W. C. Fields was a man of very humble beginnings, who did quite well for himself. He knew the value of his talent and would not allow the studios to underpay him or to steal his intellectual property. He was quite brilliant. He was in reality a very kind and generous man. Judging from his home, he was also a man with a great sense of style and taste. He also just happened to be the funniest man who ever lived.
This home took my breath away the first time I saw it on this channel. There is not a color, a stone, a doorway that I would change. This home is perfection.
This home appears spacious but not overly large with wasted space. Everything from the floor tile to the beautiful windows is perfect, A truly stunning home.
I had no idea, whatsoever, that WC Fields owned and lived in such a beautifully refined home/estate as shown here. The layout, design, craftsmanship, furnishings, details, and grounds are all simply breathtaking. That all of this 'artistry', from a former era, is so wonderfully preserved, shows true respect for a 'masterpiece'. My 'hat's off' to Mr. Fields and all, over the years, who've had a hand in creating and maintaining this work of art. I'd like to.....'Come up and see it sometime.' (did you get that?)
As an absolute WC Fields fan that gives this house the most incredible provenance. The solarium and indoor/outdoor spaces are fantastic. The view of the Griffith Observatory is awesome.
I've never seen anything like that solarium, and found Victoria's story about WC's 'rain' so interesting. The clouds gave us a nice time-lapse in that space. Thank you for watching @zekelucente9702
There was once a lily pond where a small neighbor child drowned. Fields was so devastated that he had it filled with cement and had the gardener plant hedges so he could no longer see where it had been. He was in Real life a kind man.
That humane aspect of Fields comes through so often in his work. That's why I did not care for Rod Steiger in "W.C. Fields & Me". His portrayal was of a too intense man when behind the scenes, devoid of those qualities. Merely being able to imitate the nasal delivery falls far short of capturing the sparkle of the man.
This seems to refute the idea that he was broke at the end. The story I heard was at the end of his life the reporter asked him why he was broke, what did he do with all his money and he supposedly replied...I spent it on women and booze and I wasted the rest.
It's such a great line whether true or not😉.. We never learn here how many years Fields lived here and which years, so hard to say about being broke... I know he supposedly had dozens of diff bank accounts at various banks cause he was afraid they might close up
And there was the legend that he had his money in numerous different bank accounts all over the world and didn't have anybody managing them. The legend is that he or his heirs lost all that money when no records could be found to identify the accounts.
W.C. Was one of the greats! Just finished watching “it’s a gift” again. We just don’t have comedians like him anymore. I wish we could see everything that was inside the house when WC owned it and it still had the furniture and appliances from that time. I hate seeing old homes with modern furniture and appliances
W. C. Fields is one of my favorites. I love the architecture. But glass solarium is gorgeous. I'd roam the house for days,vif I could. What A Wonderful place.
I think i am right in believing that WC rented this property and never owned it. Truly beautiful estate and a very fitting and classy video. Thank you for uploading👍❤.
I can't imagine that W.C. Fields lived in this beautiful estate! They said that he died broke! Actors did own several properties during that time! I love this place! ❤️❤️❤️
Anthony Quin was married to Cecil B DeMille's daughter. They had a baby a toddler and it got out and wandered into/onto the estate of Fields. Fields had a small fish pond and the baby fell in and drowned. Fields filled in the pond after..Somewhere on that property are the remains of the fish pond remains
Stunning architecture, and what looks like an amazingly comfortable design. I'm not sure about certain details and wonder if it might not be because things have changed over time. I wish I knew where the grand steps up the hill to the front door begin. And where does the main entrance from the street and the walk down the fabulous pergola lead? Also, as you enter the entrance hall we have a left up the steps to an elegant dinning room, and a right to the main living room with views of a patio, the lawn and the pool. But there must be a way to the solarium, the kitchen and stairs that I can't see and don't understand. Would love to see the floor plans of this gem of an estate. various patios and pool and then to the fclear where the steps to the front door begin
Groucho asked Fields once why he had hundreds of cases of whiskey in his attic - this being a dozen years since prohibition was over. Fields just said it might come back 😊
This and I believe it was Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy's Family summer home recently on the market are the most exquisite, casually elegant homes I have ever seen.
