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In January of 1879 William Claude Dukenfield was born. Better known as the great comic W. C. Fields.
Sadly, life for William wasn't a comedy. The oldest of four children born into a poor family, W. C. attended school for a mere four years before needing to work with his father as a vegetable and fruit peddler, to help support the family. The union did not work well between father and son, so after several physical arguments, W.C. left home at the age of eleven. The young boy survived the best he could, living on the streets, stealing food and clothing and spending many a night in jail.
A kind man hired W.C. to deliver ice for three dollars a week at the age of thirteen. He was able to attain a room and save money, spending his spare time perfecting his juggling and shooting pool. The next year Fields went to Plymouth Park, an amusement park in Pennsylvania and applied for a job as a performer. He was hired immediately.
By 1893 Fields had a wonderful act and set his sites on moving forward in the entertainment field and on to Atlantic City. From there W.C. performed for a road company and worked at a circus in New Jersey for a short time. He returned to New York and was hired by the Globe Museum Traveling Company and headed out to the mid-west. Here Fields began receiving notoriety by both audiences and reporters.
By 1893 W.C. Fields was in demand making over one hundred and twenty-five dollars a week with more opportunities than ever as vaudeville grew in popularity. At the age of nineteen he was billed as, "The Distinguished Comedian."
Fearful of being poor again and after being stranded in a city with no funds and beaten and robbed at one point, Fields began the unusual practice of opening a bank account in every city he visited. Later in his career it was reported that Fields held over seven hundred accounts in cities all over the world.
His first foreign tour was began in 1901 where he opened at the Palace in London. After one great performance attended by King Edward VII, Fields was visited backstage by the King and was asked to perform at Buckingham Palace with Sarah Bernhardt being the only other performer invited for this special occasion.
Fields career skyrocketed through appearances with the Ziegfeld Follies in 1915 and made his first movie, "Pool Sharks," that same year. By 1921 W.C. was married to dancer Harriet Hughes and was making well over an unheard of one thousand dollars a week with Ziegfeld. Still fearful of loosing his wealth he banked most of his money.
On September 3, 1923 the musical comedy "Poppy" opened and W.C. Fields fame rose. He would go on to repeat his performance in two motion pictures. Fields went on to make movie after movie, a total of thirty-three films. His most memorable film classics were "Alice in Wonderland", "David Copperfield", "Mississippi" and "The Big Broadcast of 1938."
In the mid-thirties Fields suffered many illnesses. During one of these periods he recorded a short piece for a radio show and discovered a new entertainment medium for his comic genius. Then in the late thirties Fields returned to movie making, this time writing his own scripts. "The Bank Dick and "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break," were pure W.C. Fields.
Fields continued to be plagued by illness and once again was unable to work steadily. In 1944 he had appearances in three films including, "Follow the Boys," where he performed his famous, "pool act."
Of comedy Fields once said, "The funniest thing about comedy is that you never know why people laugh. I know what makes them laugh, but trying to get your hands on the why of it is like trying to pick an eel out of a tub of water."
His health never fully recovered and on Christmas day in 1946, W.C. Fields passed away in Pasadena California.
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