Bessie and Hattie

Abstract

This chapter discusses two women in Fields’s life during his years at the Follies, his estranged wife Hattie, who refused to grant the comedian a divorce, and his new amour, Bessie Poole, an attractive chorus girl he met while performing in the 1916 Follies. Fields was immediately infatuated with Bessie when he spotted her in the chorus line. Fields liked Bessie because her personality differed from Hattie, a refreshing change just when his battles with his wife were escalating. On August 15, 1917, Bessie secretly gave birth to a boy in a New York sanitarium. Worrying about damaging their careers, Poole and Fields shunned publicity. To disguise the birth of their baby, the infant was named William Rexford Fields Morris. Since both wanted to advance their career rather than rear an infant secretly they found a family to adopt the baby—Edward and Rose Holden. Fields failed to view the newborn as a second chance to father a boy who might become the type of son he always desired. The Holdens reared Morris for nineteen years and during that time Fields sporadically sent them money for his upkeep. He tried to shut the boy from his mind but still the complications involved with an unwanted son born out of wedlock haunted him.

As Bill’s career with the Follies skyrocketed, his relationship with his wife Hattie, and son Claude plummeted. Based in New York for approximately four months with the Follies, Fields encountered Hattie and Claude, who lived in the city. But the proximity only enhanced the enormity of Bill’s problems with his family. Hattie increased her heavy-handed control over Claude by often limiting her husband’s visits to see him. Adding to the friction was the never ending battle between Hattie and Fields over money. Hattie brainwashed Claude with “imaginary tales” about his mischievous ways. The bickering between his mother and father became terribly painful for Claude, who was caught inescapably between his parents. Despite his distress, Fields could not completely shut his son out of his life. Deep inside, Fields wanted a reconciliation but the gulf between father and son was incredibly wide. His marriage in shambles, Fields was left with an insufferable wife and an estranged son. His matrimonial debacle remained among the most painful and disappointing events in his life.