DRAT! THE ENCAPSULATED VIEW OF LIFE BY W.C. FIELDS IN HIS OWN WORDS (SOFTCOVER

by Richard J. Anobile

Drat! Being the Encapsulated View of Life by W. C. Fields in His Own Words [CLV] [Mass Market Paperback]

Genres: Humor

Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Anobile pioneered the use of the movie frame blow-up technique to recreate entire films in book form. His books were valuable resources especially in a time before VCR's and DVD's and the internet. While they might be viewed as simplistic picture books now, they were an attempt at curating film at a time when it was often still an after-thought. Anobile has spent much of the rest of his life in film production.

Reviews

[Robin Reynolds · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure what I think of this book. Lots of great pictures, lots of quotes, some funny, some memorable. I thought I'd read somewhere, a long time ago, that despite Fields' reputation of being a heavy drinker and not liking kids, he actually was not a drinker and had nothing against children. Not according to this book. Throw in a lot of quotes putting down dogs and dog lovers, and I'm was definitely not left feeling nostalgic and wanting to watch a bunch of his movies.

[Douglas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three introductions pay tribute to W.C. Fields. Ed McMahon is probably the best known of those authors. This was written in the late 1960 and Fields died in 1946. The writers are making a case for why this dated material would be of interest to Baby Boomers who were young adults at the time. They focus on his lack of respect for authority figures. The book concludes with two articles written by Fields.

[Kathryn Murray]

this is WC Fields encapsulated

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

While there was no question that Fields was at times a heavy drinker, it is also the case that he was an extremely talented entertainer. Known as a hater of children and dogs, he fathered children and had reasonably good relations with them when you factor in that he was always on the road as an entertainer.
What is not commonly known is that Fields wrote or improvised a large amount of his own material, including many of the classic movie lines attributed to him. He had very little formal schooling, yet became an avid reader, traveling with a trunk full of books and had an extensive library in later life. One of his female co-stars described him as kind and gentle in personal interactions. When the two-year-old son of his neighbor drowned in a lily pond on his property Fields was so stricken with grief that he had the pond filled in.
This book contains images from his films with associated snippets of text. His claimed hatred of children and dogs is repeated many times. They only exhibit his public persona as an entertainer and nothing of his private side, where he was a very literate man that treated others well. In an industry where the star generally rules, Fields was irascible on screen, yet generally considerate to his fellow players. In this book, only the irascible is seen.

[Michael P. · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a sad book: a compotation of Fields quotes in praise of alcoholism and dispraise of dogs. Such comments are funny once or twice in a film, but being harangued by them one after another in this book is overwhelming and rather sick. Most dogs are better "people" that Fields was on his finest day. I admit that I never "got" Fields fandom or Fields fans, and this book was published when both were at their height in 1969. Now the book just seems sad.