MARC Record from marc_columbia

LEADER: 03027fam a2200361 a 4500
001 2073639
005 20220615195752.0
008 970605s1997 nyua bq 001 0beng
010 $a 97023731
020 $a0393041271
035 $a(OCoLC)37107125
035 $a(OCoLC)ocm37107125
035 $9AMV9867CU
035 $a(NNC)2073639
035 $a2073639
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dDLC$dOrLoB-B
043 $an-us---
050 00 $aPN2287.F45$bL68 1997
082 00 $a791.43/028/092$aB$221
100 1 $aLouvish, Simon.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85078831
245 10 $aMan on the flying trapeze :$bthe life and times of W.C. Fields /$cSimon Louvish.
250 $a1st American ed.
260 $aNew York :$bW.W. Norton,$c1997.
300 $aix, 564 pages :$billustrations ;$c25 cm
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 537-539) and index.
504 $aFilmography: p. 497-512.
520 1 $a"Louvish has burrowed deep into a wealth of show business archives, including Fields's obsessively maintained and rarely seen theatrical scrapbooks. He lovingly traces the origins of Fields's comedy in his self-authored vaudeville sketches and follows his progress from the stage (where he was renowned as the world's greatest juggler) to the silent screen to the talkies. Not the least of Louvish's accomplishments is his rich resurrection of the vanished show business world of the music halls and Ziegfeld Follies, the wellspring of much of this century's greatest comedy, whether on stage or screen. Fields's Hollywood work of the thirties and forties included such howlingly funny films as It's a Gift, Man on the Flying Trapeze, You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, My Little Chickadee, The Bank Dick, and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, whose very titles - along with such Fields catch phrases as "It ain't a fit night out for man nor beast" - have entered our language. Often scripted by Fields himself under such puckish pseudonyms as Mahatma Kane Jeeves and Otis Criblecoblis, these films featured some of the worst marriages, memorably dysfunctional families, obnoxious pets, and bratty children in all of popular culture - all converging on the hapless figure of Fields himself, the enduring archetype of the American male at bay. (Fields's one non-comic film role that of Micawber in David Copperfield, was equally indelible.) Louvish highlights Fields's tragic struggles in these years against studio heads, censorship, alcoholism, and illness - in the course of which he created some of the greatest gems of film humor."--BOOK JACKET.
600 10 $aFields, W. C.$q(William Claude),$d1880-1946.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79092617
650 0 $aComedians$zUnited States$vBiography.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008101227
650 0 $aMotion picture actors and actresses$zUnited States$vBiography.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008107993
852 00 $bbar$hPN2287.F45$iL68 1997