Insurance salesman: “Do you know a man by the name of LaFong? Carl LaFong? Capital L,small a,capital F,small o,small n,small g. LaFong. Carl LaFong” W.C. “No,I don’t know Carl LaFong! Capital L,small a,capital F,small o,small n,small g. And if I did know Carl LaFong I wouldn’t admit it!”
I did a lot of impersonations for my mom when I was a kid, so when I was five, she made me do them at school for show-and-tell. One was WC Fields. I seem to recall I went with the "My little chickadee..." line.
Laughlin Park is at most a 15 minute drive to the Studios. These men were working men. They worked at the Studios.. So, they wanted to be close to their work.
This makes me wonder what W.C. Fields was really like. I had heard he didn’t like children…..However that house is one of the most beautiful and tasteful I have ever seen. Who was W.C. Fields? The movie made in the seventies didn’t really tell us much.
The movie made in the 70's starred Rod Steiger? He did a poor job of capturing the sparkling genius of Field's. All Steiger did was mimic Field's way of talking and portray him as a man whose true personality was tense and on the verge of violence.
".Why limit Happy to an Hour?" W.C. Fields. He had a reputation as a drinker. In a biography of Phil Silvers, Mr. Silvers recounts the story of working on a shoot with W.C. Fields when the Director demanded that Silvers take a swig from Fields' water bottle to reassure the Director that it was indeed water that Fields was drinking. Silvers did as he'd been asked and had difficulty for a couple of minutes disguising the fact that he'd swallowed a mouthful of GIN!
ua-cam.com/video/HAen5WFCFcs/v-deo.htmlsi=DReRkkr5hce35UNx This outtake, from the 1934 shows W.C. Fields as The Great McGonigle, a showman extraordinaire. Here we see him doing his amazing juggling, a talent which actually helped him succeed on the Vaudeville circuit, long before he became a motion picture star.
WC Fields is the greatest comedian that ever lived. When my friend lived near here, I was visiting from NY and we tried to see the home but the street was off limits to slobs like us. I think this is the house that had a small pond that Anthony Quinn's young son drowned in. Fields was devastated and had it filled in.
PUBLISHED JUNE 10, 2021 A home that has played host to noted actors and industry elite for over 100 years , the W. C. Fields Estate, has gone on the market for $15 million. - - - from BRITANNICA < > Owing to a preponderance of fabricated studio publicity, as well as Fields’s own penchant for lying about his past, most biographies of Fields are inaccurate. He did not, as has been widely reported, run away from home at age 11 after dropping a heavy wooden box on his father’s head. Rather, he left home at age 18 after many years of practicing his craft as a juggler, and he was a headline star in vaudeville by age 21. He toured the world extensively with his comedy juggling act, playing the world’s most prestigious venues, including the Folies Bergère in Paris. He added verbal humour to his act shortly after joining the Ziegfeld Follies in 1915; he starred in annual Follies productions until 1921 and made occasional return appearances until 1925. Fields became one of Broadway’s top stars when his performance in the musical comedy Poppy (1923) garnered raves from critics. In the play, he established one of his two basic comic personas, that of the grandiose fraud who flouts the conventional virtues of hard work and honesty. In his next play, the less successful The Comic Supplement (1924), he played the second of his oft-repeated types, the beleaguered husband. Fields also dabbled in film acting during his early years, making his screen debut in the short subject Pool Sharks (1915). He starred in several mediocre silent features during the 1920s that demonstrated how crucial sound was to Fields’s screen success. He had given up on a screen career by the end of the decade and was back on stage in 1928 as the star of Earl Carroll’s Vanities, Broadway’s highest-paid performer at a salary of $5,000 per week. - - -
@@BABADOOK726 A Mr Patton own it, he is an oil man I believe and owner of the dodgers team in Los Angeles, but I wouldn't know if anyone currently lives there.
