WILLIAM CLAUDE DUKENFIELD, AKA W.C. FIELDS, 1880 - 1946.
AHH, YAAS...SO IT WAAS...
His career in Network Radio didn’t begin until he was 57 and in the final decade of his life. Even then his appearances were brief and mostly confined to 1937 and 1938. Yet, from his films and few broadcast recordings, W.C. Fields’ unique, raspy voice, his euphemistic vocabulary and snarling delivery are still easily recognized and draw smiles over 70 years after his death. His longtime friend and admirer, Edgar Bergen, cited Fields’ additional talents as a comedy writer. Some of his quotes are sprinkled through this post.
“It ain’t what they call you - it’s what you answer to.”
Like many of his contemporaries in vaudeville, William Claude Duckenfield got his start in amateur and neighborhood shows in his early teens. Born near Philadelphia in 1880, he discovered and developed his talent for juggling as a boy. He entered small-time vaudeville in 1898 as a juggler and took the stage name W.C. Fields. (1)
"Great actors make lousy husbands."
Fields was married in 1900 to showgirl Harriet Hughes who joined his act as his assistant. When she gave birth to their son in 1904 they separated but never divorced, remaining married until his death in 1946. He corresponded with her throughout his life and sent checks regularly to support Harriet and son William Claude, Jr. Fields also took responsibility for a second son by Ziegfeld dancer Bessie Poole in 1917. Although he claimed he wasn't the boy's father, the comedian contributed to his support until he was 19. Fields and movie actress Carlotta Monti began a relationship in 1933 that lasted until his death 13 years later.
“If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.”
His act was comic, juggling everyday objects, shoes, hats, cigar boxes, etc. But Fields, billed as The Eccentric Juggler worked in pantomime to spare himself the embarrassment of a youthful stuttering handicap he overcame in his twenties. When he finally acquired the nerve to add occasional comments to his act as cover for his rare misses, he discovered a new source for laughs. (2)
By 1913 Fields was a vaudeville headliner as The World’s Greatest Juggler, playing the New York Palace Theater and touring internationally. But dialogue increasingly overtook his act. When he joined The Ziegfeld Follies in 1916 for a six year run, he was primarily a comedian who could double with juggling and trick shots at a pool table which were showcased in his September, 1915 silent movie debut, The Pool Sharks. That ten-minute short was followed by another the following month, His Lordship’s Dilemma.
“Start off every day with a smile and get it over with.”
But his brief foray into films was sidelined for his stage work which climaxed in 1923 with the musical comedy, Poppy. (3) It was from this show that Fields’ characterizations of harmless con-men with unlikely names first emerged. In this case, Professor Eustace McGargle tells his daughter, Poppy, “If we should ever separate, my little plum, I want to give you just one bit of fatherly advice: Never give a sucker and even break.”
“A woman drove me to drink and I didn’t even have the decency to thank her.”
When Poppy closed in 1924 Fields returned to films. His life's work included 7 shorts and 34 feature films. The more relaxed working style of motion pictures affected another facet of his persona both on the screen and off - his drinking. No longer required to maintain the mental discipline or physical dexterity necessary for juggling or stage work, Fields fell off the wagon for life. He fell so hard that it slowly began to affect his film work over the next decade. His drinking wasn't so obvious in the ten silent features in which he appeared during the 1920’s, but it became increasingly so when dialogue was involved in the 1930’s. Nevertheless, he appeared in 15 features and five classic shorts from 1930 to 1944. (4) Fields, like his friend, John Barrymore, drank on the job - sometimes on the set. But Paramount tolerated his behavior because the effects were easily overlooked given his speech patterns and mannerisms. Besides, his name sold tickets.
“Swearing off drinking is easy. I've done it a thousand times."
Fields’ increased drinking, (a reported two quarts of liquor daily), finally caught up with him in 1936 during Paramount's filming of Poppy. The effects of alcohol and back injuries from a fall created frequent problems during the production. His absences from the cast became so frequent that his double was used throughout the film. In spite of his problems, The New York Times hailed those scenes in which he did appear as, “classic”.
"After two days in the hospital, I took a turn for the nurse."
Although he probably didn’t recognize it at the time, Fields was about to enter the period of his greatest popularity. He also entered the hospital for an extended stay of eight months with a severe case of pneumonia coupled with alcoholism. It was during this extended confinement that Fields began listening to the radio every day and became a fan - particularly of Amos & Andy.
“I always carry whisky in case of snakebite - and I always carry a small snake.”
