The Legend of Whitey:Â  W. C. FieldsÂ’
Philadelphia Roots (Part 5)
©  by Howard Tyson. Used by permission. Comments
   Fields regularly visited his family in Philadelphia between 1900 and the early "20"s.  His younger brother Leroy
remembered Claude"s trunks piled in the living room when the show came to town.  Although Kate Dukenfield was a
stay-at-home, she took advantage of Claude's free tickets on several occasions, usually attending with her children, or brother
W. C. Felton.  Fields never returned to Philadelphia after July 13, 1925, the date of Kate Dukenfield's funeral, though he wrote
frequently to brother Walter and sister Adele, less often to sister Elsie Mae and kid brother Leroy (1895-1974), who was fifteen
years his junior.   Leroy later became chief arborist for FairmountPark, and lived in a city-owned house at "Rittenhousetown,"
Wissahickon Drive & Wissahickon Ave., Germantown.  Though not always on the best of terms with his "bossy" older brother,
he acknowledged that Claude dutifully sent their mother $10. a week (about $60. in year-2000 dollars) from 1900 until 1925.
    On his first tour in the fall of 1898 young W. C. Dukenfield traveled for three months on the circuit, playing in Albany and
Troy, NY, Pottsville, MahanoyCity, and Altoona, PA and Kent, OH.  "We moved from city to city.  I used to do my act, shift scenes,
perform other useful jobs, and play in a musical comedy as well" The act was a rough affair "I knew (it) was rotten, and I
reckoned I'd surely be found out sooner or later'"
   This initial adventure on the vaudeville circuit was not without its bumps.  Whitey had signed on for $18. per week, but often
did not get paid.  Right before Christmas the manager absconded with the show's receipts in Kent, Ohio, leaving the company
stranded.  18 year old Claude Dukenfield had only $8.  A kindly railroad stationmaster lent him $2. for the $10. fare to New
York City.   When the 19 year old juggler reached New York he ate Christmas dinner at a soup kitchen, then slept in the
railroad station.
   Because of his hard-knock youth and bitter experiences with show-biz crooks, W. C. Fields always drove a hard bargain with
producers, agents, and managers.  When audience attendance increased, he'd demand a raise.  If an impresario offered him
$50.a week, he'd insist on $100.  He was unpredictable in money matters:  alternately cheap and generous, according to no
discernible pattern.
   Even at age 20 Whitey didn't trust banks.  He bought $210. worth of gold pieces in California, which he carried around in a
vest.  One night in San Francisco thieves blackjacked him and stole the vest.  This experience made him rethink his aversion
to banks.  Not wanting to put all his eggs in one basket, he began depositing funds in many different financial institutions, all
over the U.S. and Europe.  In the 1930's he claimed to have had more than 700 bank accounts.  His one-time agent William
Grady believed that Fields opened numerous accounts under false names, in places such as Sydney, Berlin, Capetown,
London, and Paris which he never visited after 1914.  Fields told Gene Fowler that he "lost at least $50,000. in the Berlin
bombing."(Taylor, p. 71)
     After the Kent, Ohio trauma Claude, to his own surprise, became the hit of the show at Miner's Bowery Theater in New
York (Jan., 1899) and received an offer from the Orpheum Circuit. At that time he dropped the Duken and added an "s" to Field,
billing himself as "W. C. Fields, Comic Juggler."
   While on tour with the Orpheum Circuit, Claude fell in love with New York native Harriet Hughes who danced with the "Monte
Carlo Girls."Â  They married in San Francisco on 4/8/00.Â
   The 1902 Philadelphia City Directory records W. C. Fields as "Claude Dukenfield, Actor, 3911 Marshall St."  He and his
brother Walter are placed at their parents' addresses in most city directories from 1902 to 1918 (though Claude did not live there
after September, 1898.)Â  The 1900 U.S. census enumerates the family as follows:Â  James L. Dukenfield, 59, Dealer in
Produce, 3911 Marshall St., Phila., Kate 44, Claude Actor 31 (sic, real age 20), Walter 16, Laborer, Elsie M. 12, Adele C. 10,
Leroy R. 4.  Claude actually did not spend much time at home in 1901 or 1902, as indicated by the touring schedules below.
 Hattie became his assistant in the juggling act until 1904 when their son Claude was born.  Although happy at first, this
marriage did not last.  Hattie wanted him to settle down in one place, but he simply could not.  Long periods on the road in the
company of beautiful chorus girls finally took their toll.  W. C. &  Hattie split up for good in 1907.  He faithfully sent her money
for the rest of his life and she inherited the bulk of his $771,000. estate.  Other women in Fields' life were Ziegfeld girls Grace
George, Bessie Poole, Linelle Blackburn, Fay Adler, and Mexican actress Carlotta Monti.
   The rift between W. C. Fields and his father had healed by 1899.  Fields invited his parents to Europe while performing
there in 1904.  Being a homebody, Kate declined.  James traveled to London in September, 1904 at Claude's expense.  
Although long an exponent of Britannia's virtues, James supposedly left England early in protest against the English policy of
closing pubs at 11  P.M.
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