Man on the Flying TrapezeMan on the Flying Trapeze
the Life and Times of W.C. Fields
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Book, 1997
Current format, Book, 1997, 1st American ed, No Longer Available.Book, 1997
Current format, Book, 1997, 1st American ed, No Longer Available. Offered in 0 more formatsThe first biography in decades (and the only accurate one) of the comic genius behind Larson E. Whipsnade, Egbert Souse, Eustace McGargle, and other immortal examples of the American male at bay. Everyone seems to know the story of W. C. Fields, the curmudgeon of classic film comedy--his Dickensian childhood in Philadelphia, the numerous bank accounts opened around the world under outlandish names, and so on. All entertaining--and all completely untrue. Simon Louvish's meticulously researched and wonderfully entertaining biography is the first one to disentangle the facts from the pack of lies and myths mischievously nurtured by Fields himself. Louvish lovingly traces the origin of Fields's comedy in his self-authored vaudeville sketches and follows his progress from the stage (where he was renowned as the world greatest juggler) to silent screen to the talkies--including such howlingly funny films as The Bank Dick, My Little Chickadee, and You Can't Cheat an Honest Man. He highlights his tragic struggles against studio heads, censorship, alcoholism, and illness--in the course of which he created some of the greatest gems of film humor. Man on the Flying Trapeze is the story of an artist whose finest creation was himself--a fully achieved, imaginary person who finally subsumed his creator, to the immense benefit of us all.
A meticulously researched and wonderfully entertaining biography of a comic genius attempts to disentangle the facts from the pack of myths and lies mischievously nurtured by Field himself.
A biography of the comic genius attempts to disentangle the facts from the pack of myths and lies mischievously nurtured by Fields himself
A meticulously researched and wonderfully entertaining biography of a comic genius attempts to disentangle the facts from the pack of myths and lies mischievously nurtured by Field himself.
A biography of the comic genius attempts to disentangle the facts from the pack of myths and lies mischievously nurtured by Fields himself
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- New York : W.W. Norton & Company, c1997.
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