Because of his drinking, his screen antics that often bordered on the bawdy and his known demand for a high salary, radio producers were hesitant to hire Fields. None did until Standard Brands was confronted with the sinking ratings of what had been Network Radio’s most popular hour, Sunday nights at 8:00 on NBC. (See The 1936-37 Season.)
The sixty minutes that were once home to Eddie Cantor, Major Bowes’ Original Amateur Hour and ratings in the 30’s had fallen on hard times with the lame Do You Want To Be An Actor? John Reber of Standard Brands’ ad agency, J. Walter Thompson, seemingly threw caution to the winds and contacted Fields at the sanatorium in Pasadena where he was convalescing in late March, 1937, with an offer that he couldn‘t refuse.
“It’s morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep his money.”
Reber offered Fields a reported $6,500 a week to give its new Sunday night Chase & Sanborn Hour a marquee name in comedy. It was insurance because Reber felt that ventriloquist Edgar Bergen was still an unknown quantity despite his success in 13 weeks as a regular on Standard’s Royal Gelatin Hour with Rudy Vallee on NBC. This explains why Fields was at the top of the bill while Bergen and his Charlie McCarthy were near the bottom of the first show’s opening credits on May 9, 1937. Fields makes his entrance at 30:00 for an eleven minute verbal joust with Charlie and program host Don Ameche. Mention is made of his hospitalization and it was during this routine that Fields started his “Clang! Clang! Clang!“ running gag that reoccurred through his 19 week stretch as a regular in the show‘s cast. (5)
Variety approved of Reber's maneuver in its May 12th review of the show’s debut: “ Most impressive portion was the stretch devoted to W.C. Fields who is set for a run on this stanza. He had Ameche straightening for him as well as Bergen’s dummy, Charlie McCarthy, and ran off with the show.”
“Children should neither be seen nor heard - ever again.”
The Chase & Sanborn Hour was a hit and gaining momentum by this performance on May 23, 1937. The pairing of the renowned (and fictional) child hating W.C. Fields with Edgar Bergen’s twelve year old alter ego was a natural for insults bearing laughs. Fields makes his appearance on this show: at 32:30 with Don Ameche and Mary Boland, then Charlie enters at 38.30 to trade barbs with W.C. until 44:30.
The pattern was established by July 11, 1937, when Fields enters at 37:00 for a 13 minute routine that begins with Ameche and climaxes when his young nemesis joins them at 41:00. This broadcast signals the decision to continue The Chase & Sanborn Hour through the summer without a break in an effort to build an audience for the 1937-38 Season.
“Certainly, I like children - either boiled or fried.”
Charlie and W.C. really get into it with a ten minute battle of barbs that begins at 40:30 in the show of August 29,1937 and another ten minute tiff on September 12, 1937 at 41:45. It was Fields’ last appearance as a cast regular on The Chase & Sanborn Hour and he left knowing he had helped resurrect the program to first place in the September Hooperatings where it would remain for the entire 1937-38 season.
"Reality is an illusion that occurs due to the lack of alcohol."
Fields' contributions, particularly his “feud” with Charlie McCarthy, were worth any inconvenience he may have caused Edgar Bergen and his writers - although they were annoyed by his habit of consuming a thermos of gin during the show's Sunday rehearsals.
Arthur Wertheim quotes Bergen in his text, Radio Comedy: “Bill could write good jokes, but he would forget them. His memory was gone. He’d start off reading a joke and he wouldn’t know what the payoff was until he got to it so he couldn’t lean on it. He wrote some lovely jokes and we would put toppers on them which were real good. But he’d try to cut them out because he didn’t think they were funny. Well, if there were any jokes that we thought were real funny, we’d say, ‘Bill, that was one of your own jokes,’ and he’d say, ‘Oh, it is?’ We never had an argument. We protected him no matter what condition he was in. Sure, he’d ad-lib, but Bill never said anything too dirty.”
“I never drink water because fish ---- in it!”
The Chase & Sanborn Hour also resurrected W.C. Fields’ career as a screen actor. Paramount cast him in the lead of its shipboard variety show, The Big Broadcast of 1938, which was filmed in late 1937. He successfully performed his dual role in the musical comedy that made Bob Hope a star and was a box office hit. (6) But Fields was drinking on the job again and Paramount decided it had enough of his behavior.
“There comes a time when one must take the bull by the tail and face the situation.”
