The W.C. Fields Films by James L. Neibaur

Author:James L. Neibaur
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Published: 2017-04-11T16:00:00+00:00

Fields complained to the studio brass that his entrance was made too late in the film, and that they were trying to kill him in pictures.

At about this time, MGM noticed Fields’ popularity and his chemistry with Alison Skipworth, and wanted to use him in a vehicle opposite Marie Dressler. Fields liked the idea of working with her and at the prestigious studio, especially since he would have star billing and the title role of “Fericke, The Guest Artist.” The script, based on a German novel, would be written by the formidable comedy writers Ben Hecht and Gene Fowler, both of whom were friends of Fields. Paramount head Manny Cohen, concerned that Fields would be a bigger hit in a film by another studio, refused to loan him out for the role. Hecht and Fowler went on to other assignments, while Marie Dressler became seriously ill after filming Dinner at Eight, dying from breast cancer the following year. This ended any possibility of the film being produced. Fields never completely forgave Cohen.

When Fields finally agreed to honor his contract and appear in Six of a Kind, he ad-libbed and insisted on the inclusion, and exclusion, of certain scenes. First, the roulette-wheel sequence between him and Gracie Allen was cut. It was replaced with a scene in which George attempts to buy a sweater, thinking Honest John is the shop’s proprietor. Because Burns excels as a straight man, all the laughs belong to Fields.

Fields then took over the pool game, played it as he had onstage, and replaced Alison Skipworth, who was originally to do the scene with him. Fields had always used William “Shorty” Blanche as his stooge in the Follies as well as in some silents. But after Blanche died in 1931, Fields looked for another sidekick. He eventually settled on Tammany Young, whom he’d known for some years and who had a small part in Sally of the Sawdust. Young was notorious in New York and Los Angeles for being a gate crasher, successfully sneaking into sporting events and private parties, and bragging that he could crash any gathering, no matter how exclusive it may be. It is Young who asks the sheriff how he came to be known as “Honest John.” The sheriff explains while shooting pool. It is here that Fields performs his celebrated pool routine from vaudeville. Naturally, the visuals of such a routine are better seen than described, but Fields handles the pool cue, and bangs around the pool balls, using various dexterous stunts while casually explaining how he earned his distinctive nickname: A man put his glass eye down on a bar, and rather than stealing it, John returned it to him.

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