W.C. Fields: His Follies and Fortunes

Garden City NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc.. Very Good+ in Very Good- dj. 1949. First Edition. Hardcover. [a good solid book, some foxing to all edges of the text block but no significant wear; jacket has some visible wear to the upper extremities, a couple of tiny tears along the bottom edge, and a half-inch ragged closed tear at the top rear hinge; there is also some internal discoloration to the jacket, with some visible bleed-through on the flaps (but not the exterior panels)]. (B&W photographs) Taylor's entertaining, myth-making biography of The Great Man, the first to appear after Fields's death on Christmas Day of 1946, and for many years the standard work on the comedian -- and, unfortunately, the source of a some misinformation as well. James Curtis, author of the best biography of Fields to date (published in 2003), explains how Taylor had some significant advantages -- notably the blessing of Gene Fowler, Fields's longtime friend, access to material given to Fowler by Fields himself, and contacts arranged by Fowler with various other Fields associates -- but in the end produced a book that "did much to reinforce the impression that Fields was largely the character he portrayed onscreen. Denied access to his subject's scrapbooks and correspondence [and without the Fields family's cooperation], Taylor also made some horrendous blunders with regard to the historic record. Nevertheless, [the book] was a swift and amusing read by a talented portraitist, and it remained in print, in one form or another, for more than half a century." [Quoted without permission from Curtis's excellent book. Thanks, Jim!] NOTE that this, the trade edition, is about 1/4" taller and 1/8" thicker than the book club edition. .