Exhaling a profound sigh of relief today, watching Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (while cursing Blogger for not having a functional Preview), thoughts turn to another amazing actor who, as Cary Grant did, got big laughs on the big screen, the great comedian W.C. Fields (January 29, 1880 — December 25, 1946), arguably the funniest of all the comics who enlivened the silver screen.
Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog last posted about W.C. Fields on the centenary of the comic/writer/actor/juggler extraordinaire's first silver screen appearance in Pool Sharks (1915). Since the Statute of Limitations on this topic has expired (along with approximately 97.8% of this blogger's writing mojo), today shall be devoted to W.C. Fields.
What do we love about Fields? Well, in addition to the fact that Fields, using such memorable pseudonyms as Mahatma Kane Jeeves, Charles Bogle and Otis Criblecoblis, contributed screenplays, gags and storylines to many of his movies, it's his independent attitude towards life. When Fields mutters in the reel world, he's saying what is on our minds. In the real world, one can only be so cantankerous, insubordinate, defiant and contemptuous of authority; say ANYTHING along those lines of Fields' mutterings, even under your breath, especially around those in positions of authority, and the results will always be bad, not good!
The Fields seen in the 1930's Paramount features is not an anarchist (a la The Marx Brothers and Clark & McCullough) but a harried and stressed-out everyman.
Am most partial to the trifecta of starring vehicles that followed Fields' initial appearances at Paramount Pictures, You're Telling Me, It's A Gift and Man On The Flying Trapeze.
It's A Gift is the film that best expresses the stressed everyman characterization. As funny as then iconoclastic Fields from the later Universal features is, these three Paramounts are this comedy aficionado's favorites, due to the booze-loving and spoiled brat-hating persona's inspired work within the characterization and the storylines.
Harold Bissonette, Fields' small-town grocer in It's A Gift, surrounded by louts, blowhards, busybodies and a shrewish spouse, tries his very best to get through his daily tasks, as indignities upon indignities are heaped upon him. He's the predecessor of Rodney Dangerfield's guy who got "no respect," but quietly defiant and irreverently well aware of the rampant idiocy in his midst. The idealized small-town America of the day, and its citizenry, does not get the Frank Capra treatment but is skewered deliciously, to a significant degree due to hilarious performances by the supporting players, especially Charles Selton as the blind but unrelentingly obnoxious Mr. Muckle.
Through it all, Fields' skilled acting distinguishes him as one of the funniest and most brilliant comedians and character actors ever to appear in motion pictures.
The followup, The Man On The Flying Trapeze, includes much of the It's A Gift cast and gets considerable comic mileage out of similar themes.
Among our all-time favorite comedy films here at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog are the Fields & Alison Skipworth "road hogs" segment from the 1932 anthology feature If I Had A Million and the Paramount gems Million Dollar Legs and International House.
Million Dollar Legs is part of a noteworthy trio of extremely wacky, irreverent and satiric 1930's comedies, along with Wheeler & Woolsey in Diplomaniacs and the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup.
While these first films Fields appeared in for Paramount Pictures were not vehicles for his specific personality and characterization - he was just one among many talented comedians in the casts of both Million Dollar Legs and International House - they are supremely zany, immensely entertaining and loaded with pre-Code flavor.
Six Of A Kind (1934) would re-unite Fields with fellow cast members from International House Burns & Allen.
Definitely NOT among all-time favorite films but fascinating to watch nonetheless is the 1933 version of Alice In Wonderland, a bizarre curio featuring just about everyone on the Paramount lot, including Fields.
It's an odd but interesting slice of 1933 cinema, and no doubt preceded by pot smoking when screened in the 1960's. It scores points for being a lot weirder than the subsequent but less interesting Walt Disney cartoon version of Alice In Wonderland and, in its commitment to a fantasy world, closer to stop-motion animator Lou Bunin's terrific take on Lewis Carroll.
