This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/28/2021
The offered pairing are from the professional life and very private life of comedy legend W. C. Fields. The key is from Fields' private dressing room on the studio lot at Universal Pictures, where he signed in 1939 after his renewed popularity from his radio broadcasts with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. His first feature for Universal, You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, carried on the Fields–McCarthy rivalry. In 1940 he made My Little Chickadee, co-starring with Mae West, and then The Bank Dick. The reads "UNIVERSAL PICTURES" on the front and "Dressing Room 6 / W.C. Fields" on the reveres. The metal key fob measures 2 inches in diameter.
The page of the handwritten letter offered with this lot is written to Fields' long-time mistress actress Carlotta Monti, whom he always addressed as "Carlotta Douglas" in his letters. The two had a realtionship during the last 14 years of Field's life. It's a peek into their relationship, as Fields attempts to get Douglas to tone down her personality to be taken more seriously by people she meets. The letter reads "I have explained to you several times that your nervous jumping around not only makes others nervous, but gives them ideas about the way you conduct yourself generally...THINK. Do not act so impetuously. Think before instead of afterwards." He also mentions a gift he sent her with "C. Douglas" engraved on it, perhaps jewelry. The matted display measures 21 1/2 x 15 inches and includes a photo of Fields. Accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Beckett Authentic. The letter measures 8 1/2 x 11 inches and presents with moderate to heavy wear and toning. Excellent condition.