The success of The Big Broadcast of 1938 had three results. First, Lux Radio Theater adapted Poppy on March 7, 1938, with Fields reprising his lead character, Professor Eustace McGargle. (7) Next, he was hired by American Tobacco in a brief, (and questionable), variation of Your Hit Parade on CBS. An episode of the 45 minute program from October 22, 1938, presents Fields in two cut-in’s from Hollywood during the New York City based program, at 8:20 and 22:45. (8)
Finally and most importantly, Edgar Bergen was headed into his second season with the Number One show in Network Radio in the fall of 1938 when Universal Studios teamed him and Fields in You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man, released in February, 1939. The plot, remindful of Poppy, cast Fields as circus owner, Larsen E. Whipsnade, a name obviously of his choosing as a contributing writer of the film under the pseudonym, Charles Bogle. The film was box office gold for his new studio.
"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it."
Fields followed that success with My Little Chickadee, playing Cuthbert J, Twillie, opposite Mae West’s Flower Belle Lee, in March, 1940. The two also co-authored the screenplay which gave both of its stars the opportunity to practice their special traits and became another hit for Universal.
Fields’ next film, considered by many his best, The Bank Dick, was released by Universal in November, 1940. His role as henpecked Egbert Souse, (pronounced, sue-SAY), is that of the goat turned hero through the unlikeliest and craziest of circumstances.
"I drink. Therefore, I am."
Capitalizing on Fields’ regained fame, Standard Brands invited him back as a guest on the re-titled Charlie McCarthy Show on NBC, Sunday, September 21, 1941. Unfortunately, the only available recording of this broadcast is flawed and severely edited. It is presented because it contains audio evidence of several often quoted exchanges between Fields and McCarthy which begins at 9:15 and lasts for eight minutes.
W.C. Fields final appearance with his friend Edgar Bergen took place on March 24, 1946, nine months and a day before his death. His seven minute appearance begins at 18:20, in a skit set in a sanatorium - which several months later became an actual case of fact imitating fiction.
“The world is such a dangerous place that a man is lucky to get out of it alive.”
Friends visited Fields at the Las Encinas Sanatorium in Pasadena during the holiday season of 1946, and discovered the confirmed atheist reading the Bible, explaining, “Just looking for loopholes.” His grandson, Ron Fields, picks up the story from there on the website www.wcfields.com
“A few weeks later he fell into a coma. Then on Christmas Day he awoke. He looked at the only two people holding vigil, his secretary Magda Michael and a nurse. He brought his forefinger to his lips to signify quiet, winked, then closed his eyes and ‘the man in the bright nightgown’ took him away. I always wondered what that wink meant. Perhaps he knew he had cheated the grandest cheater of them all, mortality. Through his art, W .C. Fields lives today.”
“If I had my life to live over I’d live over a saloon.”
(1) Many conflicting stories about Fields’ childhood surfaced over the years, often sparked by the comedian, himself, in a perverse attempt to confuse the media.
(2) His juggling talents often surfaced briefly in his films, particularly 1934’s The Old Fashioned Way.
(3) Poppy, to which Fields contributed lines, ran for 346 performances from September 3, 1923 to June 24, 1924. Two film adaptations starring Fields resulted: the silent Sally of The Sawdust in 1924 and Poppy in 1936.
(4) Fields’ film output in the early 1930’s included The Man On The Flying Trapeze, (as Ambrose Wolfinger); Tillie & Gus, (co-starring Baby LeRoy which fueled Fields’ fictional hatred of children); Six of A Kind, (co-starring Charlie Ruggles and Burns & Allen); The Old Fashioned Way, (again with Baby LeRoy); It’s A Gift, (as henpecked Harold Bissonette); Dickens’ David Copperfield, (as Wilkins Micawber), and Mississippi, (co-starring Bing Crosby). His hilarious two-reelers, (produced by Mack Sennett and distributed by Paramount), included The Golf Specialist, The Dentist, The Barber Shop, The Pharmacist and The Fatal Glass of Beer.
(5) It is GOld Time Radio’s practice to present programs in their entirety whenever possible. We include the timing of Fields’ appearances for your convenience.
(6) The silly Big Broadcast of 1938 had Fields playing feuding brothers S.B. Bellows and T. Frothingill Bellows. The film’s redeeming quality was its Oscar winning Best Song, Thanks For The Memory, sung by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross.
(7) Co-starring Anne Shirley and John Payne, Unlike the stage and film musical versions, the Lux adaptation of Poppy, co-starring Anne Shirley and John Payne, was without songs.
8) The voice of the supporting actor in the second skit is Walter Tetley, Network Radio’s familiar “brat”.
