W. C. Fields from Sound Film and Radio Comedy to Stardom
Becoming a Cultural Icon
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Palgrave Macmillan
Published:21st Jan '19
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
W. C. Fields is known as a virtuoso comedian and legendary iconoclast who gave the gift of laughter to multitudes. As the first author to use the newly-opened Fields Papers at the Academy library, Arthur Frank Wertheim illuminates the comedian’s arduous ascent to stardom during Hollywood's golden age. The book reveals details of Fields’s turbulent private life, from his wife's refusal to divorce, to his estranged son, and to his fleeting relationships with women. Here is a portrait of an aggrieved artist whose emotional anguish found refuge in his poignant comedy about life’s frustrations and the human condition. This third volume in Wertheim's trilogy documents Fields's rise to iconic status during the counterculture 1960s, creating a legacy of his comedy for generations to come.
“A thorough, insightful study not only of Fields’ film comedies, but of the inner turmoil that fueled his genius.” (Kirkus, kirkusreviews.com, December 29, 2019)
ISBN: 9781137473295
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 739g
428 pages
1st ed. 2018