Line #9 Creator/WCFields


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wc_fields_photo.jpeg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:320:''"On the whole, I'd rather be in UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}}."'' [[note]]Fields, a native of the City of Brotherly Love, once humorously suggested the quoted phrase as an epitaph for himself.[[/note]]]]
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4	->''"Any man who hates dogs and babies can't be all bad."''
5	-->-- '''Leo Rosten''' on W. C. Fields
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7	William Claude Dukenfield, better known as [[StageNames W. C. Fields]] (January 29, 1880 – December 25, 1946), was an American comedian, actor, juggler, and writer, most famous for making a number of classic comedy films during the 1930s and '40s.
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9	Fields was best known for his comic persona as a misanthropic alcoholic who generally disliked dogs, women and children, an image that was somewhat TruthInTelevision. His films have been praised for their inventive jokes and anti-sentimental comedy, which have made him a cult favorite even to this day. Creator/JohnCleese has pointed out how Fields was doing Pythonesque humor long before Creator/MontyPython. ''The Bank Dick'' (1940), in particular, has been VindicatedByHistory as one of the greatest comedy films of all time. He was also known for his memorable radio appearances opposite ventriloquist Creator/EdgarBergen's dummy Charlie [=McCarthy=].
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11	Being the funny comedian he was, Fields is endlessly quotable. (Not all of it is safe for work, though.) His distinctively drawling, nasal voice also makes him a perennial favorite of impressionists.
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13	Fields spent the last two years of his life in a sanitorium, suffering from failing memory and eyesight, a side effect of his alcoholism. He died on Christmas Day of 1946 from a massive gastric hemorrhage. He was 66 years old.
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15	Fields is also present on the album cover of ''Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand'' by Music/TheBeatles.
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18	!!W.C. Fields films on TV Tropes:
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20	* ''Film/SallyOfTheSawdust'' (1925)
21	* ''Film/SosYourOldMan'' (1926)
22	* ''[[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Alice in Wonderland]]'' (1933) -- Fields plays Humpty Dumpty, which was later caricatured in the ''WesternAnimation/SillySymphonies'' short "Mother Goose Goes Hollywood" (1938)
23	* ''Film/ItsAGift'' (1934)
24	* ''Film/{{David Copperfield\|1935}}'' (1935) -- Fields plays Mr. Micawber
25	* ''Film/MyLittleChickadee'' (1940)
26	* ''Film/TheBankDick'' (1940)
27	* ''Film/NeverGiveASuckerAnEvenBreak'' (1941)
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29	----
30	!!Tropes associated with W.C. Fields:
31	* TheAlcoholic: A big part of his comedic persona, and sadly TruthInTelevision. The last six years of his life don't feature very many performances because Fields was too busy drinking himself to death.
32	-->"Whilst traveling through Afghanistan, we lost our corkscrew. Had to live on food and water for several days." [''My Little Chickadee'', 1940]
33	* ButtMonkey: Mostly Fields, though everybody gets his or her comeuppance.
34	* ChildHater: Considering how ill behaved the kids in those movies were, who couldn't but be on his side? This came with a bit of exaggeration from real life however, where he was a doting grandfather and entertained some of his friends' children.
35	%%* ComedicSociopathy: His characters frequently engage in this.
36	* DarkComedy: In ''It's a Gift'', Fields' character has a deaf and blind man visit his store. The customer smashes up everything while Fields desperately tries to tell him to sit down and don't move!
37	* DeathByIrony: Fields died on his least favorite day of the year: Christmas. He seemed cheerful enough, though: a nurse came in to open the curtains, he smiled at her, put a "shh" finger to his lips, and died.
38	* DefiantToTheEnd: In his last days, one of his friends was surprised to discover him reading the Bible, as he'd always had disdain for religion. Fields replied that he was looking for loopholes.
39	** Known for knocking Philadelphia and hating kids, while on his deathbed he allegedly asked his banker "Do I have enough money to buy a bicycle for every child in Philadelphia?" The banker said "Yes, easily!" and Fields said "...well, fuck 'em!"
40	* DisappearedDad: He separated from his wife and the mother of his first child, vaudeville actress Hattie Hughes, in 1907. But they never formally divorced. And also contra to his ChildHater characterization, he sent her a weekly stipend for the rest of his life. He also financially supported a second child he fathered out of wedlock with another vaudeville actress, Bessie Poole, until he turned 19, despite ''officially'' renouncing his paternity.
41	* TheGrinch: He despised Christmas.
42	* ProfaneLastWords: According to his longtime mistress Carlotta Monti, the last thing he said of any length was "Goddamn the whole frigging world and everyone in it but you, Carlotta."
43	* RemovableSteeringWheel: In ''The Bank Dick'', when asked by the thug in the back seat to give him the wheel, Egbert Souse (Fields) matter-of-factly pulled it off the steering column and gave it to him. This sequence paid homage to the Mack Sennett/Keystone Kops and Hal Roach/[[Film/TheLittleRascals Our Gang]] comedies of the 1920s and 1930s. Model T Fords were generally used for these comic chases.
44	* RunningGag: Perhaps the most famous ever: Whenever his character goes outside or inside in ''The Fatal Glass of Beer'', which takes place during a snowstorm in the Canadian far north, he pauses in the door and says with great pathos: "And it ain't a fit night out ... for man nor beast." [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JOfYbhzy0g And EVERY TIME he gets a bucket of snow thrown in his face.]]
45	* SmokingIsCool: In ''The Bank Dick'', after being incorrectly identified as a hero in his small town, Fields entertains some kids with some cigarette tricks. He sends them off, saying "I'll teach you when you're older! Didn't take it up myself 'til I was nine..."
46	%%* TheTrickster
47	%%* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist
48	* VisualInnuendo: A staggering moment in ''The Dentist'' where Fields, as the dentist, is performing a difficult tooth extraction from an attractive woman. He winds up between her knees humping away while trying to extract the tooth, as her high-heeled shoes point at the camera while she loudly moans (with pain). And if that weren't enough, he eventually pulls her out of the chair, and they go staggering around the office with her legs wrapped around his waist. Eventually he pulls the tooth, whereupon the woman slides to the floor in a heap. Even for UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra, that was really pushing it, and the scene was unsurprisingly edited out for later television airings.
49	* VolleyingInsults: Fields revived his career in the late 1930s with his radio feud with Creator/EdgarBergen's Charlie [=McCarthy=] character. [=McCarthy=] mocked Fields' nose and penchant for drinking, while Fields mocked [=McCarthy=]'s status as a wooden dummy.
50	-->'''Fields:''' Isn't it true that your grandfather was a mahogany table?
51	-->'''Charlie:''' You ought to know -- ''your'' grandfather was passed out under him!
52	* WouldHurtAChild: He kicks an infant in ''It's a Gift''.

Context Creator / WCFields