William Claude Dukenfield (January 29, 1880[1] – December 25, 1946), better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain members of an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audience directly is called a stand-up comic, actor, juggler Juggling is a skill involving moving objects for entertainment or sport . The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling, in which the juggler throws objects up to catch and toss up again. Jugglers often refer to the objects they juggle as props. The most common props are balls or beanbags, rings, clubs, and special bounce balls. Some and writer The word is almost synonymous with author, though somebody who writes, for example, a laundry list, could technically be called the writer of the list, but not an author. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images, whether fiction or non-fiction. There are estimated to be 3.2 Million skilled writers living today.[2] Fields created a comic persona A persona, in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. This is an Italian word that derives from the Latin for a kind of mask made to resonate with the voice of the actor: a misanthropic Misanthropy is a generalized dislike, distrust, disgust, contempt and hatred of the human species, human nature, or society. A misanthrope is someone who holds those views and feelings. The word's origin is from Greek words μῖσος and ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos, "man, human being"). It can be considered a form of speciesism or a and hard-drinking egotist who remained a sympathetic character despite his snarling contempt for dogs, children, and women.
The characterization he portrayed in films and on radio was so strong it became generally identified with Fields himself. It was maintained by the movie-studio publicity departments at Fields's studios (Paramount Paramount Pictures is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Paramount is and Universal Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is one of the six major movie studios) and further established by Robert Lewis Taylor's 1949 biography W.C. Fields, His Follies and Fortunes. Beginning in 1973, with the publication of Fields's letters, photos, and personal notes in grandson Ronald Fields's book W.C. Fields by Himself, it has been shown that Fields was married (and subsequently estranged from his wife), and he financially supported their son and loved his grandchildren.
However, Madge Evans, a friend and actress, told a visitor in 1972 that Fields so deeply resented intrusions on his privacy by curious tourists walking up the driveway to his Los Angeles home that he would hide in the shrubs by his house and fire BB pellets BB guns are a type of air gun designed to shoot projectiles called BB after the Birdshot pellet of approximately the same size. These projectiles are usually spherical but can also be pointed; those are usually used for bird hunting. Modern day BB guns usually have a smoothbore barrel, with a bore diameter and caliber of 0.177 inches . BB for at the trespassers' legs. Groucho Marx He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of which he was the third-born. He also had a successful solo career, most notably as the host of the radio and television game shows You Bet Your Life and Tell it to Groucho. His distinctive appearance, carried over from his days in vaudeville, included quirks such as glasses, cigars, told a similar story on his live performance album, An Evening with Groucho.
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Biography
Early years
Fields was born William Claude Dukenfield in Darby Darby is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, along Darby Creek 5 miles southwest of downtown Philadelphia. It has a public library erected in 1743 and a cemetery more than 300 years old. The Quakers lived there early in the colonial era. Darby was settled about 1660 and was incorporated on March 3, 1852. In 1900, 3,429, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles (92 km) of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. His father, James L. Dukenfield, was from an English The area now called England has been settled by people of various cultures for about 35,000 years, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant-Irish Ireland (pronounced [ˈaɾlənd],; Irish: Éire, pronounced [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen); Ulster Scots: Airlann) is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the northwest of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland is Great Britain, separated from Catholic The word catholic is derived from the Greek adjective καθολικός (katholikos), meaning "universal". The word derives from the Greek phrase καθόλο (kath'holou) meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general" and is a combination of the Greek words κατά meaning "about& family that immigrated to America from Sheffield Sheffield (pronounced /ˈʃɛfiːld/ ) is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base. The population of the City of, England in 1854.[3]. James Dukenfield served in Company M of the 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment in the American Civil War Union blockade – Eastern – Western – Lower Seaboard – Trans-Mississippi – Pacific Coast and was wounded in 1863.[4] Fields's mother, Kate Spangler Felton, 15 years younger than her husband, was a Protestant Protestantism is one of the four major divisions within Christianity together with the Eastern Orthodox churches, the Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Roman Catholic Church. The term is most closely tied to those groups that separated from the Catholic Church in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation of German ancestry. The 1876 Philadelphia City Directory lists James Dukenfield as a clerk. After marrying, he worked as an independent produce merchant and a part-time hotel-keeper.[5]
Claude Dukenfield (as he was known) worked at the Strawbridge and Clothier Strawbridge's was a department store found in the northeastern United States with stores in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In its day a gracious urban emporium, by the 1990s it found itself part of May Department Stores until that company's August 30, 2005 acquisition by Macy's Inc.. May had operated it under its Arlington County, Virginia- department store and in an oyster house, before he left home at age 18 (not 11, as many biographies have said). At age 15, he had begun performing a juggling act at church and theater shows, and entered vaudeville Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts included popular and classical musicians, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, female as a "tramp juggler" using the name W. C. Fields.[3] He soon was traveling as 'The Eccentric Juggler', and included amusing asides and increasing amounts of comedy into his act, becoming a headliner in North America and Europe. In 1906 he made his Broadway Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 large professional theatres with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City. Along with London's West End theatre, Broadway theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of debut in a musical comedy, The Ham Tree.
