Extraordinary autograph manuscript in various inks, titled and signed at the top, “10,000 People Killed by W. C. Fields,” eleven pages, 8.5 x 11, no date but circa 1922. Fields’s original draft for his brief play ultimately entitled ‘Ten Thousand People Killed: A Musical Revue and Vaudeville Sketch,’ written out by Fields with numerous corrections in his own hand. The sketch follows a family at the dinner table listening to the radio and hearing the report of a tragic earthquake in San Francisco. Fields offers humorous criticism of radio, a technology then in its infancy—the mother complains that it offers “nothing but advertisements, stock market reports, who won the last race.” Near the beginning, she trips over the radio’s cables and remarks, “I don’t know why they call it wireless. They ought to call it ‘nothing but wires.’” In addition to the 11-page autograph manuscript of this vaudeville sketch, is a later typescript draft, five pages, extensively hand-corrected in ink by Fields throughout its entirety, with over 200 words—including entire sentences and paragraphs—in his hand. Two revised, uncorrected typescripts are included as well. All are housed in a gorgeous custom slipcase. In very good condition, with areas of staining the left border of each page (barely affecting any writing). Recently compared
With his juggling act and vaudeville career well established, six years in the Ziegfeld Follies under his belt, and the emerging potential of sound film on the horizon, Fields kept himself exceptionally busy in the early 1920s while he explored his options. Having found that his performances received more laughs when he added commentary, he began developing what would become his trademark mumbling chatter and sarcastic humor, the early stages of which fill this manuscript. From his typical censor-passing profanities—“Oh, pussy willow!”—to an unwholesome portrayal of a baby drinking coffee—“Look how she holds her cup. That’s the proper way to drink coffee”—to his underhanded cut at the “Little Rambles on Prohibition by William Jennings Bryan”—“That guy makes me sick…it’s a great thing for the country”—one can easily hear the legendary comic’s voice in each line of this play. The extensive changes in various colored inks and pens indicate that both the manuscript and typescript were carried with him, read and reread, and edited over time, typical of his writing style. A senior archivist at the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences recently confirmed that this manuscript appears to be the original iteration from which all the typewritten versions were taken. An astonishingly rare and important piece of comic history, this collection shows the tweaks and changes that helped define the Fieldsian wit that endeared him in the hearts of America. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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