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

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR F XlEL .ields liked houses. He was forever telling real estate men he was "in the market for something good," with the result that they rode him all over southern California for years, showing him places. The comedian never bought a house, never had any intention of buying one, but he loved to look. The places he rented were all elaborate and expensive; Fields had a horror of cramped quarters, dating from the time when he lived in caves and barrels, and he left any neighborhood where an influx of population seemed imminent. His establishment at Toluca Lake, which probably would have been commodious enough for Death Valley Scotty or Peter the Hermit, finally gave him claustrophobia. "It's getting crowded in here," he told his staff, as he prepared to search out another roost. The immediate reason for his discomfort was a rumor that a well-known film singer had bought a lot and was "thinking about" building some three miles from Fields' front gate. Besides this evidence of congestion he was annoyed by gulls. The big birds had a trick of coming in from the ocean and fishing in the lake, now and then harpooning a worthless specimen about three inches long. The comedian resented these incursions bitterly. He never fished himself, as one of his household pointed out to him, but he said he'd be damned if he would provide free delicatessen for 253