Fields embellished stories of his youth, but his home seems to have been a reasonably happy one. His family supported his ambitions for the stage, and saw him off on the train for his first stage tour. His father visited him for two months in England, when Fields was performing there in music halls.[3]
Fields was known among his friends as "Bill". Edgar Bergen Edgar John Bergen was an American actor and radio performer, best known as a ventriloquist also called him Bill in the radio shows (while Charlie McCarthy Edgar John Bergen was an American actor and radio performer, best known as a ventriloquist called him many names). Fields played himself in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, and his 'niece' called him "Uncle Bill". In one scene he introduced himself: "I'm W.C., uh, Bill Fields." When he was portrayed in films as having a son, he often named the character "Claude", after his own son. He was sometimes billed in England as "Wm. C. Fields", due to "W.C." being the British slang for a water closet A flush toilet is a toilet that disposes of human waste by using water to flush it through a drainpipe to another location. Flushing mechanisms are found more often on western toilets , but many squat toilets also are made for automated flushing. Modern toilets incorporate an 'S','U', 'J', or 'P' shaped bend that causes the water in the toilet. His public use of initials was a commonplace formality of the era in which he grew up. "W.C. Fields" also fit more easily onto a marquee than "W.C. Dukenfield".
Personal life
Fields married a fellow vaudevillian, chorus girl Harriet "Hattie" Hughes, on April 8, 1900.[6] Their son, William Claude Fields, Jr., was born on July 28, 1904.[7] Although Fields was "an avowed atheist [who] regarded all religions with the suspicion of a seasoned con man", he yielded to Hattie's wish to have their son baptized.[8]
At the time Fields was away from Hattie on tour in England. By 1907, however, he and Hattie had separated; she had been pressing him to stop touring and settle down to a respectable trade, while he was unwilling to give up his own livelihood.[9] Until his death, Fields continued to correspond with Hattie and voluntarily sent child-support payments.
He had another son, born on August 15, 1917, with girlfriend Bessie Poole, named William Rexford Fields Morris.[10] Bessie was an established Ziegfeld Follies performer and met Fields while performing in New York City at the famous Amsterdam Theater. Her beauty and quick wit attracted Fields, who was the featured act from 1916 until 1922. She was killed in a bar fight several years later, leaving their son to be raised in foster care, where he acquired the surname Morris by his foster-mother. Fields sent voluntary support to young Bill in care of his foster mother until he graduated from high school, when he sent $300 as a gift.
Fields lived with Carlotta Monti (1907–1993) after they met in 1932, and they began a relationship that lasted until his death in 1946. Monti had small roles in a couple of Fields's films and also wrote a biography, "W.C. Fields and Me", which was made into a motion picture at Universal Studios in 1976.
Fields and alcohol
Fields's screen character was often fond of alcohol and this trait has become part of the Fields legend. In his younger days as a juggler, Fields himself never drank, because he didn't want to impair his functions while performing. The loneliness of his constant touring and traveling, however, compelled Fields to keep liquor on hand for fellow performers, so he could invite them to his dressing room for companionship and cocktails. Only then did Fields cultivate a fondness for alcohol.
A memorable quote regarding alcohol is attributed to Fields. He allegedly said he never drank water because "fish fuck in it."[citation needed] Fields expressed his feelings to Gloria Jean (playing his niece) in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break: "I was in love with a beautiful blonde once, Dear. She drove me to drink. That's the one thing I am indebted to her for."
Equally memorable was a line in the 1940 film "My Little Chickadee": "Once, in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew...and we were forced to live on nothing but food and water for days!"
