The Old Fashioned Way

I love this movie! Ever since I first saw it as a kid I've counted it among my favorite W.C. Fields comedies, and when I saw it again recently it was just as funny, warm, and entertaining as ever, maybe all the more so with the passage of time. While it may not be the funniest film he ever made, The Old Fashioned Way is perhaps Fields' most autobiographical work, as it recreates the life of the traveling player at the turn of the last century, a life he experienced personally as a vaudeville juggler. (A newspaper indicates that the story takes place in April 1897, which makes the "new-fangled horseless carriage" mentioned at one point very new indeed.) Fields' early years on the road were said to be pretty rough. He and his fellow performers were forever at the mercy of unscrupulous managers, forced to live in crummy lodgings where they ate poorly, in towns where they were generally regarded as no better than tramps and whores by the disapproving townsfolk. It was not unheard of for those unscrupulous managers to abscond with the box office receipts, stranding the actors in hostile territory without a penny. Yet somehow, with the advantage of hindsight, Fields was able to turn these unhappy memories into great comedy, comedy that also serves as something of a history lesson -- albeit a pleasant one -- for viewers interested in the American stage.

Because Fields was in his mid-50s when he made this film he was able to turn the tables, in a sense: instead of reprising his real-life role as a starving young actor he'd graduated by this time to the role of the unscrupulous manager, known here simply as The Great McGonigle. McGonigle leads a ragtag troupe of players who are touring the hinterland in that ever-popular temperance warhorse, "The Drunkard." As our story begins this troupe is fleeing a town one step ahead of the sheriff, and heading for their next engagement in the village of Bellefontaine, where prospects don't look much better. In desperate need of cash, McGonigle is compelled to woo a local wealthy widow who aspires to the stage, the magnificently named Cleopatra Pepperday (played with appropriate magnificence by Jan Duggan), while in the meantime his daughter is wooed by a college boy who also dreams of performing. The boarding house where the troupe stays serves as the locale for two hilarious comic set-pieces, back-to-back: first, McGonigle's lunch is ruined by Mrs. Pepperday's rowdy toddler Albert, who flings food in his face, grabs his nose, and dunks his pocket watch in molasses. And then, as if he hadn't been punished enough already, McGonigle must listen to Mrs. Pepperday's spirited rendition of "The Sea Shell Song."

These two sequences alone are reason enough to make this movie a must-see comedy classic, and, interestingly, in each of them Fields himself plays victimized straight man: first to Baby LeRoy, then to Jan Duggan, whose rendition of the song is a show-stopping triumph. Fields' reactions to both of these characters are priceless, but it's also worth pointing out that in this instance the notoriously paranoid, cantankerous W.C. Fields, who was said to be deeply jealous of other comedians, generously shared the spotlight with not one but two fellow players -- one of whom was a baby! -- and permitted each to temporarily steal the spotlight, to the ultimate benefit of the project.

The movie's finale consists of the troupe's performance of "The Drunkard" plus a sentimental song or two, and, best of all, McGonigle's juggling act. This extended sequence feels like an authentic recreation of just what an evening at a small-town theater of the period would have been like, from the cheap-looking sets and declamatory acting styles to the heavy curtain that hits the stage with a crash after each scene. The juggling routine is a special treat, as it represents the most complete filmed record of Fields' legendary feats of legerdemain. My only complaint is that there are a few too many cut-away shots showing audience members' reactions; I'd have been perfectly happy to watch the whole routine in a couple of uninterrupted takes, with no reaction shots at all. But in any event, the juggling act is wonderful.

According to a recent biography of W.C. Fields by James Curtis The Old Fashioned Way suffered through a troubled gestation process. Just as the film was going into production Fields' original screenplay, entitled "Playing the Sticks," was found to be somewhat jumbled and too brief to sustain a feature-length movie. Apparently the savior of the project was an unheralded screenwriter named Jack Cunningham, then known primarily for his earlier work on Westerns such as The Covered Wagon and a couple of Douglas Fairbanks vehicles. It was Cunningham who reworked and expanded Fields' original script into the seamless story it became, and who chose to interpolate the sequences from "The Drunkard." He also persuaded Fields to dust off his old juggling act for the finale. If this background information is correct, then viewers owe a debt of thanks to Mr. Cunningham for his important contribution to this terrifically entertaining, funny, and nostalgic slice of theatrical Americana.

