The Old Fashioned Way (1934)

The Academy is pleased to present a celebration of the life and career of W.C. Fields that returns the comedic giant to the silver screen and offers biographical, critical and nostalgic(al) commentary by his descendants, co-stars and admirers.  It features a panel discussion with:

The evening includes a screening of the classic feature The Old Fashioned Way and also provides a final opportunity to view the Academy’s Fourth Floor Gallery exhibition “The Peregrinations and Pettifoggery of W.C. Fields,” which will remain open after the film’s conclusion.  The Old Fashioned Way stars Fields as The Great McGonigle, the manager of a 19th century theatrical troupe, who secures financing for his staging of “The Drunkard” by manipulating a wealthy, stagestruck widow.  Fields’s talents as a comedic juggler and vaudeville performer are on ample display in this charming and uproarious comedy.

Directed by William Beaudine.  Produced by William Le Baron.  Written by Garnett Weston and Jack Cunningham, from a story by Charles Bogle (a Fields pseudonym).  Cinematography by Benjamin Reynolds.  With: W.C. Fields, Joe Morrison, Baby LeRoy, Judith Allen, Jan Duggan, Nora Cecil and Jack Mulhall.  Paramount Pictures.  1934. 35mm.  72 mins.  Print courtesy of Universal Studios.

The Jack Oakie Celebration of Comedy in Film provides an opportunity for established filmmakers and historians to share their experiences and to discuss the specific challenges and delights of the comedy film genre. The celebration is named in memory of character actor Jack Oakie, whose career encompassed vaudeville, Broadway musicals and 87 motion pictures, most of them comedies or musical comedies, including such favorites as "Once in a Lifetime," "Million Dollar Legs" (with frequent co-star Fields) and "It Happened Tomorrow." Oakie received an Academy Award® nomination for his portrayal of a Mussolini-like head of state in "The Great Dictator" (1940).