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

W. C. Fields defeated the disease through the exercise of his extraordinary will power. Fields often overcame illness by ignoring it. Like a horse, he considered himself well if he was on his feet. The European tour was good for Fields; he added self-confidence to an already abundant supply of that quality, he acquired culture in sizable doses, and he saved money, secreting it in such banks as looked trustworthy. On this first foreign tour he averaged $150 a week. His expenses were small; in most countries, the exchange was favorable to Americans, and living was, besides, relatively very cheap. A situation of this kind was attractive to Fields, who believed in taking advantage of whatever windfalls the Lord provided. When he returned to America, flushed with enthusiasm, he promptly took steps to book another tour. He laid out a plan whereby he would share himself in equitable parts with the nations of the world. As the Pittsburgh Gazette reported his program, not long after the turn of the century, "He makes it a condition of all his contracts that he shall play one season in America and two seasons abroad consecutively. Hence he is perhaps the most extensive traveler on the stage." Fields was, in fact, becoming a great international favorite. People who saw his act remembered it in detail years later. Notwithstanding his heartwarming natural receptions, he devised a simple scheme, in this period, to assure himself of ovations. When he entered a new town, he would send out a messenger to round up some boys. These he would employ, at moderate prices, to form a Fields claque. Other performers were often astonished, on a night that found the public generally limp, when the appearance of Fields evoked hosannas. The boys pitched in with such vim that it caught on around the house; people who, for one reason or another on certain occasions, felt disinclined to applaud anything, set up a thunderous roar for Fields, and 102