Witty TLS signed “Bill Fields,” one page, 8 x 10, personal letterhead, January 6, 1943. Letter to Oliver Taylor. In full: “Words fail me in expressing my delight in hearing from you. I enjoyed the picture of the old underslung American with R.G. Knowles. I should have mentioned the pictures of your family first. We can’t lose the war with that group. I envy you having such stalwart, sturdy and good-looking children. With regards to getting them in the moving pictures, I wouldn’t know how to go about it. I have insulted these Eskimos from the property man up to Louis B. Mayer and back again. That’s one of the reasons I’m not working. I have plenty of Scotch, Rye, Bourbon, Champagne, etc. ad libidum and if and when it runs out, I shall quench my thirst with aqua pura. Nothing is going to worry me from now on. My best wishes to you and yours for many happy New Year’s, my old Oakland school chum.” Typed under Field’s signature is “The erstwhile Claude Dukenfield who filched crackers as ‘Vitey, the Play Actor’ in the saloon under Batley’s Hall.” Horizontal fold lightly affecting bottom portion of signature, and a few small spots of toning and soiling, otherwise fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope.
Fields' film career slowed considerably in the 1940s, the result of various illnesses and a burning of bridges that resulted in his exile from the big screen. “I have insulted these Eskimos from the property man up to Louis B. Mayer and back again. That’s one of the reasons I’m not working,” Fields confesses here, before quickly raising the veil to conceal his true feelings: “I have plenty of Scotch, Rye, Bourbon, Champagne...Nothing is going to worry me from now on.” Prophetically, he only had two small roles after this correspondence, in Song Of The Open Road and Sensations of 1945, supplemented by a few radio appearance before his 1946 death. Great content as the great comedian references his fall from Hollywood grace. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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