My Little Chickadee

My Little Chickadee is a 1940 American comedy-western film starring Mae West and W.C. Fields, featuring Joseph Calleia, Ruth Donnelly, Margaret Hamilton, Donald Meek, Willard Robertson, Dick Foran, William B. Davidson, and Addison Richards, and released by Universal Pictures. It was directed by Edward F. Cline and the music was written by Ben Oakland (song "Willie of the Valley") and Frank Skinner.
West reportedly wrote the original screenplay, with Fields contributing one extended scene set in a bar. Universal decided to give the stars equal screenplay credit, perhaps to avoid the appearance of favoritism, but the move incensed West, who declined to team with Fields afterwards. The stars spoofed themselves and the Western genre, with West providing a series of her trademark double entendres. (read more at Wikipedia)
== Links to Peel ==
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Peel saw My Little Chickadee "in a London cinema" in the company of "a BBC producer, John Walters" as he mentioned in his Disc & Music Echo column of 11 April 1970. It was part of a festival of W.C. Fields films which both Peel and Walters later identified as the point when they overcame their initial mutual wariness and became firm friends.
As well as Peel favourite Fields (in the Disc column JP said he "may well be the funniest man of the century") the film starred another 1930s star who became a cult figure in the 1960s and '70s. Mae West, who survived until 1980 and even recorded an album called "Great Balls Of Fire"() (after the Jerry Lee Lewis song) in 1972, as well as issuing some singles, including cover versions of Beatles material with garage-band accompaniment, in the 1960s. But despite this Peel seems to have shown little interest in her recorded work.
== External Links ==
* Wikipedia
* IMDb
* AllMovie
Category:Films