W.C. Fields | The Art of Offense | A Docu-Mini

um um yes at the up for just a moment uh was i in here last night and did i spend a 20 bill yeah oh boy what a load that is off my mind i thought i'd lost it one of my favorite aspects of having this channel is being able to introduce movies and entertainers to those who might be unfamiliar with them wc fields is one of those entertainers that i feel more people should know about particularly within my own generation while you may recognize his face or at least have heard someone imitate his trademark speech he will travel as one person did you get a party rate of 10. i assure you there's much more to his work than meets the eye on top of being a fantastic physical comic in the same league as keaton and chapman [Music] he was also an incredible verbal comedian who crafted very witty dialogue and expertly delivered verbal humor teacher when you grow up i never smoked a cigarette when i was nine he also continually pushed the sensors in telling jokes that were considered pretty risque for the time i i am the contest to beauty uh the countest of the the contest to put it oh quite so quite so to those of you who are familiar with him i'm sure you can attest to the caliber of his work and to those who aren't sit back and allow me the great pleasure of introducing you to wc fields well from the little acorn grew the mighty oak william claude dukenfield was born just outside of my hometown of philadelphia pennsylvania in 1880 there he spent much of his youth fending for himself on the streets of downtown philadelphia while honing the wit that would become his trademark someday by age 17 he had become known as a local celebrity for his juggling act a talent he would continue to grow in later showcasing this amazing skill in his movies in the early 1900s he shortened his name to wc fields and began touring the country where he was praised as being the world's best juggler in his early career field spent most of his time on the stage on broadway and touring the vaudeville circuit he became an acclaimed actor on broadway headlining acclaimed musical comedies such as poppy his stage character was often costumed with a comically large top hat and a cane fixtures that he is still identified with to this day even though fields enjoyed working on the stage by 1915 he can no longer resist the tempting calls from film studios teaming with comedy legend max sennett fields produced four short subject sound films for paramount pictures the critical acclaim that followed on this new chapter of his career would continue to open new doors for him although he appeared as bit parts in feature films for paramount by 1934 they were confident to give him free reign on his own features mr mcgonagall you sit here please don't call me mister it's so formal call me mark anthony mark for short oh monkey you pierce my heart now brother not too fast my ma'am and don't drown me yes ma'am in the sound feature films that he starred in fields often played a down on his luck patriarch always looking for a way to make it big in life sometimes his characters were scheming con men but more often than not they were carrying family men underneath it all these characters were typically uncharacteristic of film leads at that time fields could be crass and sometimes juvenile in his humor i'm a married man with a grown daughter 18 years of age oh i'd like to meet her i'm very fond of children girl children round 18 20. what did i say love uh yes yes every word of it i never knew such an ungrateful father listen you've all got to realize one thing that i am the master of this household some of the best scenes involved him clashing with his wife and most frequently a bratty child it'll make me love the little nipple all the more [Laughter] [Music] these scenes of fields versus a small child were the first of their kind in comedy there's a brat a brat a p-r-a-t fret [Music] but through all the bickering he always proved himself to be a caring father at the end of the day [Music] in his films he also sought to shamelessly offend high society with his crude behavior wait a minute i want to show you my private art collection okay abigail not bad eh get the knee action and fondness for the alcoholic beverage some fresh water what a towel thank you never liked to be in the same water twice drinking became not only synonymous with his characters but also as a way for him to script jokes what are you doing in the bathroom um my teeth there even though he used this new medium to tell verbal jokes he never stopped being an incredible physical comic as well i tell you how we just open them in the army [Music] that's always thinking of the navy fields also threw himself into his own films even scripting most of them in 1939 he was actually offered the role of the wizard in mgm's the wizard of oz which he turned down to concentrate more on his films even though he scripted many of his own films he would use a pseudonym in the credits like in his acclaimed 1940 film the bank dick which he is credited as mahatma kanji's a play on an old expression asking a butler for a hat and a cane goodbye thanks thank you he even used his character names as a way to craft jokes as well [Music] the nine films he headlined from 1934 to 1941 are not only the best of his career but also just some of the greatest comedy films from that era not only have some of these movies been preserved by congress they've also continually been included in some of the greatest comedy films of all time lists much of your time when you're such a great artist oh it means so much to me marky lucky if you're looking for a good place to start with his work i highly recommend it's a gift a fill in which fields play sam bisbee a grocery store owner who takes his family on a cross-country road trip in the film that could be considered the national lampoon's vacation of its time oh look what you've done she ran right in front of the car by 1941 just as film studios were tiring of his crude behavior and need to push the boundaries of censorship fields was also tiring of losing control over his movies his last starring role would come in the acclaimed surreal comedy never give a sucker an even break in which he plays an exaggerated version of himself dealing with the ineptitude of a major hollywood studio which would end his relationship with universal studios although he hoped to make films his own way it was hard for him to secure the financial backing to do so especially when he had mocked most of hollywood in his earlier work [Music] field spent the rest of his career acting small parts in ensemble films he would sadly die just five years later at age 66. looking back on his film work while most of it is considered pg by today's standards his movies never stop trying to push the boundaries of what types of humor should be allowed in movies usually at the expense of his own career he'd never stop ruffling the feathers of those in charge while equally offending just about everyone in the process don't you dare strike that child you put that down put it down put it out for that in my opinion he deserves all the exposure he can get if you're a fan of his work watch a movie in his honor or show one to a friend sometime if you're unfamiliar with him i hope this video has inspired you to check out more of his work if you get up around the grampian hills you must come up and see me sometime you

Channel: Hats Off Entertainment

Views: 1,158,617

Keywords: joe ramoni, hats off entertainment, hats off youtube, almost cult classics, forgotten failures, docu-mini, documini, video essay, movie essay, tribute video, comedy documentary, documentary short, mini doc, documentary, wc fields, its a gift, the bank dick, movie comedian

Id: bXA9b_RroaI

Length: 10min 54sec (654 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 20 2020