Here's a little slice of late-period Fields that some fans may not have seen. It's a truncated clip from a 1942 movie called Tales of Manhattan. The movie has an anthology-like structure, being comprised of a collection of segments that each showcase a different then-famous actor. The connecting thread follows a tailcoat as it's passed from owner to owner.
The Fields segment was written, filmed, and even included in the film's preview. However, Fields' segment was so much better received than the others that (allegedly) some of the other actors' agents complained of having their clients overshadowed by the outstanding vaudevillian! So the Fields segment was removed from the picture entirely. Efforts were made to buy it from the studio (Fox) to recast it as a two-reeler, to no success. So the footage remained in Fox's vault for decades.
Not only is the segment a riot in its own right, it demonstrates how brilliant Fields was even at the twilight of his career. By this stage he was done headlining in his own pictures, and apparently was so soused that he needed a couple of men to position him in front of the camera. But once they got out of the way and the cameras were rolling, he'd wake up and transform into an ad-libbing comedy machine.
Marx Brothers fans might see someone they recognize in part two.
So without further adieu:
W.C. Fields in Tales of Manhattan - Part OneW.C. Fields in Tales of Manhattan - Part Two
