W. C. Fields : his follies and fortunes (1949)

W. C. Fields done in no spirit of meanness or contempt but was actually a form of reverence. "I was merely acknowledging their breeding," he said. "You don't think I would have stolen chickens in the Balkans, do you?" he sometimes added in an injured tone. Distinctions were often very fine with Fields ; his friends had to hop nimbly to avoid insulting him. Upon occasion he took note of the English in other, milder ways. In London, during one of his performances, Edward VII sat in a box. Having been forewarned of the King's coming, Fields, with the help of the stage manager, expanded his act slightly. Three different times in the course of his routines, the tramp juggler looked up at the royal box, seemed to recognize an old friend in the King, and started toward him with hand outstretched. As the audience howled, the curtain rang down each time just before Fields reached the box. In later years, relating this incident, he would say, "I can still see the King smiling." As Fields was leaving the theater that evening, the manager, much agitated, approached him and said, "Mr. Fields, a gentleman outside wishes to greet you." It was Edward VII, accompanied by a retinue of friends. "I want to thank you and congratulate you on creating so much merriment at my expense," said the King, and, with a genial smile, he wrung Fields' hand. "In my opinion, that Edward was a majestic man," Fields always said afterward, and he meant it. King Edward was genuinely impressed by Fields' work and went to see him several times. Once, after an especially droll performance, the King invited, or commanded, him to appear at a garden party the following Saturday at the Palace. "King's having a party here at the Palace," said Fields, reading the note to his associates. "He means Buckingham Palace, you silly fellow," said a cockney acrobat, and Fields began to make his plans. He was toying with the idea of borrowing an imposing uniform from some 92