W.C. Fields - The Ping Pong Match
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- Опубліковано 22 лют 2010
- [From "Kovacs Corner" on UA-cam.com] - W.C. Fields in his classic ping pong match from "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man". Towards the end of the scene, the gentleman on the staircase, who is later referred to as "Archibald", is actor Thurston Hall. No doubt his name and voice inflection was used as the inspiration for Jim Backus' character "Thurston Howell" on the 60's TV series "Gilligan's Island".
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"A woman drove me to drink. And I didn't have the decency to thank her". Absolutely brilliant! 🤣
I can't decide if he's underrated, almost certainly is today, I suspect a lot of folks have not seen his work. The characters he played have often been nis-typed as child-hating curmudgeons, I see quite the opposite.
Years ago I didn't watch WC. I must of had a mental block. Now Iam amazed by the sheer magic of the man.
Check out his juggling.He was amazing.
80 years later and this cinematic genius has never been duplicated.
And sadly never will be!
In a way, he can't be. He put his various acts under copyright. Though, his way of doing things would also be disastrous today, with how easily butthurt people get.
And thank God for that!
Agree
Disagree
Ping pong will never be the same after watching this classic W.C. Fields performance!
the creators must have remembered their physics lessons. the ping pong ball floating on water/air are classic physics experiments that still amaze
The Creator was field himself, how much was show and actual drunk will be discussed for the ages! 😮😅
This is the best ping pong match I've ever witnessed. W.C. in all his glory. Thanks so much for sharing!
Jean-Michel Saive and his friend Chuang Chih-Yuan have fun in an exhibition game. Nothing but clowning around . :)
ua-cam.com/video/ZS3O0OOn0a0/v-deo.html
Mark - "Poker? Is that a game of chance?"
W.C. " Not the way I play it."
I love W.C. Fields! He's the Greatest! No comparison!
..."I was champion of the lesser antillies"--Fields delight in language. brilliant absurd comedy!!
He turned it into an adventure.
W C Fields was one of the best and funniest men in the game and will never ever be surpassed IMO Blessings from DUBLIN D12 crumlin Ireland 🍀💯❤️☘️🙏🙏🙏
I like how he mumbles old people jokes under his breath.
'Lady windbag' is the most, and hilarious! She's classic W.C. Fields comic fodder, personally picked by Fields, and something akin to Marx brothers female comic foils. Totally entranced by almost each shot of the rally.
She was Margaret Dumont. Grouchy called her a practically "the fifth Marx brother."
She is so good and her timing is almost as good as W C Field"s
@@ms.annthrope415 Jan Duggan played Mrs Sludge, not Margaret Dumont...google her photo
"How is your ping pong?" That line never fails to impress attractive flight attendants.
Fields often fooled the censors with sentences like that, which on the page seemed just silly, but with the visuals makes it seem like a naughty question. He would exclaim in other films, "Godrey Daniel!" which doesn't seem to mean anything, except shouted out in anger, is supposed to remind you of "God damn you!"
W.C Fields always made me and my mother laugh.
Fields was nothing short of a genius comedian ..His timing ,style and comic presence was legend ..
Agree
"It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to." - W. C. Fields
Chris Duke - very true!
W.C. the absolute best.
I swear,,, when I watch W.C. and that dude ,,, wacking that ball ,,, ,,, long distance 😮 I move my chair back a few feet ,,, so I can see the whole scene. Love ❤️ W.C. Fields 🙏🏽
My dad was JUST like him... even resembled W.C.
Still love how he got the name of honest John telling as he making these amazing pool shoots/ I don't think anyone will ever come close to the timing and delivery of those lines
memories of my Dad & I watching WC Fields when I was a kid..........
You're very lucky that your dad had an appreciation for the great man, and you were able to start enjoying him as a youngster...took me till college to find him, then made it my purpose to see every film/short he ever did...lol
Perfect genius he was absolutely brilliant gone way to soon. Love him he is my favorite comedian
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"Champion of the Tri-State League and the Lesser Antilles..." Killer stuff.
Couldn't tell one card from another. I had to stay up all night marking them with a pen
The Great Man was the greatest. Timeless comedy.
Interesting to me that while the ping pong ball is held up by the water fountain, Fields hums the tune of his classic song "The Fatal Glass of Beer" -- from the short film of the same name.
There was only one WC Fields- never another!
W.C Fields was a genius and a drunk. And not necessarily in that order. He could juggle like no one's business.
Fields was a superb athlete, even when he got older. Came from his vaudeville days when pratfalls were part of the act. Watch how he clears that balustrade. He also smacks the old girl in the ass with his paddle and doesn't lose a stroke.
