some of Indiana’s most famous cartoonists.
Pratt says the Indiana Historical Society’s cartoon-inspired exhibit is a good fit for the museum.
“This particular exhibit has a clear connection to Red Skelton’s own work as a cartoonist — he had that passion within him,” she said, looking for just the right pieces of Skelton’s to display alongside the traveling exhibit.
From Pencils to Pixels is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit, full of color and designed to both amuse and intrigue visitors while highlighting many beloved Hoosier cartoonists
Muncie’s Jim Davis and his fat-cat creation, Garfield, will be on prominent display, as well as the editorial musings of Pulitzer Prize winning artist John T. McCutcheon, who was an adamant opponent of America’s entry into World War II.
Other features include the cracker-barrel philosophy of Brown County’s Abe Martin, editorial cartoonist Karl Kae Knecht of Evansville, and Henry Jackson Lewis, the first African American political cartoonist who worked for the former Indianapolis Freeman.
The special exhibit will run from March 15 to April 15 and is included with the regular price of museum admission.
Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays noon to 5 p.m.
For more information about the exhibit or upcoming events at the museum, located at 20 Red Skelton Boulevard, visit redskeltonmuseum.org or call 812-888-4184.
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