Copyright © 2019, Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
His career in Network Radio didn’t begin until he was 57 and in the final decade of his life. Even then his appearances were brief and mostly confined to 1937 and 1938. Yet, from his films and few broadcast recordings, W.C. Fields’ unique, raspy voice, his euphemistic vocabulary and snarling delivery are still easily recognized and draw smiles over 70 years after his death. His longtime friend and admirer, Edgar Bergen, cited Fields’ additional talents as a comedy writer. Some of his quotes are sprinkled through this post.
“It ain’t what they call you - it’s what you answer to.”
Like many of his contemporaries in vaudeville, William Claude Duckenfield got his start in amateur and neighborhood shows in his early teens. Born near Philadelphia in 1880, he discovered and developed his talent for juggling as a boy. He entered small-time vaudeville in 1898 as a juggler and took the stage name W.C. Fields. (1)
"Great actors make lousy husbands."
Fields was married in 1900 to showgirl Harriet Hughes who joined his act as his assistant. When she gave birth to their son in 1904 they separated but never divorced, remaining married until his death in 1946. He corresponded with her throughout his life and sent checks regularly to support Harriet and son William Claude, Jr. Fields also took responsibility for a second son by Ziegfeld dancer Bessie Poole in 1917. Although he claimed he wasn't the boy's father, the comedian contributed to his support until he was 19. Fields and movie actress Carlotta Monti began a relationship in 1933 that lasted until his death 13 years later.
“If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.”
His act was comic, juggling everyday objects, shoes, hats, cigar boxes, etc. But Fields, billed as The Eccentric Juggler worked in pantomime to spare himself the embarrassment of a youthful stuttering handicap he overcame in his twenties. When he finally acquired the nerve to add occasional comments to his act as cover for his rare misses, he discovered a new source for laughs. (2)
By 1913 Fields was a vaudeville headliner as The World’s Greatest Juggler, playing the New York Palace Theater and touring internationally. But dialogue increasingly overtook his act. When he joined The Ziegfeld Follies in 1916 for a six year run, he was primarily a comedian who could double with juggling and trick shots at a pool table which were showcased in his September, 1915 silent movie debut, The Pool Sharks. That ten-minute short was followed by another the following month, His Lordship’s Dilemma.
“Start off every day with a smile and get it over with.”
But his brief foray into films was sidelined for his stage work which climaxed in 1923 with the musical comedy, Poppy. (3) It was from this show that Fields’ characterizations of harmless con-men with unlikely names first emerged. In this case, Professor Eustace McGargle tells his daughter, Poppy, “If we should ever separate, my little plum, I want to give you just one bit of fatherly advice: Never give a sucker and even break.”
“A woman drove me to drink and I didn’t even have the decency to thank her.”
When Poppy closed in 1924 Fields returned to films. His life's work included 7 shorts and 34 feature films. The more relaxed working style of motion pictures affected another facet of his persona both on the screen and off - his drinking. No longer required to maintain the mental discipline or physical dexterity necessary for juggling or stage work, Fields fell off the wagon for life. He fell so hard that it slowly began to affect his film work over the next decade. His drinking wasn't so obvious in the ten silent features in which he appeared during the 1920’s, but it became increasingly so when dialogue was involved in the 1930’s. Nevertheless, he appeared in 15 features and five classic shorts from 1930 to 1944. (4) Fields, like his friend, John Barrymore, drank on the job - sometimes on the set. But Paramount tolerated his behavior because the effects were easily overlooked given his speech patterns and mannerisms. Besides, his name sold tickets.
“Swearing off drinking is easy. I've done it a thousand times."
Fields’ increased drinking, (a reported two quarts of liquor daily), finally caught up with him in 1936 during Paramount's filming of Poppy. The effects of alcohol and back injuries from a fall created frequent problems during the production. His absences from the cast became so frequent that his double was used throughout the film. In spite of his problems, The New York Times hailed those scenes in which he did appear as, “classic”.
"After two days in the hospital, I took a turn for the nurse."
Although he probably didn’t recognize it at the time, Fields was about to enter the period of his greatest popularity. He also entered the hospital for an extended stay of eight months with a severe case of pneumonia coupled with alcoholism. It was during this extended confinement that Fields began listening to the radio every day and became a fan - particularly of Amos & Andy.
“I always carry whisky in case of snakebite - and I always carry a small snake.”