In "Merrily We Live" the great Clarence Kolb does some wonderful pratfalls, and he was well over 60.
Fields once took a tumble down a flight of stairs and didn't spill a drop of his martini.
Hi, I'm a very big WC fan, even bought PAL DVDs just to get a couple of his obscure movies that aren't available in the US. Anyway, he did have stunt doubles in most of his films and based on his health at that point in time (he had to take about 6 months off at a sanitarium to get sorted after making Poppy) I'm pretty sure a double made that jump.
But he was noted as being *unbeatable* at Ping Pong. He was a regular at Chasen's and although it was in Hollywood and frequented by all the stars it was a sawdust on the floor low-key hangout for the film stars.
They had pool tables and ping pong tables and WC ruled them both.
Any time spent watching Uncle Bill is time very well spent.
For whatever reason I've been thinking about Margeret Dumont (born Daisy Baker). Groucho called her "practically the fifth Marx brother". WC Fields also put her in "Never Give a Sucker An Even Break". She was in a couple Abbot and Costello films and lots of other comedies and so forth. She was one of those "mature" women one sees in classic films who are presented as "sexy" - unlike today where women over 40 are the Hollywood equivalent of 90.
Somebody should do a study on this.
I like Maggie Dumont and she did a great job with the Bros. I think WC might have put her in because she needed the work, he was that way with "troupers". The lady hiding behind the newspaper in Never Give A Sucker An Even Break (on the bench at the beginning) was one he helped out as much as possible along with Elise Cavanna ( a friend of his from the Follies)(she was only ever in the talky shorts but was in at least one silent feature). ,
Anyway, I think that the world was dealt a very bad hand when Thelma Todd died. She elevated both Monkey Business (my fav Marx Bros.) and also Horse Feathers. I think Maggie only got the job back because Thelma was gone. Thelma had a much better evolved comedy persona as she was in a lot of the Laurel&Hardy shorts.
Groucho (in one of the many books I have on him) said Maggie was too proud for her own good. She walked out on a gig on an early TV show because they woud only pay her scale. Groucho said it was sad as she really needed the money.
Are you sure you have the right Margaret Dumont? She trained early as an opera singer and actress and was all over Europe in her teens and early 20's. She was tall and drop-dead gorgeous. Very popular. Booking agents were beating down her door.
When she was 28 - an "old maid" by the standards of that day - she married rich. Her husband died eight year later of the flu. She was set for life. As in loaded. She never remarried.
That was obviously an inside joke by Groucho: "needed the money." She probably had more loot than all the Marx brothers put together. .
I don't know about the refusing to work for scale story. Likely part of the joke. Maybe had points in the studio which made it funnier.
It is my understanding that Margaret Dumont's screen image mirrored her personal life. She was very much a lady with a great sense of humor.
And really, did anyone ever call her "Maggie"? "Daisy", maybe. That was her birth name.
And by the way, I've always been struck by the eroticism of the interplay between her and Groucho. Every scene oozed sexual tension. She stood rooted to one spot while he orbited around her - literally. As if he was trying to find a vulnerable spot into which he could slip it to her. And the whole time you could read the mind of Groucho's character: "what's she got underneath all that heavy brocade?" Whatever it was, (big tits) it had him doing backflips while he pictured her naked. That was the subliminal message. It was so strong everyone thought they were husband and wife in real life. You didn't see this kind of sexual tension again until Laura and Rob Petrie. Everyone thought Dick and Mary was married as well. Or at least banging boots (they were)...
Leon Davis --- Just a note that to say that it's refreshing to read a comment on UA-cam that doesn't violate every rule of grammar and punctuation.
Thurston Hall was another great character actor of the olden times.
It is from WC fields that all great comedy flows.
She says to WC Fields: " How is your Ping Pong ? " Boy I tell ya', " that is some real dirty talk !"
How is your's? Wanna make something out of it? OMG. LOL
A genius at work!
Yes I finally found out who this guy is in Mickey's Polo Team. I love the way he says "Wise guyyy"
"Disperse!" hahaha!
This is hilarious...excellent humour.
All time great comic!
2098elk my favorite comic
Field's makes double entandre lines out of a ping pong match! You can't explain his genius or rather anti-genius---
I never would've thought of WC Fields as a talented physical comedian (in addition to his other areas of expertise) until I saw this clip...
A comedian who was underrated, W.C you were also one of the best comedians during that slapstick era
WTF... *UNDERRATED??*
Hopefully in the past 3 years you've purchased a dictionary and looked up the definition of that VERY misused word!!
