W. C. FIELDS - DOCUMENT SIGNED 03/13/1946 CO-SIGNED BY: NORMAN BLACKBURN - HFSID 292087

W. C. FIELDS
Agreement with the J. Walter Thompson advertising firm setting strict rules for Fields' script for a radio broadcast, co-signed by producer and ad executive Norman Blackburn
Document signed: "W. C. Fields", "Norman Blackburn", 1 page, 8¾x14. Hollywood, California, 1946 March 13. Agreement with the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, acting as agent for Standard Brands, Inc., governing Fields' forthcoming appearance on the Chase and Sanborn radio program, March 24, 1946. The agreement stipulates that Fields must adhere strictly to a script approved in advance by the firm and by Fields himself, and that Fields shall not "improvise, extemporize or use unapproved material." It further stipulates that Fields shall be held blameless from any claims for "slander, libel, copyright infringement, etc." arising from the program. Fields is to receive $3,500 for his performance. 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 had been separated since 1904. Consequently, Monti was passed over in the settlement of Fields' estate. You Can't Cheat an Honest Man was released in 1939. Fields' character was actually called "the great man in a 1941 film, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break. Writer, producer and ad executive NORMAN BLACKBURN (1903-1990) worked in the film industry for Hal Roach and Walt Disney, and later became national program director for NBC television, producing the Dinah Shore Show and Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life. When he signed this document, he was Vice President of the Hollywood office of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency. Multiple mailing folds. Filing holes at top edge. Lightly creased. Fine condition.