Because of his drinking, his screen antics that often bordered on the bawdy and his known demand for a high salary, radio producers were hesitant to hire Fields. None did until Standard Brands was confronted with the sinking ratings of what had been Network Radio’s most popular hour, Sunday nights at 8:00 on NBC. (See The 1936-37 Season.)
The sixty minutes that were once home to Eddie Cantor, Major Bowes’ Original Amateur Hour and ratings in the 30’s had fallen on hard times with the lame Do You Want To Be An Actor? John Reber of Standard Brands’ ad agency, J. Walter Thompson, seemingly threw caution to the winds and contacted Fields at the sanatorium in Pasadena where he was convalescing in late March, 1937, with an offer that he couldn‘t refuse.
“It’s morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep his money.”
Reber offered Fields a reported $6,500 a week to give its new Sunday night Chase & Sanborn Hour a marquee name in comedy. It was insurance because Reber felt that ventriloquist Edgar Bergen was still an unknown quantity despite his success in 13 weeks as a regular on Standard’s Royal Gelatin Hour with Rudy Vallee on NBC. This explains why Fields was at the top of the bill while Bergen and his Charlie McCarthy were near the bottom of the first show’s opening credits on May 9, 1937. Fields makes his entrance at 30:00 for an eleven minute verbal joust with Charlie and program host Don Ameche. Mention is made of his hospitalization and it was during this routine that Fields started his “Clang! Clang! Clang!“ running gag that reoccurred through his 19 week stretch as a regular in the show‘s cast. (5)
Variety approved of Reber's maneuver in its May 12th review of the show’s debut: “ Most impressive portion was the stretch devoted to W.C. Fields who is set for a run on this stanza. He had Ameche straightening for him as well as Bergen’s dummy, Charlie McCarthy, and ran off with the show.”
“Children should neither be seen nor heard - ever again.”
The Chase & Sanborn Hour was a hit and gaining momentum by this performance on May 23, 1937. The pairing of the renowned (and fictional) child hating W.C. Fields with Edgar Bergen’s twelve year old alter ego was a natural for insults bearing laughs. Fields makes his appearance on this show: at 32:30 with Don Ameche and Mary Boland, then Charlie enters at 38.30 to trade barbs with W.C. until 44:30.
The pattern was established by July 11, 1937, when Fields enters at 37:00 for a 13 minute routine that begins with Ameche and climaxes when his young nemesis joins them at 41:00. This broadcast signals the decision to continue The Chase & Sanborn Hour through the summer without a break in an effort to build an audience for the 1937-38 Season.
“Certainly, I like children - either boiled or fried.”
Charlie and W.C. really get into it with a ten minute battle of barbs that begins at 40:30 in the show of August 29,1937 and another ten minute tiff on September 12, 1937 at 41:45. It was Fields’ last appearance as a cast regular on The Chase & Sanborn Hour and he left knowing he had helped resurrect the program to first place in the September Hooperatings where it would remain for the entire 1937-38 season.
"Reality is an illusion that occurs due to the lack of alcohol."
Fields' contributions, particularly his “feud” with Charlie McCarthy, were worth any inconvenience he may have caused Edgar Bergen and his writers - although they were annoyed by his habit of consuming a thermos of gin during the show's Sunday rehearsals.
Arthur Wertheim quotes Bergen in his text, Radio Comedy: “Bill could write good jokes, but he would forget them. His memory was gone. He’d start off reading a joke and he wouldn’t know what the payoff was until he got to it so he couldn’t lean on it. He wrote some lovely jokes and we would put toppers on them which were real good. But he’d try to cut them out because he didn’t think they were funny. Well, if there were any jokes that we thought were real funny, we’d say, ‘Bill, that was one of your own jokes,’ and he’d say, ‘Oh, it is?’ We never had an argument. We protected him no matter what condition he was in. Sure, he’d ad-lib, but Bill never said anything too dirty.”
“I never drink water because fish ---- in it!”
The Chase & Sanborn Hour also resurrected W.C. Fields’ career as a screen actor. Paramount cast him in the lead of its shipboard variety show, The Big Broadcast of 1938, which was filmed in late 1937. He successfully performed his dual role in the musical comedy that made Bob Hope a star and was a box office hit. (6) But Fields was drinking on the job again and Paramount decided it had enough of his behavior.
“There comes a time when one must take the bull by the tail and face the situation.”
