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

W. C. Fields streak of sentiment underlay the blows, kicks and curses. To begin with, he gave the dwarf a much better job than he could have got elsewhere. Blanche traveled in fairly good circumstances with Fields; he lived a stimulating life, giving rise frequently to his unsensitive joke — "Mr. Fields scared me out of a year's growth;" and he was paid a decent salary. Fields docked him, verbally, several times a day, for one infraction or another, but he never actually got around to reducing the cash. Too, as Fields himself afterward pointed out, he came through nobly on the dwarf's one abiding desire. Often, Blanche remarked wistfully that he'd like to have a dress suit. He died while still in the comedian's employ, and Fields bought him a nice tuxedo to be buried in. Fields made and saved a great deal of money in his Follies years. His salary rose from $200 a week to several thousand, in a period when income taxes were negligible. "I believe Bill was putting away at least $1000 a week right along," says Bill Grady. "He would never allow me or anybody else to handle his money a minute longer than was necessary. I used to collect his salary, bring it to him, and say, Tm headed for the bank, Bill. You want me to deposit your check?' He'd make some excuse, acting very furtive and mysterious. He had a pretty good idea that I was going to rob him." Once in a while, in a badgering humor, Grady would ask Fields questions like, "How'd you figure out your savings program, Bill?" or "Can you give me some advice on investments?" Fields would look around uneasily, and perhaps whistle, or pretend to be reading. His behavior about money, to the end of his days, was highly interesting, and paradoxical in the extreme. Though very guarded about his earnings, he sometimes carried tremendous sums on his person. These times, his acutest students believe, coincided with his feeling that his fame was about to collapse. Certainly he suf 178