Profiles in Toxic Masculinity, Part 17 – W.C. Fields

Appearances Can Be Deceiving

Fell in love with a beautiful blonde once. Drove me to drink. And I never had the decency to thank her.

Fellow on the right looks like a respectable young man from, oh, the early twentieth century, yes?  A charming fellow, well dressed, well turned out, with an amiable smile on his face.  But the truth about this young man and who he turned out to be is something else entirely.  This is William Claude Dukenfield, better known as W.C. Fields, a juggler, Ziegfeld Follies performer, cynical comedian, movie star, probably a high-functioning alcoholic and the subject for our latest Profile in Toxic Masculinity.  The italicized bits initiating each section here are quotes from the man himself.

His Maculate Origin

I spent half my money on gambling, alcohol and wild women. The other half I wasted.

Fields was born on January 29, 1880, to James Lydon Dukenfield, a Civil War veteran, English immigrant and apparently short-tempered prick, and Kate Spangler Felton.  There is little information about Fields’ parents other than that his father was listed in the 1876 Philadelphia City Directory as a “clerk” which could encompass several occupations.

While Fields liked to portray himself later in life as having had a youth that could have been written by Charles Dickens at his most pessimistic, by all accounts his relationship with his family was good.  While he argued regularly with his father and ran away from home several times, he always returned and later supported his family.  Fields encouraged his siblings to learn to read and write, and later helped his father financially, allowing the elder Fields to retire.  William Claude was ill-educated, as he did not proceed past elementary school.  But he had talent and drive, and that was to serve him well in life.  His first step into what would be his lifelong career involved teaching himself to juggle.

His Adventurous Career

Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite, and furthermore, always carry a small snake.

In 1898, William Claude entered the world of vaudeville as a “tramp” juggler, using the name W.C. Fields for the first time.  He initially did not speak on stage, until he had trained himself out of a childhood problem with stuttering.  By the early 1900s Fields was touring in North America, Europe, Australia and South Africa.  He quickly learned to spice up his juggling act with sarcastic comments, which would become one of his trademarks.  In 1913 he toured with Sarah Bernhardt and performed (among other venues) for King George V and Queen Mary.  Sarah Bernhardt reportedly described Fields as “an artiste who could not fail to please the best class of audience.”

From 1915 to 1922, Fields was a regular performer in the Ziegfeld Follies, where he also developed his billiards sketch, which would later be reproduced in several movies.  During that time he also established the persona that he would carry though his career:   The gravelly-voiced, hard-drinking, cigar-chomping, sarcastic, misanthropic, slightly shady character, always looking for the main chance but rarely finding it.

Also in 1915, Fields made his first film appearances, starring that year in two silent films, Pool Sharks and His Lordship’s Dilemma.  However, Fields remained a bit player even after signing with Paramount, until the 1933 “talkie” film International House propelled him into stardom.  The rest, as we say, is history.

His impressive filmography follows:

  • September 19, 1915       Pool Sharks
  • October 3, 1915               His Lordship’s Dilemma
  • October 27, 1924            Janice Meredith
  • August 2, 1925                 Sally of the Sawdust
  • October 7, 1925               That Royle Girl
  • May 24, 1926                    It’s the Old Army Game
  • October 26, 1926            So’s Your Old Man
  • January 31, 1927             The Potters
  • August 20, 1927               Running Wild
  • October 17, 1927            Two Flaming Youths
  • March 3, 1928                  Tillie’s Punctured Romance
  • May 7, 1928                      Fools for Luck
  • August 22, 1930               The Golf Specialist
  • October 26, 1931            Her Majesty, Love
  • July 8, 1932                        Million Dollar Legs
  • October 2, 1932               If I Had a Million
  • October 9, 1932               The Dentist
  • March 3, 1933                  The Fatal Glass of Beer
  • April 21, 1933                   The Pharmacist
  • June 2, 1933                      International House
  • June 24, 1933                   Hip Action
  • July 28, 1933                     The Barber Shop
  • September 8, 1933         Hollywood on Parade No. B-2
  • October 13, 1933            Tillie and Gus
  • October 22, 1933            Alice in Wonderland
  • February 9, 1934             Six of a Kind
  • April 6, 1934                      You’re Telling Me!
  • April 27, 1934                   Hollywood on Parade No. B-10
  • July 13, 1934                     The Old Fashioned Way
  • October 19, 1934            Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
  • November 30, 1934       It’s a Gift
  • October 13, 1935            David Copperfield
  • March 22, 1935                Mississippi
  • July 26, 1935                     Man on the Flying Trapeze
  • June 19, 1936                   Poppy
  • February 18, 1938           The Big Broadcast of 1938
  • February 17, 1939           You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man
  • February 9, 1940             My Little Chickadee
  • November 29, 1940       The Bank Dick
  • October 10, 1941            Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
  • October 30, 1942            Tales of Manhattan
  • May 5, 1944                      Follow the Boys
  • June 21, 1944                   Song of the Open Road
  • June 30, 1944                    Sensations of 1945.

