On Monday evenings during June, Turner Classics will be showing W.C. Fields movies - features and shorts.
Tonights schedule: “Alice in Wonderland”, “Million Dollar Legs”, “The Barber Shop”, and “The Golf Specialist.”
Classic comedian, W.C. Fields. Wish I could see some of his stuff here. sigh One day …
Thanks for the heads up. I’d love to see “Million Dollar Legs” again.
Well hello, my little chickadee.
Was it “Never Give a Sucker an Even Break” that has that charming enactment of “The Drunkard?” I love how it is played for laughs, but is also a fairly realistic representation of Victorian theater.
Have you seen any of his silents, especially his juggling shorts? The man was the GREATEST cigar box juggler I have ever seen, and I watched Ed Sullivan every week.
Good catch, kawliga—here’s the TCM schedule, for the five or six people in the U.S. that have access to TCM (what IS it with them?).
http://www.turnerclassicmovies.com/Schedule/Print_Month/1,4916,6-2001|0,00.html
I’m especially looking forward to:
• Million Dollar Legs (1932). One of the funniest films ever, especially Lyda Roberti’s evil parody of Garbo’s Mata Hari (she plays Mata Machree, The Woman No Man Can Resist).
• Six of a Kind—Burns and Allen at their best.
• The Old Fashioned Way. Haven’t seen that one for 20-some years. Drop, this is the movie you’re thinking of—Fields runs a mellerdrammer troupe.
• If I Had a Million—Fields and Alison Skipworth on the road! Grab it.
Dammit, don’t know why that link got screwed up, lemme try again:
http://www.turnerclassicmovies.com/Schedule/Print_Month/1,4916,6-2001|0,00.html
THANK you, mblackwell (am I going to be on your best-dressed list this year?). Don’t know WHY I couldn’t get that link to work.
Allow me to scream in praise of “Million Dollar Legs” again—it’s the story of Klopstokia, where everyone is an Olympic athlete, all the men are named George and all the women are named Angela. W.C. Fields is the President, and Lyda Roberti the resident vamp (Ben Turpin also plays a cross-eyed spy). WONDFERFUL film, I can watch it endlessly and still fall out of my chair.
I shall be perched 1/2-inch from the screen during “The Old Fashioned Way,” trying to spot “Biograph Girl” Florence Lawrence, who was an extra in that film . . .
It isn’t a fit night out for man nor beast!
Excuse me while I go outside and milk the elk.
No, I don’t know any man named LaFong, Karl LaFong.
Pardon me while I go and emerse myself in yonder Roman tub, I feel a bit gritty after the affairs of the day.
Beanbags, eh? Yes, I was at the world championships in Paris - it was a very bloody affiar, many people were killed.
So I took my knife and cut a path through this wall of human flesh! How was the goat? Oh, very good with mustard.
Og Oggleby, eh? It sounds like a bubble in the bathtub.
And his greatest advice: I never drink water, fish fuck in it.
Can’t wait to see “Alice In Wonderland”—getta load o’ this cast!!
I respect Eve’s opinions on classic films, so I’m going to have to see Million Dollar Legs.
But I have to go on record as saying --blasphemy! – I don’t much care for the great William Claude Dunkenfield. He does nothing for me. I’m a great lover of classic flicks. I adore Chaplin and Keaton and a lot of neglected and forgotten comedy stars. But I’ve never liked W.C. all that much.
I’ve always been interested in Fields not just as an actor, but as a juggler. He was one of the great jugglers of his time, and did some pretty amazing stuff.
Check out his juggling scene in “The Old Fashioned Way” to see what I mean.
Well, Cal, I will admit that I only like GOOD Fields films, and many of his films sucked.“Million-Dollar Legs” has neough other great performers (Jack Oakie, Hugh Herbert, my idol Lyda Roberti) so even if you don’t like HIM, you should enjoy it.
I find “My Little Chickadee” disappointing . . . With W.C. Fields and Mae West, it shoulda been better . . . Maybe had it been filmed pre-Code.
…Will Hays would have gotten a mandate to close Hollywood down completely. But the movie would have been great!