W.C. Fields Humorist and Hustler

"What is the chief end of man? To get rich. In what way? Dishonestly if we can, honestly if we must." -Mark Twain

More than any other American entertainer, on stage, in silent films and talkies, W.C. Fields, characterized and personified Twain's tongue-in-cheek observation.

The statement sums-up and satirizes "The Gilded Age", the name Twain gave to the 1880s, "90s and early 1900s, when America's Captains of Industry harnessed the country's rich resources. It was a new game and the aggressive, often ruthless tactics of men like steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, railroad mogul Cornelius Vanderbilt, and oil czar John D. Rockefeller enabled them to accumulate incomprehensible wealth ...and the sobriquet "Robber Barons".

William Claude Dukenfield was born in Philadelphia, in 1880, the son of English immigrants. He grew-up poor on the mean streets of the "City of Brotherly Love" and received little formal education. Instead, he learned to live by his wits, wisdom and hard work.

When he saw his first juggling act as a boy, it changed his life. Determined to learn the trade, he ran away from home at 11 and joined a vaudeville troupe.

Vaudeville was the popular new entertainment industry that emerged with industrialization and the growth of urban centers. A variety show, it threw everything at the audience, including music, singers, jugglers, animal acts, clowns, comedy, magic, and acrobats.

The young man spent every free moment practicing juggling routines. By the time he was in his twenties, he'd adopted the name W.C. Fields and was considered one of the world's greatest jugglers.

During these early years in vaudeville, Fields learned to shoot pool and play poker from some of the best pros and hustlers on the vaudeville circuit. He became a master of both cue and cards. He incorporated these skills into his act, performing a variety of skits using trick shots, sleight-of-hand, manipulation, and deception.

By 1920, radio, silent films, and eventually "talkies", brought an end to vaudeville. Talented performers like W.C. Fields, Buster Keaton, Jack Benny, and the Marx Brothers were among the big vaudeville names that were able to successfully make the transition.

W.C. Fields made his film debut in a 1915 silent short called Pool Sharks. It featured a pool ball juggling routine from his vaudeville show. It launched Fields' career and established his public persona as that of a wisecracking, understated hero or hustler who always knew the score.

Relying on exquisite timing, a rapacious sense of comedy, and highly developed skills learned during his vaudeville years, W.C. Fields became a leading American entertainer. His loveable and larcenous character, surviving in a world of sharpies, struck a sympathetic chord with Great Depression Era audiences. The climax of Fools for Luck, in 1928, is a pool game between Fields and the bad guy with a large wager riding on the outcome.

Our hero wins the game and vanquishes the villain after putting on an amazing display of trick shots all performed without special effects or camera manipulation. Throughout the 1930s and "40s, W.C. Fields films were often vehicles for his loveable but larcenous character. In Mississippi, he's a riverboat captain. A highlight of the film is a hilarious poker playing bit.

In Poppy, Fields manages to deal himself four fours in a Stud game and win a $1000 pot even though he wasn't in the hand! In another film Fields watches a poker game in saloon in a gold rush town. Anxious to enter the action, he announces he'd like to play and proudly puts a one hundred dollar bill on the table. Without even looking up from the game, one of the players says, "Give him a white chip."

Among film classics are several films W.C. Fields made with Mae West. In one film, the sultry, sexy, wise-cracking vamp delivered her most famous line, one that seemed to capture her persona for posterity. As she's approached by an eager young man, she asks, "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?"

In My Little Chickadee (1940), Fields plays cards and Mae West plays the cowboys. She asks him, "Poker, isn't that a game of chance?" To which Fields replies, "No my dear, not the way I play it."

Despite his public image, W.C. Fields wasn't much of a gambler. One biographer says, "He shied away from the relaxing dedication to dice, cards and horses that was favored by many of his successful friends."

Instead, golf and tennis were the comedian's first loves. An excellent athlete, he played well and was known to bet heavy on matches. He belonged to a golf group called the "Divot Diggers" who bet heavily. In one day he won two Lincoln sedans from the same player!

Fields had a number of ploys to protect his interests. He always car- ried a pocketful of change he loudly rattled and was given to coughing fits or slapping at non-existent bees at inappropriate times. One competitor told him, "I'm going to get two caddies, one for me and one to watch you."

A heavy drinker much of his life, Fields eventually developed cirrhosis and kidney failure. Hospitalized, he was visited by a friend who was surprised to find the lifelong atheist reading the Bible. Asked about it, the comedian replied, "I'm checking for loopholes."

On Christmas Day, 1946, America's most beloved gambler died in Pasadena, California. He was 67.