The Man on the Flying Trapeze: The Life and Times of W. C. Fields - Softcover

Louvish, S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571176100 ISBN 13: 9780571176106

Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc, 1997

Synopsis

Everyone seems to know the story of W. C. Fields, the old curmudgeon of classic film comedy, the hater of children and dogs, who ran away from home at the age of eleven to live in the streets of his home town, Philadelphia; the clown who opened more than 700 bank accounts around the world under a host of incredible names...
The only problem with this familiar tale is that it is completely untrue. This is the first book to relate in detail William Claude Dukenfield's artistic path to the cinema, disentangling the facts from the pack of lies and myths mischievously nurtured by the man himself.
Following meticulous research in a host of archives, including Field's personal scrapbooks, Simon Louvish lovingly traces the origins of Fields's comedy in his self-authored vaudeville sketches, then follows his career from stage to silent screen, revealing the sources of his great talkie routines, and highlighting his later tragic struggle against studio heads, censorship, alcoholism and illness; in the course of which he created some of the greatest gems of screen humour.
Man on the Flying Trapeze is the story of an artist whose greatest creation was himself - a fully achieved, imaginary person, who was to subsume his creator. It is the saga of a performer, which begins when the horseless carriage was still an amazing invention, and ends in the jet age. In the words of the Great Man himself: 'It's a funny old life: man's lucky if he gets out of it alive!'

About this title

About the Author:

Simon Louvish is the author of nine critically acclaimed novels, including The Days of Miracles and Wonders. He teaches film at the London International Film School and writes frequently about the Golden Age of comedy.

Review:

A rapturous, giddy, and irrepressible book. . . . Let us be clear: this is a delight, a marvel of research . . . and a superb argument for the case that William Claude Dukenfield was, and is, the greatest comic the movies have given us. -- David Thomson

At last 'the Great Man' (as Fields called himself, accurately) has a great biography. -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

One of the best movie biographies to come along in quite some time. . . . [A] book to cherish. -- Film Review

[Fields] was his own greatest creation, and in Louvish, this complicated artist has finally found the biographer he deserves. -- Malcolm Jones, Jr., Newsweek

[Man on the Flying Trapeze] nicely regales us with many vaudevillian stories. . . . Louvish does a heroic job. -- Katharine Whittemore, New York Times Book Review

About this edition

• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0571176100
• ISBN 13: 9780571176106
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 574