Becoming a Character Comedian
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- © 2016
Overview
- Authors:
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- Arthur Frank Wertheim 0
- Arthur Frank Wertheim
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Historian, Rancho Palos Verdes, USA
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- Provides the first publication dedicated to exploring Fields's career in the Ziegfeld Follies
- Makes use of rare archival material to paint a comprehensive picture of Field's life and work
- Builds on the success of W. C. Fields from Burlesque and Vaudeville to Broadway: Becoming a Comedian to cast new light on a formative period in Fields's career
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History (PSTPH)
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About this book
This book reveals how Fields became a character comedian while performing in Broadway’s most illustrious revue, the Ziegfeld Follies.
As the first biography to use the recently opened Fields Papers at the Motion Picture Academy, the book explores how Fields years as a Follies entertainer portraying a beleaguered husband and a captivating conman became a landmark turning point in his career, leading to his fame as a masterful film comedian. The book also untangles a web of mysteries about Fields’s turbulent private life, from the heartrending stories about the tragic relationship with his calculating wife who refused to divorce him, to his estranged son controlled by his mother, to the seven-year extra-marital affair with a chorus girl that led to the birth of an unwanted child.
This electrifying saga illuminates a complex dual personality, whirling from tenderness to brusqueness, who endured so much anguish in order to bring the gift of laughter to millions. Although vilified by Ziegfeld and assailed by demons, Fields survived the cutthroat rigors of Broadway show biz to become a legendary American iconoclast and cultural icon.
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Keywords
- twentieth century theatre
- American theatre
- theatre history
- Broadway revues
- vaudeville pantomime
- Florenz Ziegfeld
- physical comedy
- Pool Sharks
- comic satire
- The Family Ford
- Scandals
- Midnight Frolic
- George White
- George Gershwin
Table of contents (16 chapters)
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Front Matter
Pages i-xxii
Download chapter PDF -
1915: A Momentous Year
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Front Matter
Pages 1-1
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Confronting Florenz Ziegfeld
- Arthur Frank Wertheim
Pages 3-20
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Pool Sharks and His Lordship’s Dilemma
- Arthur Frank Wertheim
Pages 21-35
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The Beleaguered Sportsman
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Front Matter
Pages 37-37
Download chapter PDF -
Spoofing Croquet
- Arthur Frank Wertheim
Pages 39-50
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Lampooning Tennis
- Arthur Frank Wertheim
Pages 51-61
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The Frustrated Duffer
- Arthur Frank Wertheim
Pages 63-76
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Entr’actes
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Front Matter
Pages 77-77
Download chapter PDF -
The Three Musketeers
- Arthur Frank Wertheim
Pages 79-91
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Bessie and Hattie
- Arthur Frank Wertheim
Pages 93-103
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Fields’s Well Never Went Dry
- Arthur Frank Wertheim
Pages 105-113
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From the Midnight Frolic to the Front Lines
- Arthur Frank Wertheim
Pages 115-123
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Lampooning the Dysfunctional Family
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Front Matter
Pages 125-125
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The Flivertons
- Arthur Frank Wertheim
Pages 127-137
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The Breakup with Ziegfeld
- Arthur Frank Wertheim
Pages 139-151
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Broadway Stardom
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Front Matter
Pages 153-153
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Oh, What a Scandal!
- Arthur Frank Wertheim
Pages 155-165
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“Confidence Man of the Ages”
- Arthur Frank Wertheim
Pages 167-188
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Two Legendary Iconoclasts Converge
- Arthur Frank Wertheim
Pages 189-202
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Authors and Affiliations
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Historian, Rancho Palos Verdes, USA
Arthur Frank Wertheim
About the author
Arthur Frank Wertheim is the author of W. C. Fields from Burlesque and Vaudeville to Broadway: Becoming a Comedian (2014). The first volume of a three-part series on the comedian’s life and career, it has already been hailed as the definitive biography of a famous American comic iconoclast and cultural icon.
He has also written several books on twentieth-century American culture, including Vaudeville Wars, The New York Little Renaissance, and Radio Comedy. He has co-edited three volumes: The Papers of Will Rogers and edited Will Rogers at the Ziegfeld Follies and American Popular Culture. A former American history professor at the University of Southern California, USA, as well as visiting professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA, his awards range from a Fulbright grant to teach at the University of Indonesia to a fellowship on biography at The Norman Mailer Center, USA.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: W.C. Fields from the Ziegfeld Follies and Broadway Stage to the Screen
Book Subtitle: Becoming a Character Comedian
Authors: Arthur Frank Wertheim
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94986-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-349-94985-4Published: 18 January 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-95695-1Published: 15 July 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-1-349-94986-1Published: 16 January 2017
Series ISSN: 2947-5767
Series E-ISSN: 2947-5775
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXII, 270
Number of Illustrations: 13 b/w illustrations, 1 illustrations in colour
Topics: Theatre History, Film History, American Culture, American Cinema and TV
