The Three Musketeers

Abstract

In the Follies from 1916 to 1918 Will Rogers and Eddie Cantor become close colleagues of Fields. Ziegfeld called them the “Three Musketeers.” This chapter depicts their shared experiences both on and off stage. They appear together in various scenes. Fields helped Cantor adapt to the rigors of the Follies. They traveled together in Fields’s car when the Follies was on the road. The singer noticed the numerous books in Fields’s trunk, and Bill became Cantor’s teacher. Cantor and Rogers became Ziegfeld’s favorite comedians while Fields continued to annoy the impresario. Basically, Ziggy did not understand Bill’s satirical realistic comedy style but loved Will Rogers’s homespun humor. Both backstage and outside the theater Fields enjoyed playing harmless tricks on Rogers while Cantor played tricks on Fields. When they went to Hollywood to make movies they continued their association, although they saw one another less frequently. Fields lived a different lifestyle than the two. He wrote a tribute to Rogers when he died in a plane crash.