W. C. FIELDS - CHRISTMAS / HOLIDAY CARD SIGNED CIRCA 1934 - HFSID 290555

W. C. FIELDS
Home-made Christmas card to his mistress, Carlotta Monti, with two candid photos affixed
Christmas Card signed: "Dear Carmen, I wish you a merry Xmas/and a happy New Year and a/good old-fashioned hug./Sincerely/W. C. Fields", 12x9¼ open flat. Two b/w photos of a home in a desert setting, probably Fields', affixed. Ink notes (unknown hand) include date 1934. 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). Nobody contributed more wry quotations (such as "Anyone who hates children and animals can't be all bad.") to American folklore. Fields' mistress from 1932 until his death was starlet Carlotta Monti. 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. "Sincerely" seems an odd salutation to a lover, but Fields was a quirky guy. Edges frayed. Lightly toned and creased. Adhesive residue on face (not effecting signature). Otherwise, fine condition.