In early 1952, comedian
had an idea for a television sketch about someone
who had been drinking not being able to know which way is up. The
script was completed and he had the show’s production crew build a set
that was perpendicular to the stage, so it would give the illusion that
someone was walking on walls.The skit, starring his character Willie
Lump-Lump, called for the character’s wife to hire a carpenter to re-do
the living room in an effort to teach her husband a lesson about his
drinking. When Willie wakes up there after a night of drinking, he
realizes he is not lying on the floor but on the living room wall.
Willie’s wife goes about the house normally, but to Willie, she appears
to be walking on a wall.All this was done live, before a studio audience. Within an hour after the broadcast, the NBC
switchboard had received 350 calls regarding the show, and Skelton had
received more than 2,500 letters about the skit within a week of its
airing. (Wikipedia)