The Old Fashioned Way (1934)

The Old Fashioned Way
Directed by William Beaudine
1934/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing

Cleopatra Pepperday: [after McGonigle takes a heavy fall] Marky, are you hurt?
The Great McGonigle: [sarcastically] No, I had the presence of mind to fall on my head.

It is the Gay Nineties and W.C. Fields plays The Great McGonigle, proprietor of a travelling theater company that puts on melodramas.  As usual, there is a romance involving his daughter.  There’s some comedy singing by a rich widow and straight singing by the daughter’s beau.  The film is capped by Fields’s juggling act.

Some quality time with Baby LeRoy

I found this less annoying than the other Fields pictures I’ve watched for 1934. The juggling act at the end is actually pretty good. Fields got his start in vaudeville as a juggler and is talented at it.

Fields’ juggling act