Interestingly, throughout his early career Fields was teetotal, although he often kept a bottle of whiskey in his dressing room for guests.  But during his time in the Ziegfeld Follies he began drinking, which habit increased after his portrayal of the beer-swilling Professor Henry R. Quail in International House.  In 1941’s Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, his character “The Great Man” confessed “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.”

Fields played this role to the hilt, to the point where he was rarely sober during filming.  While filming Tales of Manhattan in 1942, co-star Phil Silvers said of Fields, “One day the producers appeared on the set to plead with Fields: ‘Please don’t drink while we’re shooting—we’re way behind schedule’… Fields merely raised an eyebrow. ‘Gentlemen, this is only lemonade. For a little acid condition afflicting me.’ He leaned on me. ‘Would you be kind enough to taste this, sir?’ I took a careful sip—pure gin. I have always been a friend of the drinking man; I respect him for his courage to withdraw from the world of the thinking man. I answered the producers a little scornfully, ‘It’s lemonade.’ My reward? The scene was snipped out of the picture.”

But while his drinking was real and badly affected his health from the late Thirties onward, limiting his performance after about 1936, his fabled misanthropy and dislike for children and dogs was not.  Fields was known to have kept dogs from time to time, and his David Copperfield co-star Freddie Bartholomew later stated that Fields was very attentive to his young co-star, describing him as “grandfatherly” and always attentive to the boy actor’s personal well-being while on the set.  Fields was also devoted to his grandson, Bill Fields III.

Throughout all this Fields married once, to a chorus girl named Harriet Hughes, which marriage lasted from 1900 to 1907, as Harriet wanted Fields to give up touring, which he was unwilling to do.  They had a son, William Claude Fields Junior, in 1904.

Fields also carried on several affairs, including one from 1916 until 1926 with fellow Ziegfeld performer Bessie Poole; during this time Poole had a son, William Rexford Fields Morris, but Poole denied repeatedly that Fields was the boy’s father, although Fields did support the boy financially.

The last affair Fields had was with Carlotta Monti, with whom Fields took up a relationship in 1933, which lasted until Fields’ death in 1946.

His One-Man War

Always smile first thing in the morning. Might as well get it over with.

Throughout his career, Fields fiercely protected what he considered to be his trademark acts.  He referred derisively to people he saw as encroaching on his performances as “Nibblers” and often threatened legal action against them.  In 1919 Fields took out an ad in Variety:

Notice to Nibblers

Some indiscreet burlesque and picture players have nibbled at bits of my various acts.  I am therefore compelled to notify them, that all my acts (and business therein) are protected by United States and international copyright.

I intend to vigorously prosecute all offenders in the future and have so instructed my attorneys.

W.C. Fields.

Fields registered his sketches and comedy scripts with the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress.  Following this, other performers began to do likewise.

It is unclear, however, whether Fields pursued any legal action against a “nibbler.”

His Golden Years

Never give a sucker an even break.

Fields last appeared on Edger Bergan’s radio show in March of 1946.  Later that year he recorded an album, which included his pieces The Temperance Lecture and The Day I Drank A Glass of Water.  Complications of his intemperance, meanwhile, were taking an ever-increasing toll on his health.  He spent his last 22 months in the Las Encinas Sanitorium in Pasadena, where his mistress Carlotta Monti would use a garden hose to spray water on the roof of Fields’ room, noting that his favorite sound was falling rain.

On Christmas Day of 1946, Fields smiled and winked at a nurse, put his finger to his lips, and died.  There’s an old saw about the text on Fields’ gravestone, which is reputed to read “On the whole, I’d rather be in Philadelphia.”  This is unfortunately false; his marker in the Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, California, contains only his name and years of birth and death.

Thus ended the career of one of America’s great entertainment icons.  His image is still found everywhere today; even now, in the internet era, he is a popular subject for memes.  Few American entertainers can claim to have achieved the immortality of William Claude Dukenfield, aka “Bill” Fields, aka W.C. Fields.