What would one think the price tag is going to be on this home? Must be expensive to maintain, electric, water, etc, grounds, are there some folks who can comment on this....
lol in reality, he was kind to children--Boys would send him letters when he was a world famous juggler, asking his advice on show business, which he always answered
W. C. Fields was a man of very humble beginnings, who did quite well for himself. He knew the value of his talent and would not allow the studios to underpay him or to steal his intellectual property. He was quite brilliant. He was in reality a very kind and generous man. Judging from his home, he was also a man with a great sense of style and taste. He also just happened to be the funniest man who ever lived.
This home took my breath away the first time I saw it on this channel. There is not a color, a stone, a doorway that I would change. This home is perfection.
it's a "house", not a home
@@throughmyeyes9940 tomato tomahto
Old Hollywood. Beautiful
This home appears spacious but not overly large with wasted space. Everything from the floor tile to the beautiful windows is perfect, A truly stunning home.
sold for 10.5 millon almost 2 years ago
You got it. Spacious but no wasted space or overly large rooms. Thanks for watching @conniepharr7426
I’m amazed when other people decide what ‘wasted space’ is in someone else’s home.
I had no idea, whatsoever, that WC Fields owned and lived in such a beautifully refined home/estate as shown here. The layout, design, craftsmanship, furnishings, details, and grounds are all simply breathtaking. That all of this 'artistry', from a former era, is so wonderfully preserved, shows true respect for a 'masterpiece'. My 'hat's off' to Mr. Fields and all, over the years, who've had a hand in creating and maintaining this work of art. I'd like to.....'Come up and see it sometime.' (did you get that?)
Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
@@gnolan4281 Both. 😜
I figured he lived in a 75 cents a night men's hotel with a bunch of alcoholics. The last refuge for the scoundrel.
He also owned and lived in a orange orchard. It’s on YT
Yes, it's pretty remarkable and the owners of the home took exceptional care to preserve it through the years. You don't always see that
It's just beautiful! Graceful and airy and not ostentatious.
Magnificent Home!
You dont see Architecture like that today..
House, not home.
One of the most beautiful celebrity homes I have ever seen.
I agree.
Doris Day's in Carmel is amazing too, overlooking the sea and a golf course. Prime for a knock down but, I hope not.
Agreed
Such a beautiful house and grounds. Elegant and understated. I love how the light comes into the house.
Yes this home gets great light!
As an absolute WC Fields fan that gives this house the most incredible provenance. The solarium and indoor/outdoor spaces are fantastic. The view of the Griffith Observatory is awesome.
I've never seen anything like that solarium, and found Victoria's story about WC's 'rain' so interesting. The clouds gave us a nice time-lapse in that space. Thank you for watching @zekelucente9702
He had impeccible taste. An archetectual masterwork.
Indeed!
I think I have found my dream home. And I love the location!
What a beautiful place,
Very elegant 👌
I’m not ever covetous of wealthy peoples homes of things, but THIS home a property almost did it! Stunning
Same here! I’m thinking: lotto money fall on me now!
Yes this is a special home. Thank you for watching @kathyh4804
@@befilminc the story of his gardener with water hose .... gotta love the simple things
Absolutely fabulous I’d love to see it in person
Great views, great house, glad WC Fields lived so well, and with his pretty young girlfriend, Carlotta Monti
Wow, WC Fields, not heard that name in many years & Yes, estate is gorgeous..
Where you been Norman Stanley Fletcher? Inside doing Porridge?😂
@@jamesparker40 Caught..
There was once a lily pond where a small neighbor child drowned. Fields was so devastated that he had it filled with cement and had the gardener plant hedges so he could no longer see where it had been. He was in Real life a kind man.
That humane aspect of Fields comes through so often in his work. That's why I did not care for Rod Steiger in "W.C. Fields & Me". His portrayal was of a too intense man when behind the scenes, devoid of those qualities. Merely being able to imitate the nasal delivery falls far short of capturing the sparkle of the man.