The success of The Big Broadcast of 1938 had three results. First, Lux Radio Theater adapted Poppy on March 7, 1938, with Fields reprising his lead character, Professor Eustace McGargle. (7) Next, he was hired by American Tobacco in a brief, (and questionable), variation of Your Hit Parade on CBS. An episode of the 45 minute program from October 22, 1938, presents Fields in two cut-in’s from Hollywood during the New York City based program, at 8:20 and 22:45. (8)
Finally and most importantly, Edgar Bergen was headed into his second season with the Number One show in Network Radio in the fall of 1938 when Universal Studios teamed him and Fields in You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man, released in February, 1939. The plot, remindful of Poppy, cast Fields as circus owner, Larsen E. Whipsnade, a name obviously of his choosing as a contributing writer of the film under the pseudonym, Charles Bogle. The film was box office gold for his new studio.
"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it."
Fields followed that success with My Little Chickadee, playing Cuthbert J, Twillie, opposite Mae West’s Flower Belle Lee, in March, 1940. The two also co-authored the screenplay which gave both of its stars the opportunity to practice their special traits and became another hit for Universal.
Fields’ next film, considered by many his best, The Bank Dick, was released by Universal in November, 1940. His role as henpecked Egbert Souse, (pronounced, sue-SAY), is that of the goat turned hero through the unlikeliest and craziest of circumstances.
"I drink. Therefore, I am."
Capitalizing on Fields’ regained fame, Standard Brands invited him back as a guest on the re-titled Charlie McCarthy Show on NBC, Sunday, September 21, 1941. Unfortunately, the only available recording of this broadcast is flawed and severely edited. It is presented because it contains audio evidence of several often quoted exchanges between Fields and McCarthy which begins at 9:15 and lasts for eight minutes.
W.C. Fields final appearance with his friend Edgar Bergen took place on March 24, 1946, nine months and a day before his death. His seven minute appearance begins at 18:20, in a skit set in a sanatorium - which several months later became an actual case of fact imitating fiction.
“The world is such a dangerous place that a man is lucky to get out of it alive.”
Friends visited Fields at the Las Encinas Sanatorium in Pasadena during the holiday season of 1946, and discovered the confirmed atheist reading the Bible, explaining, “Just looking for loopholes.” His grandson, Ron Fields, picks up the story from there on the website www.wcfields.com
“A few weeks later he fell into a coma. Then on Christmas Day he awoke. He looked at the only two people holding vigil, his secretary Magda Michael and a nurse. He brought his forefinger to his lips to signify quiet, winked, then closed his eyes and ‘the man in the bright nightgown’ took him away. I always wondered what that wink meant. Perhaps he knew he had cheated the grandest cheater of them all, mortality. Through his art, W .C. Fields lives today.”
“If I had my life to live over I’d live over a saloon.”
(1) Many conflicting stories about Fields’ childhood surfaced over the years, often sparked by the comedian, himself, in a perverse attempt to confuse the media.
(2) His juggling talents often surfaced briefly in his films, particularly 1934’s The Old Fashioned Way.
(3) Poppy, to which Fields contributed lines, ran for 346 performances from September 3, 1923 to June 24, 1924. Two film adaptations starring Fields resulted: the silent Sally of The Sawdust in 1924 and Poppy in 1936.
(4) Fields’ film output in the early 1930’s included The Man On The Flying Trapeze, (as Ambrose Wolfinger); Tillie & Gus, (co-starring Baby LeRoy which fueled Fields’ fictional hatred of children); Six of A Kind, (co-starring Charlie Ruggles and Burns & Allen); The Old Fashioned Way, (again with Baby LeRoy); It’s A Gift, (as henpecked Harold Bissonette); Dickens’ David Copperfield, (as Wilkins Micawber), and Mississippi, (co-starring Bing Crosby). His hilarious two-reelers, (produced by Mack Sennett and distributed by Paramount), included The Golf Specialist, The Dentist, The Barber Shop, The Pharmacist and The Fatal Glass of Beer.
(5) It is GOld Time Radio’s practice to present programs in their entirety whenever possible. We include the timing of Fields’ appearances for your convenience.
(6) The silly Big Broadcast of 1938 had Fields playing feuding brothers S.B. Bellows and T. Frothingill Bellows. The film’s redeeming quality was its Oscar winning Best Song, Thanks For The Memory, sung by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross.
(7) Co-starring Anne Shirley and John Payne, Unlike the stage and film musical versions, the Lux adaptation of Poppy, co-starring Anne Shirley and John Payne, was without songs.
8) The voice of the supporting actor in the second skit is Walter Tetley, Network Radio’s familiar “brat”.
Copyright © 2019, Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
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