By David Cain
Recently, I shared an article that featured films and photos of the famed comedian and movie star W. C. Fields that showed his skills as a juggler, which is the role in which he first found fame in show business. You can click here to read that article. In researching that article, I came across many old articles about Fields from his days as a juggler. Four of them stood out to me, and I want to share them with you here.
The first was published in 1904, fairly early into his juggling career.
The next article was published in 1908.
1908
1908
1908
The third article is from 1917 and discusses his international fame.
Finally, we have an article from 1923 that discusses the beginning of his transition to a talking comedian and actor, rather than a silent comedy juggler. Not too long after this, Fields would leave the juggling behind other than resurrecting his act for a few films later in his career.
David Cain
David Cain is a professional juggler, juggling historian, and the owner of the world's only juggling museum, the Museum of Juggling History. He is a Guinness world record holder and 16 time IJA gold medalist. In addition to his juggling pursuits, David is a successful composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and singer as well as the author of twenty-six books. He and his children live in Middletown, OH (USA).