There is very little that hasn't been said about the great W. C. Fields. "The Old Fashioned Way" would have been prosaic had it starred anyone else other than WCF. Fields was one of the few comic actors in the history of cinema who could produce priceless jocularity out of a boring script. Unlike perhaps 99% of all the other comic actors of his and our time, Fields never had to work very hard for a laugh. His humor was brought about through subtlety. Watch him very closely and you will discover in essence what natural humor is all about: his mutterings; his facial gestures; his body language; the inflection of his voice; his slight of hands. W. C. Fields doesn't just look and act funny-- he IS funny.

I saw "The Old Fashioned Way" about 30 years ago for the first time and, except for the juggling act and Baby Leroy scene, thought it was pretty innocuous. Of course, I was only a teenager back then and actually thought that "Billy Jack" was the greatest dramatic movie of the 20th century. I'm also ashamed to say that I thought Chevy Chase was actually funny. Ugh! As my tastes matured, I began to realize that so many aspects of life are beyond our control, and all one could ever hope to do was to learn not to take life so seriously. That, I believe, is why W. C. Fields' sense of humor is timeless and continues to relate to future generations.

The next time you watch a W. C. Fields movie, look closely and you may find certain aspects of yourself within Fields' character. Why do you think Homer Simpson has lasted so long??? If you take what has been said in this review into consideration, you will cherish this film for years to come. Fix yourself a dry Martini and enjoy the movie.

This is one of the top 2 or 3 movies I recommend when someone wants an introduction to the films of W. C. Fields. Classic wisecracking Fields, interaction with Baby LeRoy (including a well-placed kick), the Fields juggling act, and Fields classic costume as he gets off the train and leads (he thinks) a parade, the oversized, ballooning coat. Hi slines are priceless, his interaction with Jan Dugan as Cleopatra Pepperday, singing a song about gathering shells on the seashore brings tears to my eyes with laughter, Nora Cecil does very, very well as the hatchet-faced boarding room landlord Mrs Wendelschaeffer. Very good look at turn of the century melodrama as they present "The Drunkard" onstage. If you see one full-length W. C. Fields movie as an introduction to this comic genius, make it this one! Recommended highly!

Quintessential W.C. Fields comedy (again, billed as Charles Bogle, he provided the story himself) boasting a pleasant period setting and a plot that revolves around a troupe of traveling players led by The Great McGonigle. The star is given yet another memorable introduction - being signaled by his daughter of the presence of the law, representing their creditors, on his way to the train which is to take them to the next town; here, again, we have a daughter who is willing to forgive her rascally father his every whim and foible.

The film, as such, relies more on atmosphere than the typical Fields 'sketches' and this, perhaps, lends it a charm - and a freshness - that it wouldn't otherwise possess. Among its many notable scenes are: Fields thinking the military reception waiting at the train station is for his troupe's benefit; the dinner sequence with a rampaging, famished troupe and Fields' hilarious encounter with Baby LeRoy (who throws food at him and drops his watch into a jar of molasses) - Fields manages to get even with the child by kicking him when no one's watching!; the rich old lady's cringe-inducing singing audition, with the star reacting accordingly (he's hoping to secure her financial backing for the play the troupe will be presenting in town by promising her a role in it - this is eventually whittled down to a single line, which she's never even called upon to deliver!); Fields falling off the stage during rehearsals, etc.

"The Drunkard" set-piece occupies a good deal of the second half: a hoary melodrama which the troupe performs with gusto - with Fields as the mustachioed and hissable villain of the piece who, at one point, reprises the immortal line from his short THE FATAL GLASS OF BEER (1933) "'T ain't a fit night out for man nor beast". With the closing of each act, the curtain comes crashing down making a loud thumping sound; still, the film is clearly intended as a valentine to the days of vaudeville - and even includes a wonderful juggling routine towards the end that showcases Fields' amazing dexterity (in spite of his advancing age, corpulent physique and propensity for booze).

The final sequence finds The Great McGonigle keeping busy as a medicine showman - having left his daughter behind, so as not to interfere with her happiness alongside a stage-struck boy emanating from a respectable family. Typically, for comedies from this era, romance and songs have been incorporated into the narrative as much as a device by which to counterbalance the star's antics as for purely commercial reasons (since these films were largely intended for family consumption).

There will never be another W.C. Fields in the entertainment world. He was one of a kind, an original, and unique in his style of comedy. He never played sympathetic characters like his peer comedians like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd. In this film, he plays the head of a traveling theater company. They stop in a small town where his daughter falls in love. He often plays father figures to the young women. In order for his show to succeed, he conned a local widow which I thought was wrong in how it ended up. The film is a comedy and sometimes light-hearted. W.C. Fields was a comic genius and one of the great old time performers and movie stars of his day. It's worth watching this film at least once to appreciate his comedic genius.