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W. C. Fields
Grady says that even in the Follies, with its opportunities for rapid turnover, Fields stuck pretty much to one girl at a time. "Bill changed women every seven years, as some people get rid of the itch," he says. During one seven-year period the comedian lived with Bessie Poole, a Ziegfeld girl. He was supposed to have had a son by her, and to have cared for the son later through weekly payments to Miss Poole. After Fields' death, a Los Angeles attorney appeared in court there with "assurances," according to the Los Angeles Times, "that the late W. C. Fields, the film comic, left a heretofore undisclosed son who may yet make a claim to the actor's $800,000 estate." Fields and Miss Poole occupied a comfortable apartment for a while in New York and rented a summer place at Onset, Massachusetts, near the home of Victor Moore, of whom they saw a good deal. Friends say that Fields was openhanded with Miss Poole, presenting her, in addition to her sustenance, with many expensive gifts. A relative of Fields believes, however, that the gifts, which included a Flint automobile and diamond jewelry, were handed over with the stipulation that if she died, they should all come bouncing back to the comedian. Miss Poole died several years after their seven-year siege, and the gifts duly bounced back, claims the relative.
An important member of Fields' staff during the Follies years was William Blanche, better known as "Shorty," a dwarf he used as stooge. He originally hired Shorty to plague Ziegfeld, who was a superstitious man and, like sailors, considered people with malformities a menace to good luck. Fields closed a deal with Shorty as soon as he heard about this quirk of the producer's. In the beginning, Blanche was Fields' dresser, but the arrangement proved unsatisfactory. The dwarf was far from bright, and he seldom understood an order. As Fields sat making up for his scenes, Blanche stood by with a vacant expression, handing over things like bathtowels, doilies, pictures, and suitcase straps, none