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

lie had to choose another nationality he would make it Spanish. "They have a fanatical reverence for masters of legerdemain," he said, according to the writer, "and cherish Agoust, Severus and Cinquevalli almost as much as they are supposed to like El Greco." This statement was charitable of Fields, considering his first reception in Madrid. The manager of the theater had billed him after Fields' usual taste in those matters — that is, as "the greatest juggler," "greatest comedian," and several other superlatives, on earth. However, feeling was still pretty high as a result of the Spanish-American War, and the manager received word that an American juggler would be warmly greeted, perhaps with things like old tamales, garlic and Spanish mackerel. His communicant added that Fields would not need a round-trip railroad ticket, as the audience would almost certainly ride him out of town on a rail, in accordance with American custom. The manager got in touch with Fields and altered him, without immigration folderol, into an Englishman. When Fields, sensing an easy social improvement, suggested a title, the manager responded with native Spanish courtesy, and Fields appeared as "Sir Guthbert E. Frothingham, S.B.," the name being the juggler's own creation, together with the initials. Mack Sennett, for whom Fields was to work some years later in Hollywood, tells of a Fields engagement around this period in Hamburg. Before arriving in Germany, Fields said, he had developed an act in which he juggled six balls, a master feat in the juggling business. He was filled with confidence and, at the theater — the old Hippodrome — decided to stand in the wings and watch a few other acts, something he seldom did. His comfortable reverie was interrupted by the act that preceded his. It turned out to be a dwarf who juggled fourteen balls while riding a horse. Fields was outraged; he forsook his pallid six-ball routine and substituted one that featured hats. But he was so angry "7