Original multi-page typed contract dated September 2, 1941, on J. Walter Thompson Company letterhead, Hollywood, California, engaging W. C. Fields for a radio broadcast sponsored by Chase and Sanborn. The agreement outlines Fields’ appearance, rehearsal obligations, approval of material, exclusivity provisions, indemnification clauses, and wartime cancellation terms, and specifies a fee of $5,000, payable within ten days after broadcast. The contract is signed in full at the conclusion by W. C. Fields, with an additional signature on behalf of J. Walter Thompson Company. Accompanied by the original attached “Exhibit A,” further defining independent contractor status, liability protections, and wartime contingencies. A strong example of a Golden Age Hollywood performance contract, directly linking one of America’s most iconic comedians to a major national advertising agency and radio sponsor.
W.C. Fields (January 29, 1880 – December 25, 1946), was an American actor, comedian, juggler and writer. Fields' career in show business began in vaudeville, where he attained international success as a silent juggler. He began to incorporate comedy into his act and was a featured comedian in the Ziegfeld Follies for several years. He became a star in the Broadway musical comedy Poppy (1923), in which he played a colorful small-time con man. His subsequent stage and film roles were often similar scoundrels or henpecked everyman characters. Among his trademarks were his raspy drawl and grandiloquent vocabulary.
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