| ALICE FAYE stands on the gangplank of
a pirate ship, a former movie set that she took home to her Beverly Hills
patio, where it served as a poolside dressing room. When her singing talent
surfaced, Faye was switched from Harlowesque blonde roles, and cast in
a series of highly successful musicals for Twentieth Century-Fox. Unfortunately,
she had frequent run-ins with her boss Danyl F. Zanuck, who then hired
Betty Grable to replace her. When Grable surpassed Faye's popularity, Faye
walked out on her contract and retired. |
W.C. FIELDS, who rarely swam, is pictured balancing
on the diving board of the pool at his Encino ranch house. In fact, he
had a general disdain for water, explaining in his cantankerous manner
that "fish fuck in it." At fourteen he worked as a "drowner"
in Atlantic City, swimming out into the ocean, crying for help, so lifeguards
could save him. The commotion would then drum up business for the carnival
troupe he worked for. Fields developed a skill for juggling which put him
on the road to success and allowed him to tour the world. Having performed
in every Ziegfield Follies from 1915 to 1920, Fields then progressed to
silent movies, where he further honed his unique comic style. The misanthropic
character he portrayed in movies was very much a part of his off-screen
persona as well: the unrepentant alcoholic who hated kids and dogs and
suffered miserably at the hands of overbearing wives and mothers-in-law.
He had a mistrust of cops and bankers, the latter leading him to deposit
his substantial earnings into as many as seven hundred small savings accounts
in cities wherever he played so he would always have access to his money. |
