W. C. FIELDS - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 01/11/1939 - HFSID 290554

W. C. FIELDS
Handwritten letter to his mistress Carlotta Monti, signed as "The Great Man". Monti is not spared Fields' caustic wit: "You say your voice has improved ... Thank Christ you never took up the cornet."
Autograph Letter signed: "The Great Man", 2 pages (integral leaf), 8½x11. No place, 1939 January 11. To "Dear Carlotta". In full: "You say your voice has improved, but if you cannot commercialize on it, it will do you very little good, and cause others who have to listen to it quite a bit of business. Thank Christ you never took up the cornet. I will ask mickey mouse or pals to meet you at the station with station wagon. So look for either upon your arrival. [next 3 sentences written in cramped script in margin.] I will call you up at 8th St. Don't be fretting about your birthday. You know money is very good and I hate to hear anyone mention it. I will be out of town as the painters come in Monday. We will be most anxious to see you and have you tell us about London, Berlin, Paris, Moscow, etc. Carlo-Ta-Carlo-Ta". W.C. Fields (1879-1946) began entertaining as an amusement park juggler at the age of fourteen. He was a vaudeville headliner before he was twenty and toured Europe in 1901, giving a command performance at Buckingham Palace. His Broadway debut in The Ham Tree (1905) was followed by appearances in the Ziegfeld Follies (1915-1921) and in George White's Scandals (1933). Fields starred in Poppy on Broadway (1923) and the next year made his first film, Janice Meredith (1924). Fields' style, verbal rather than visual, and irascible con-man philosophy made him a favorite, especially with the advent of sound, where his raspy voice provided the final touch to his comedy. He starred in movies including My Little Chickadee (1940) and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941). Fields' mistress from 1932 until his death was starlet Carlotta Monti, who often performed under the name of Carlotta Douglas, as shown here. Her tell-all memoir, W. C. Fields and Me, was the basis for the 1976 film. Fields was never divorced from his wife, Harriet "Hattie" Hughes, though they were permanently separated in 1904. Consequently, Monti was passed over in the settlement of Fields' estate. Fields often referred to himself ironically as "The Great Man", and his character is called that in a later film, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941). Multiple mailing folds. Lightly creased and toned. Otherwise, fine condition.