Anthony Quinn's young daughter, says a commenter below.
@@demef758 I'd read that it was Quinn's son Christopher; grandson of C.B. DeMille.
@@gnolan4281 Yes, it was. 😢
Just today I was thinking about the Carl LaFong sketch with Baby Leroy.@@MothGirl007
W.c. field home is so beautiful. I love it. 🥰
This seems to refute the idea that he was broke at the end. The story I heard was at the end of his life the reporter asked him why he was broke, what did he do with all his money and he supposedly replied...I spent it on women and booze and I wasted the rest.
It's such a great line whether true or not😉.. We never learn here how many years Fields lived here and which years, so hard to say about being broke... I know he supposedly had dozens of diff bank accounts at various banks cause he was afraid they might close up
And there was the legend that he had his money in numerous different bank accounts all over the world and didn't have anybody managing them. The legend is that he or his heirs lost all that money when no records could be found to identify the accounts.
@@kikovazquez7277 Purportedly because as a joke, he opened those accounts under made up aliases
W.C. Was one of the greats! Just finished watching “it’s a gift” again. We just don’t have comedians like him anymore.
I wish we could see everything that was inside the house when WC owned it and it still had the furniture and appliances from that time. I hate seeing old homes with modern furniture and appliances
I think he inspired a lot of great writers. Larry David has a similar style of comedy. I think Homer Simpson is essentially a modern W.C fields
Never discount Buster Keaton. His skill, timing, and understanding of the audience were incomparable.
W. C. Fields is one of my favorites.
I love the architecture.
But glass solarium is gorgeous.
I'd roam the house for days,vif I could.
What A Wonderful place.
Isn't that solarium incredible? Never seen anything quite like it.
Remarkably nice home. One of the nicest I've seen.
I think i am right in believing that WC rented this property and never owned it. Truly beautiful estate and a very fitting and classy video. Thank you for uploading👍❤.
That is correct, he never owned it, yet it still became known as The W.C. Fields Estate.
Thank you for watching @jamesparker40
@@victoriamassengale7489 you know everything about this home! Thank you so much for your trust with this project.
I love videos like this, that are picturesque and even better with no sound.
Beautiful home! That is when Hollywood and America meant something. Not the cesspool we have for BOTH today.
AMEN
A glorious home befitting of a glorious talent . The ambience of the house reminds me of Mr WC Fields himself ....methodical and sedate !
Wish it could be a historical landmark
I can't imagine that W.C. Fields lived in this beautiful estate! They said that he died broke! Actors did own several properties during that time! I love this place! ❤️❤️❤️
Fields rented that house by all accounts.
Amazing.!!!😊
Astonishing house. The man had exquisite taste and style. If you had to live in Hollywood, this would be the spot. Wonder what it sold for?
I saw another video that showed his house, and it wasn't this one, but it was still real nice
Oh, i see, the house I saw was the one he lived in, in the 1930's, and this house he moved into later, 1940 or so
Is the house still available or has it been sold? It’s stunning and incredibly unique. Truly a classic treasure.
I bought it and decided to knock it down. I’m building a little townhouse instead
Anthony Quin was married to Cecil B DeMille's daughter. They had a baby a toddler and it got out and wandered into/onto the estate of Fields. Fields had a small fish pond and the baby fell in and drowned. Fields filled in the pond after..Somewhere on that property are the remains of the fish pond remains
Beautiful Home, stunning.
I love old homes that just have so much beauty especially in hollywood
Glad he made something out of his career, deservedly so. A lot of comics from that time were ripped off by film companies
Like the Three Stooges.
& All the black ones
I've always liked W.C. Fields, i watched his films growing up and now. Funny Funny.
Stunning.
That is a spectacular home.
