GEORGE WHITE'S SCANDALS BROADWAY CAST - DOCUMENT DOUBLE SIGNED 07/21/1922 CO-SIGNED BY: W. C. FIELDS, GEORGE WHITE - HFSID 295805

GEORGE WHITE'S SCANDALS: W. C. FIELDS and GEORGE WHITE
Fields leaves Flo Ziegfeld to join arch-rival White's show for the 1922 Broadway season.
Document Double Ssigned: "W. C. Fields", "George White" and "W.C.F.", 5 pages, 8½x13, contained in original legal folder. [New York, N. Y.], 1922 July 21. Manager George White hires "artist" W. C. Fields as a comedian in "roles commensurate with [his] standing and reputation" in the play George White's Scandals for the 1922-1923 theatrical season, at a weekly salary of $900. Fields may play in motion pictures, and compose other public presentations, so long as such work does not interfere with his performance under this agreement. Article XV is noteworthy: "This contract is conditional and tentative upon the present negotiations between the Artist and Mr. Lee Shubert for the Artist's personal services for the coming theatrical season, not terminating in a binding agreement; otherwise in full force and effect." Fields has crossed out this portion, initialing it "W. C. F." Fields has also written on an outside panel of the folder: "and shall not go on before 9 o'clock". W. C. FIELDS (1880-1946) had been a starring attraction of the Ziegfeld Follies from 1915 to 1921. In 1922, he left Flo Ziegfeld's show to perform in George White's Scandals, Ziegfeld's main theatrical rival. These shows, featuring skits as well as lavishly produced song and dance numbers, were immensely popular during the "roaring twenties." In addition to performing, Fields was credited as one of the three authors of the book for the show, which featured the music of George Gershwin.After one season with White's company, he would star in the musical comedy Poppy, and then return to Ziegfeld in 1925. After performing in a third musical revue (Earl Carroll's Vanities, 1928) and one more play, he would leave the Great White Way to focus his talents on the movies, for which he is best remembered today. Apparently, he signed this contingent contract while still negotiating with yet another impresario, Lee Shubert, who had fielded another of the then popular extravaganzas, The Greenwich Village Follies, in 1921. (These negotiations failed, allowing Fields to cross out Article XV of the contract offered here.) Producer, director, dancer, actor and author GEORGE WHITE (1890-1968) is chiefly remembered for George White's Scandals, a Broadway review rivaling the Ziegfeld's Follies. This entertainment, sometimes called Music Hall Varieties, ran in yearly editions, with some interruptions, from 1911 to 1939. Several films of the same name combined a thin plot with features from White's shows. In addition to W. C. Fields, White's show featured at various times the Three Stooges, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Ethel Merman, Ann Miller and Rudy Vallée. The Scandals introduced much new American music, including early works by Gershwin. Several horizontal folds, one directly above Fields' signature. Paperclip at upper center holding cover sheets and pages together. Evenly toned. Otherwise, fine condition.