Castle Films, which distributed 1-reel clips from many of the Fields features for the home movie market, deserves credit, along with the TV stations that frequently showed It's A Gift, The Bank Dick and Never Give A Sucker An Even Break, for spreading the word about the classic comedy of W.C. Fields to a new generation. Numerous movie buffs and film collectors were introduced to Fields by Castle Films reels on 8mm and 16mm.
A Castle Films reel featuring Fields' astounding juggling act (from The Old Fashioned Way) was quite popular among young film collectors who were that new generation in the 1960's and 1970's; this blogger ran his 8mm print of The Great McGonigle over and over and over again.
Sound movies on glorious 8mm film were a big deal to young baby boomer film buffs. Castle Films did very well with their excerpts from W.C. Fields and Abbott & Costello features, as well as from such Universal monster movie masterpieces as The Bride Of Frankenstein, Dracula, The Bride Of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and The Invisible Man.
Adding to Fields' resurgence of popularity (along with comedies starring The Marx Brothers and Mae West) as baby boomers discovered how incredibly funny he was, along with the films getting shown on television and in said screenings, were how often Fields' 2-reelers from 1932-1933 were featured at rep cinema houses and college screenings.
In addition, author Leonard Maltin's writings spotlighting Fields - The Great Movie Shorts, The Great Movie Comedians and more - did much to keep the memory of film humor's kings and queens alive.
A seasoned headliner in vaudeville by age 21, Fields toured the world as a successful juggler-comedian decades before the motion picture starring roles he is remembered for today. He rocked the Folies Bergère in Paris, the Ziegfeld Follies in 1915 and starred on Broadway in the musical comedy Poppy (1923) and The Comic Supplement (1924). This led to a few appearances in silent features such as D.W. Griffith's Sally Of The Sawdust and That Royle Girl.
He played a character role as an inebriated British sergeant in the Marion Davies vehicle and big budget Revolutionary War drama Janice Meredith, but, unfortunately, Fields does not have much to do. Since Davies, much to the chagrin of William Randolph Hearst, was a gifted comedienne rather than a historical drama grande dame, the possibilities of Davies and Fields doing comedy are not explored. Can't imagine Hearst tolerating a - shudder - comedian sharing scenes with Marion, who, little did the publishing magnate know, was one of the funniest ladies in motion pictures.
Fields starred in a few more silent features, several in collaboration with director-writer Gregory LaCava, for Paramount Pictures, before returning to the stage as the star of Earl Carroll's Vanities in 1928-1929. These late silents included The Potters, So’s Your Old Man, It’s The Old Army Game, Fools For Luck, Two Flaming Youths and Tillie's Punctured Romance, the latter three co-starring Mack Sennett Studio headliner ("Walrus" in the Keystone Comedies) and memorable Chaplin supporting player Chester Conklin. The Potters and the three Fields-Conklin comedies remain lost films. The Fields-Conklin features did poorly at the box office that, at least for awhile, the cantankerous comic gave up on a movie career. He accepted a lucrative offer starring in the 1928 edition of Earl Carroll’s Vanities at a salary of $5,000 per week.
Thankfully, there is a W.C. Fields channel on YouTube, where the Paramount features Mrs. Wiggs Of The Cabin Patch, The Old Fashioned Way, The Man On The Flying Trapeze and Poppy are, at the moment, available on YouTube (in 10 minute clips) in their entirety. There are also several DVD box sets.
While the baseball fans at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog remain quite sad to note the passing at 86 of Baseball Hall of Fame legend Henry "Hammerin' Hank" Aaron, an unstoppable champion on and off the diamond (and, along with Willie Mays the Greatest Of All Time)
these classic comedy routines offer, like Mr. William Claude Dukenfield's favorite single malt scotch, an exceptional tonic when smiles and laughs are much needed.
For more, check out the official W.C. Fields website and go to Travalanche, which features numerous excellent articles and essays about the great comedian.
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