Stunning architecture, and what looks like an amazingly comfortable design. I'm not sure about certain details and wonder if it might not be because things have changed over time. I wish I knew where the grand steps up the hill to the front door begin. And where does the main entrance from the street and the walk down the fabulous pergola lead? Also, as you enter the entrance hall we have a left up the steps to an elegant dinning room, and a right to the main living room with views of a patio, the lawn and the pool. But there must be a way to the solarium, the kitchen and stairs that I can't see and don't understand. Would love to see the floor plans of this gem of an estate.
various patios and pool and then to the fclear where the steps to the front door begin
what did the interiors look like when WC Fields owned it ?
Stunning 😊
I see this "hit the market" for 15 million in 2021. Gorgeous property!
Ok decided to take a look and I'm closing on it this week.
Groucho asked Fields once why he had hundreds of cases of whiskey in his attic - this being a dozen years since prohibition was over.
Fields just said it might come back 😊
lol funny, but drinking got the best of him, last two years of his life was spent in a sanitarium
@@Whatt787 as Jim Morrison said, no one here gets out alive.
Philadelphia boy had great taste..
Such a beautiful home!!!!!
Its beautiful!!
❤OMG! It's sO Lovely!❤
❤ Truly, a most beautiful, unique and comfortable house. ❤
This and I believe it was Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy's Family summer home recently on the market are the most exquisite, casually elegant homes I have ever seen.
What an understated and extremely tasteful home.
This is the true face of William Charles Fields.
William Claude Fields
Actually, William Claude Dukenfield was his given name
William Claude Dukenfield.
Absolutely gorgeous house
Insurance salesman: “Do you know a man by the name of LaFong? Carl LaFong? Capital L,small a,capital F,small o,small n,small g. LaFong. Carl LaFong”
W.C. “No,I don’t know Carl LaFong! Capital L,small a,capital F,small o,small n,small g. And if I did know Carl LaFong I wouldn’t admit it!”
Great Bit..
Porch Scene Hilarious..
I did a lot of impersonations for my mom when I was a kid, so when I was five, she made me do them at school for show-and-tell. One was WC Fields. I seem to recall I went with the "My little chickadee..." line.
WC Fields never owned this house. He rented it for awhile. Fields didn’t believe in owning things. He’d rather rent.
"... things that are preserved, like this, I've never seen anything like it." She hasn't been to La Cuesta Encantada at San Simeon?
Magnificent ❤❤❤
This house is absolutely exquisite! There is very little that I would change except for the cobalt blue tiles. I hate cobalt blue!
Who was the architect? This house is perfection! Thanks for sharing.
Wonderful! And a great portrait of Joan Crawford.
and maybe Veronica Lake
Thank you. Those photos are a treasure in themselves.
The home is stunning. I love WC Fields. In LA ??? Thats a no go for me, gated or not.
Laughlin Park is at most a 15 minute drive to the Studios. These men were working men. They worked at the Studios.. So, they wanted to be close to their work.
Amazing home. What was the seller asking for this beauty?
I LOVE IT IM GOING TO BUY ONE
This makes me wonder what W.C. Fields was really like. I had heard he didn’t like children…..However that house is one of the most beautiful and tasteful I have ever seen. Who was W.C. Fields? The movie made in the seventies didn’t really tell us much.
The movie made in the 70's starred Rod Steiger? He did a poor job of capturing the sparkling genius of Field's. All Steiger did was mimic Field's way of talking and portray him as a man whose true personality was tense and on the verge of violence.
".Why limit Happy to an Hour?" W.C. Fields. He had a reputation as a drinker. In a biography of Phil Silvers, Mr. Silvers recounts the story of working on a shoot with W.C. Fields when the Director demanded that Silvers take a swig from Fields' water bottle to reassure the Director that it was indeed water that Fields was drinking. Silvers did as he'd been asked and had difficulty for a couple of minutes disguising the fact that he'd swallowed a mouthful of GIN!
Amazing
I'm definitely getting ONE FOR MY QUEEN 👸
I'd rather be here than Philadelphia! What a beautiful space..
Who Designed it..!! ;)
ua-cam.com/video/HAen5WFCFcs/v-deo.htmlsi=DReRkkr5hce35UNx This outtake, from the 1934 shows W.C. Fields as The Great McGonigle, a showman extraordinaire. Here we see him doing his amazing juggling, a talent which actually helped him succeed on the Vaudeville circuit, long before he became a motion picture star.
