W. C. FIELDS - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 11/02/1942 - HFSID 255215

W.C. FIELDS
To the L.A. Police Captain: he wants to be at the station when "the ladies" are interrogated.
TLS: "Bill Fields", 1p, 8½x10¾. Hollywood, Calif., 1942 November 2. To Capt. Russell Smith, Police Station, City Hall, Los Angeles. In full: "Please pardon my remissness in not telling you how much we all enjoyed the shadow box several weeks ago but I have been under the weather and I was under the impression that I had thanked you but our good friend, Bill Keefe, informed me that you hadn't received my letter. I was also under the impression that I thanked you personally the evening we were all down there and considered it such a privilege and an enlightenment. Bill tells me that if we keep our noses clean you will permit us to come down some evening when the ladies are being catecized (sic). We are looking forward to this with gleeful anticipation." Folds (not touching signature). Lightly stained at right edge and margin, else fine. With original typed envelope with "Det. Robbery" written across front in unknown hand and "2015 De Mille Dr./Hollywood. Cal." written on back flap in another hand. Stained at edges, else fine. Fields died four years after this letter. His excessive drinking was the primary cause of his physical ailments. At the time of this letter, his health and drinking stood in the way of his getting steady stage and film work. Red-nosed and gravel-voiced, he was a vaudeville veteran who appeared in every version of the Ziegfeld Follies from 1915 to 1921. On film he started in the silents, later excelling in such classics as David Copperfield (as Micawber), My Little Chickadee (with Mae West) and The Bank Dick. Two items.