*UNDERRATED!!!* 🤔🤔🤔
Correction: of all time!
A Master of comedy!!
haven't seen this before... hilarious!!
What gold did I just stumble upon?
Brilliant! Comic genius! ;D
One of my all time favorite comedy scenes from the master of comedy and innuendos......how'd he got some of those past the censor is beyond me = )
Not hard at all, in this hyper politically correct, feminazi society today it would be a big deal. Yester-decade, not a big deal. All in fun.
He smacked her in the ass. That who-er.
Superior Comedy; Superb Gamemanship. Yes, have also heard that Fields was a 'champion level' Ping Pong player. Once on the old "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson, side-kick Ed, in one of his regales of Fields Trivia expounded on such. Also read that in this scene, Fields did ALL his own playing; and that the 'off-screen' shots that are volleyed to him, where done by a skilled Ping Pong player, 'feeding' Fields the ball and the Swank, on screen is just 'acting-the-part', per info, it was stated that the actor playing Fields opponent, had to be taught how to do so much to Fields chagrin as the Man just couldn't get the hang of it, until after several takes.
"A hailstorm I encountered in the Dakotas! .... Disperse! .... Shades of Izaak Walton!"
Fantastic, unrivalled, unique, even daring. Studios of today would never take such chances...
Unmatched for comedic genius.
I spent many a Saturday night at 2:00 a.m. laughing my ass off at Fields with my buddy!
Before he was in movies, W.C. Fields was a gifted Vaudeville juggler. He could probably hustle anybody at ping pong, and a lot of other games.
It’s said that when he was traveling on the Vaudeville circuit, he traveled with two trunks- one full of liquor, and the other full of books.
He was the very best.
funniest thing I've seen in a long time! :)
Great stuff ! Thanks for posting this!
Fabulous.
Pure genius
this is good old fashion funny never saw a w.c fields before
haha go away kid you bother me. thats funny my dad would joke and say that lolol
hardens james Sure he was joking? 😃😄😅
The story was that he really didn't like kids.
"And it's not a fit night out for man nor beast."
Thanks for the background info.
w.c was quite active and energetic in this his first effort with universal considering the health of the man. he had already had 2 brushes with the man in the bright nightgown as he called him. and as was the case with w.c. when his health was restored he stepped up his drinking
steven pannizzo 7
I'm here because I found an autographed W. C. Fields autographed photo at a garage sale!
What a pity that he didn't sign it.
When I was 2 years old my mother blew smoke in my face like that. To this day I have never become a smoker nor have I ever played ping pong
And he was a juggler in Vaudeville before his acting career.
The wit to the man was out of the world another concept i like about his style he don't just to get a smile....will be miss
Fine, how’s yours? You wanna make anything of it?
Classic!
What a duo WC and Foghorn Leghorn would've made
No one better!
That was hilarious. I laughed til I cried.
I was searching ping pong tricks and ended on this.
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One of my favorite comedians is Don Rickles. Now, where do you think he got some of his ideas. I'm betting he had WC Fields down pretty well.
That's right-- all elegant parties have ping-pong tables in the dining room. 😅
Amazing man
Lol. Genius. Today impossible to find.
One of the best!
The Master at work!
He could have been on the Chinese Olympic squad. Brilliant ... Archibald get that man out of my house!
Love it
That is pretty cool!
Loved every second of it.... Field's always hilariously entertaining...
Fields film characters always pompous, boastful, with a sense of incompetence but of great self importance, mixed with fraudster conman and clearly a liability little nobody man really acting big....great great entertainment.
I hope such a character never appears in our politics like that.
A master juggler and now a champion ping ponger. I believe he made those shots from the next room. Women of that time were saggy small breasted specimens. Most men were delighted to see an ankle.
This is really funny!!!:)
He was hilarious!
Nobodies home...love it.
And that was just the first point!
Never in a million years will he be replaced! Too bad he died to young!
The KING!
Enjoyed
NEVER BEFORE/
NEVER AFTER/
NEVER FORGOTTEN
GENIUS!!!!!!!!
Replace the paddles with swords and you've got one hell of a fencing match.
Was there anything that W.C. Fields couldn’t do?
Hysterical!!!!!
The best!
That was a hell of a game, John. Wanna make something out of it?
Comic genius. Drunk, bigot, sexist, and one of the funniest men in movie history,
funniest man ever
“…and the Lesser Antilles!”!
That's exactly how I play it.
He plays ping pong like my grandfather, lol!
At the end of his life he said he deeply regretted his drinking as he knew it was kiling him.
Blew a perfect smoke ring with his cough...ha ha ha