On movie sets, Fields kept handy a vacuum flask A vacuum flask, colloquially called a thermos after a genericized ubiquitous brand, is a storage vessel which provides thermal insulation by interposing a partial vacuum between the contents and the ambient environment. The evacuated region of the partial vacuum removes material that could serve as a heat conductor or carrier, enabling the flask of mixed martinis The martini is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth and garnished with an olive. Over the years, the martini has become one of the most well-known mixed alcoholic beverages. H. L. Mencken once called the martini "the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet", and E. B. White called it "the elixir of quietude". It is, which he referred to as his "pineapple juice". One day a prankster switched the contents of the flask, filling it with actual pineapple juice. Upon discovering the prank, Fields was heard to yell, "Who put pineapple juice in my pineapple juice?!" (A variation of the story substitutes "lemonade". However, a young Phil Silvers, who appeared with Fields in Tales of Manhattan, witnessed a similar incident on the set; in his 1973 autobiography This Laugh Is on Me, Silvers confirms that "pineapple juice", not "lemonade", was the euphemism A euphemism is a substitution of an expression that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the receiver with an agreeable or less offensive expression, or to make it less troublesome for the speaker, as in the case of doublespeak. The deployment of euphemisms is a central aspect within the public application of political correctness Fields employed.)
In 1936 Fields became gravely ill, his health worsened by his heavy drinking. Fields's film series came to a halt while he recovered; he made one last film for Paramount, The Big Broadcast of 1938. The comedian's all-around cussedness kept other producers away, and Fields was professionally idle until he made his debut on radio. By then Fields was very sick and suffering from delirium tremens Delirium tremens ; literally, "shaking delirium" or "'trembling madness" in Latin) is an acute episode of delirium that is usually caused by withdrawal from alcohol, first described in 1813. Benzodiazepines are the treatment of choice for delirium tremens (DT).
On stage
Vaudeville
Fields started as a juggler in vaudeville Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts included popular and classical musicians, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, female, appearing in the makeup of a genteel "tramp" with a scruffy beard and shabby tuxedo. He juggled cigar boxes, hats, and a variety of other objects in what appears to have been a unique and fresh act, parts of which are reproduced in some of his films. Fields confined his act to pantomime so that he could play international theaters. Fields toured several continents and became a world-class juggler and an international star. He worked bits of juggling into many of his films. A good portion of his act is contained in The Old Fashioned Way.
Broadway
Back in America, Fields found that he could get more laughs by adding dialogue to his routines. His trademark mumbling patter and sarcastic asides were developed during this time. (According to the A&E A&E is a cable and satellite television network with headquarters in Manhattan and offices in Stamford, Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago, and London. A&E stands for Arts & Entertainment, which, for many years, was in the channel's full title. The network also airs in Canada and Latin America Biography program about Fields (1994), when he was young his mother would sit with him on the front steps and mumble comments about the passersby.)
He soon starred on Broadway Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City. Along with London's West End theatre, Broadway theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of in Florenz Ziegfeld Florenz "Flo" Ziegfeld, Jr. was an American Broadway impresario. He is best known for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies (1907-1931), inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He was known as the "glorifier of the American girl"'s Ziegfeld Follies The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air revues. There he delighted audiences with a wild pool Pool, also known as pocket billiards, is the general term for a family of cue sports played on a pool table with six receptacles called pockets along the rails, into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play skit, complete with bizarrely shaped cues and a custom-built table used for a number of hilarious gags and surprising trick shots A trick shot is a shot played on a billiards table (most often a pool table, though snooker tables are also used), which seems unlikely or impossible. They frequently organise the balls in ways that are unlikely or impossible to appear in normal play, such as balls being in a straight line, or use props such as extra cues or a triangle that would. His pool game is also reproduced, at least in part, in some of his films, notably in Six of a Kind (1934).
He starred in multiple editions of the Follies and in the Broadway musical comedy Poppy, where he perfected his persona as a colorful small-time confidence man A confidence trick or confidence game is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. The victim is known as the mark, the trickster is called a confidence man, con man, confidence trickster, or con artist, and any accomplices are known as shills. Confidence men or women exploit human characteristics such as greed and.
Films
Silent era
Fields starred in a couple of short comedies, filmed in New York in 1915. His stage commitments prevented him from doing more movie work until 1924. He reprised his Poppy role in a silent-film adaptation, retitled Sally of the Sawdust (1925) and directed by D.W. Griffith David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance (1916). Fields wore a scruffy-looking, clip-on mustache in virtually all of his silent films, discarding it only after his first sound feature film, Her Majesty Love, his only Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. is an American producer of film and television entertainment production.
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