He actually performed in front of the king and Queen of England in 1913
WC Fields is the greatest comedian that ever lived. When my friend lived near here, I was visiting from NY and we tried to see the home but the street was off limits to slobs like us. I think this is the house that had a small pond that Anthony Quinn's young son drowned in. Fields was devastated and had it filled in.
PUBLISHED JUNE 10, 2021
A home that has played host to noted actors and industry elite for over 100 years , the W. C. Fields Estate, has gone on the market for $15 million. - - - from BRITANNICA < > Owing to a preponderance of fabricated studio publicity, as well as Fields’s own penchant for lying about his past, most biographies of Fields are inaccurate. He did not, as has been widely reported, run away from home at age 11 after dropping a heavy wooden box on his father’s head. Rather, he left home at age 18 after many years of practicing his craft as a juggler, and he was a headline star in vaudeville by age 21. He toured the world extensively with his comedy juggling act, playing the world’s most prestigious venues, including the Folies Bergère in Paris. He added verbal humour to his act shortly after joining the Ziegfeld Follies in 1915; he starred in annual Follies productions until 1921 and made occasional return appearances until 1925. Fields became one of Broadway’s top stars when his performance in the musical comedy Poppy (1923) garnered raves from critics. In the play, he established one of his two basic comic personas, that of the grandiose fraud who flouts the conventional virtues of hard work and honesty. In his next play, the less successful The Comic Supplement (1924), he played the second of his oft-repeated types, the beleaguered husband. Fields also dabbled in film acting during his early years, making his screen debut in the short subject Pool Sharks (1915). He starred in several mediocre silent features during the 1920s that demonstrated how crucial sound was to Fields’s screen success. He had given up on a screen career by the end of the decade and was back on stage in 1928 as the star of Earl Carroll’s Vanities, Broadway’s highest-paid performer at a salary of $5,000 per week. - - -
Laughlin Park.
Homer Laughlin owned the company that later made Fiesta Ware dishes.
What they didn’t show the bar ?
interesting, they don't show the Great Room with the grand fireplace. what a shame to leave the best room in the house out of the video.
Goodness of all the houses old and modern this 1 tops all of them. Who owns it currently and what's the market value
$15 million
@@patnevin4478 thank you
@@patnevin4478 is there anybody occupying the house at the moment?
@@BABADOOK726 A Mr Patton own it, he is an oil man I believe and owner of the dodgers team in Los Angeles, but I wouldn't know if anyone currently lives there.
@@patnevin4478 thank you again for the info BTW Dodgers happened to be my favorite MLB team. So. the guy must've some big pockets lol
Man, I could "DWELL" there, for sure.
Fields parked money every where in banks..even Nzi Germany. When asked why? He quipped, "in case the sb wins."
I went to Philadelphia once it was closed...on account of Covid.
Is it now a museum?
LOVE❤
I'm sold! Just give me a minute to come up with the ten mil (or so).
What would one think the price tag is going to be on this home? Must be expensive to maintain, electric, water, etc, grounds, are there some folks who can comment on this....
Ill take it!
Who runs the Estate?
That was W.C.'s crib? He was living large,
Godfrey Daniel!
All the wine bottles were empty, remnants from WC?
I shudder to think how someone could potentially ruin this home with modernization and just plain bad taste.
WOW
WC Fields was asked if he liked children. He said, “Why yes I do, Par-boiled.” 😂
lol in reality, he was kind to children--Boys would send him letters when he was a world famous juggler, asking his advice on show business, which he always answered
OK, I have a new dream.
Oh Charlie, would you grab the hose please? I'll be in the solarium. Yes sir, right away.
Wonderful, for me the only drawback is it is in CA.
You'll get over it. 🤭
funniest man who ever lived
Mrs. laugh inburg art teacher hi 84 student. Jordan
Who built it and actually Owned it?