W. C. Fields

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Lore & Background

Fields was born William Claude Dukenfield in Darby, Pennsylvania, the oldest child of a working-class family. His father, James Lydon Dukenfield (1841–1913), was from an English family that emigrated from Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, in 1854 and served in Company M of the 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment in the American Civil War. Fields's mother was Kate Spangler Felton (1854–1925). Claude Dukenfield had a volatile relationship with his short-tempered father and ran away from home repeatedly, beginning at age nine. His education did not progress beyond grade school. At age 12 he worked with his father selling produce until a fight caused him to run away again. In 1893 he worked briefly at Strawbridge and Clothier department store and in an oyster house. He discovered a facility for juggling and, after witnessing a performance at a local theater, dedicated substantial time to perfecting it. At age 17, he was living with his family and performing a juggling act at church and theater shows. In 1904 Fields visited his father in England while performing there and enabled him to retire, purchasing him a summer home. Inspired by the success of the 'Original Tramp Juggler' James Edward Harrigan, Fields entered vaudeville as a genteel 'tramp juggler' in 1898 using the name W. C. Fields. To conceal a stutter, he did not speak onstage. In 1900 he changed his costume and began touring as 'The Eccentric Juggler'. He joined the Irwin Bros. Burlesquers under Fred Irwin; an August 1899 quote from the Cincinnati Enquirer contains the earliest known mention of 'W. C. Fields' as an entertainer. The Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette noted, 'W. C. Fields, the tramp juggler, being the drawing card.' Fields left the Irwin ensemble in May 1900 and embarked on a solo career as a vaudeville headliner. He toured Australia and South Africa in 1903. For English-speaking audiences, he added muttered patter and sarcastic asides; according to W. Buchanan-Taylor, Fields would 'reprimand a particular ball which had not come to his hand accurately' and 'mutter weird and unintelligible expletives to his cigar when it missed his mouth'. Fields made his Broadway debut in 1905 in The Ham Tree, which required him to deliver lines of dialogue for the first time. In 1913 he performed on a bill with Sarah Bernhardt, who regarded Fields as 'an artiste [who] could not fail to please the best class of audience'. Beginning in 1915, he appeared in Florenz Ziegfeld's Ziegfeld Follies, delighting audiences with a wild billiards skit. He starred in the Follies from 1916 to 1922. He starred in the 1923 Broadway musical comedy Poppy, perfecting his persona as a colorful small-time con man. In 1928 he appeared in The Earl Carroll Vanities. His stage costume from 1915 onward featured a top hat, cut-away coat and collar, and a cane. Fields became highly protective of his intellectual properties, registering sketches with the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress. In 1919 he placed a warning in the June 13 issue of Variety addressed to 'Nibblers' and 'indiscreet burlesque and picture players', stating all his acts were protected by copyright. He copyrighted his stage sketch 'An Episode at the Dentist's' three times (January 1919, July and August 1928) and his 1928 sketch 'Stolen Bonds'.

Reader's Guide

W. C. Fields's significance lies in his transition from a silent vaudeville juggler to a major comedic figure on Broadway and in film. His trademarks—physical comedy, raspy drawl, large nose, and grandiloquent vocabulary—defined a persona that was generally identified with Fields himself, maintained by the publicity departments at Paramount and Universal and reinforced 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 was shown that Fields was married (and subsequently estranged from his wife), financially supported their son and loved his grandchildren. His juggling act is reproduced in some of his films, notably in the 1934 comedy The Old Fashioned Way. His pool game from the Ziegfeld Follies is reproduced in part in Six of a Kind (1934). Fields's first biographer Robert Lewis Taylor described dishonest managers who victimized Fields in his teens, hardening him and making him more cautious, vigilant, and cynical about show-business people. Fields's copyrighting of his material and his 1919 warning in Variety against 'Nibblers' highlight his efforts to protect his intellectual property.

Did You Know?

• Fields's earliest known mention as an entertainer is from an August 1899 Cincinnati Enquirer article, where the 19-year-old juggler was listed fifth among eight acts on Fred Irwin's bill.
• In 1913, Fields performed on a bill with Sarah Bernhardt, who called him 'an artiste [who] could not fail to please the best class of audience'.
• Fields copyrighted his stage sketch 'An Episode at the Dentist's' three times: in January 1919 and twice in 1928 (July and August).
• In 1904, Fields enabled his father to retire and purchased him a summer home after visiting him in England.
• Fields placed a prominent warning in the June 13, 1919 issue of Variety, occupying nearly half a page, addressed to 'Nibblers' who copied his acts.