SKELTON SHOW WILL BENEFIT MED CENTER

Comedian Red Skelton, who likely will be joined by his imaginary gull friends, Gertrude and Heathcliff, will appear Saturday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in a benefit for South Coast Medical Center.

The veteran funnyman’s performance at 8 p.m. will raise money for the general fund of the nonprofit South Laguna Hospital.

The benefit is not the first association between Skelton and the medical center. His mother-in-law was treated at the hospital, and the Skeltons later helped start a hospital fund-raising group called StarFinders. A portrait of Skelton and his wife, Lothian, hangs in the hospital’s Gallery of Honor.

Skelton holds many other honors, most of them bestowed for his lifetime of comedy work. They include the Governors Award, the most prestigious award presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Science, which he received at last year’s Emmys show. This was largely in recognition of Skelton’s pioneering work on his TV variety show, which aired from 1952 to 1970, and, in its heyday, won Emmys for best comedian on television, best comedy writing and best comedy show.

Now 74 and living in Rancho Mirage, where he spends much of his time painting and writing, Skelton maintains a full schedule of work on the road, playing colleges, conventions, state fairs and benefits.

Saturday’s performance marks just the second appearance by a comedian at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, following Jay Leno’s show there on New Year’s Eve. For ticket information, call the South Coast Medical Center Foundation office at (714) 499-1311, or local Ticketron outlets.