W.C. Fields Extravaganza DVD Disc 2. Sally of the Sawdust / Passport International Productions / DVD 3332

UPC 025493333299

REGION 0 NTSC DVD (All regions) - Black & White

MADE IN USA

AUDIO: English mono

TOTAL RUNTIME: 120 MINUTES

English Summary:

Disc 2

SALLY OF THE SAWDUST

B&W W.C. Fields’ first starring role in a feature film, made in 1925 and based on his hit Broadway play ‘Poppy’. Fields reprised his role as the juggler and carnival huckster Professor McGargle. Pretty Carol Dempster co-stars as Sally, the orphaned girl McGargle takes under wing. Years pass, and McGargle is torn between keeping Sally as his adoptive daughter in the rough carny life, or turning her over to her grandparents, who are rich but intolerant. When Sally lands in jail, McGargle comes to her rescue in one of the wildest chases ever caught on film. Also in this movie, Fields demonstrates some of the juggling which made him famous during his Vaudeville days, and also develops the conman character for which he is best remembered. Pioneer filmmaker and Hollywood legend D.W. Griffith directed this classic from the golden age of silent movies.

William Claude Dukenfield (January 29, 1880 – December 25, 1946), better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler, and writer. Fields' comic persona was a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist, who remained a sympathetic character despite his supposed contempt for children and dogs.

His career in show business began in vaudeville, where he attained international success as a silent juggler. He gradually incorporated 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.