W. C. Fields: A Biography

James Curtis's W.C. Fields is the finest biography of the bulb-nosed comedian ever published, allowing the real Fields (1880-1946) to emerge after decades of obfuscation. Fields was always presumed to be the same boozy, child-hating curmudgeon that he played on stage and screen, but Curtis (author of acclaimed biographies of directors Preston Sturges and James Whale) shows us a multidimensional Fields who triumphed in every facet of show business from vaudeville and Broadway to radio and film. A world-class juggler, Fields (born William Claude Dukenfield, in Philadelphia) honed his act for each new venue, evolving out of necessity as silent movies gave way to the advent of sound. As Fields enjoys the luxuries of Hollywood stardom, the pleasure of Curtis's book grows glamorously infectious.

This is also the semi-tragic story of a sickly alcoholic, prevented by Catholic restriction from divorcing his second wife, resulting in decades of estrangement from his only legitimate son. This lends poignancy to Fields that his comedy rarely revealed, but for every episode of bitter resentment, Curtis offers touching evidence of Fields's personal and professional generosity. Domestic passages are most revealing, both melancholy (for Fields, idleness was misery) and hilarious (as when he wages war on aggressive swans near his lakefront estate). Curtis also sets the record straight on Fields's numerous bank accounts, love affairs, and other Fields-related legends. As a biographer's act of compassion, Curtis chooses a perfect (and perfectly devastating) posthumous detail to end this remarkable book, essentially reuniting Fields with the family he never really had. If all comedy is born of pain, Curtis proves that Fields was the consummate comedian. --Jeff Shannon