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W. C. Fields
Chevalier, who was then appearing anonymously and rather contentedly in the chorus.
During his second foreign haul, Fields went from London to South Africa, which at that time was unsettled by the civil strife known as the Boer War. He was in Johannesburg when the trouble reached there, starting with a series of strikes. To a London friend he wrote, "The town is under martial law and we all must be in bed by eight o'clock each evening. The music halls are closed and two companies are lying idle. There is an epidemic of jugglers here. The outbreak includes Valazzi, Frank Le Dent, Silvo, Selma Braatz and myself ! I have suggested an all-juggling bill. The place is full of grim-looking Boers with double-barreled guns and thickly bearded faces. They pass the lonely hours waiting for trouble by vying with each other to look the dirtiest.
"It is now eight o'clock and the quiet is absolutely appalling. Not a soul on the streets except soldiers and policemen with guns slung over their shoulders. They stand about in groups and remain perfectly silent. The railway was guarded by burghers all the way from Cape Town. I am beginning to like Jo'burg, though, and am glad I did not commit felo-de-se on the boat coming out. I enclose you a Post-impressionistic sketch of me by a local artist. I didn't know whether to sue for libel or get him deported."
In a Cape Town saloon Fields met a young American cowhand, Will Rogers, who had shipped there with a herd of range ponies, hoping to sell them to the Boers. He showed Fields a lot of fancy rope tricks and said he wouldn't mind getting into show business himself, when he got rid of his stock. Later, in Durban, Fields again ran across Rogers, who by then had joined a small circus. In the years to come, their paths were to cross many times; they were to co-star in the Follies and appear together on many other bills. Rogers always had the greatest reverence for Fields, and Fields reciprocated the feeling, with his usual periodic reserva
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