Totie Fields

You all should be ashamed, the lady is a legend

Who?

She was PLENTY recognized...and so unfunny.

Sorry, I don't know her.

OP, your argument doesn't have a leg to stand on.

I did enjoy when she made a joke about Gene Simmons hooked nose.

you all are anti Semites

No idea who this is, but I’ve seen the name before and I think I conflated it with Kim (Tootie) Fields.

r8 That's my white mama!

Totie on Arlene Dahl

Totie on Arlene Dahl

Totie is a Datalounger just watch

R5 funny how the brain works. Totie Fields = leg amputation. Why would my old brain remember this one fact?

I loved her on The Facts of Life!

My mother loved her!

The Lens of her era

R7, stuff that nonsense in your shitty asshole.

We don't even know who this IS, you silly cunt.

If she had married Truman Capote, she would have been Totie Capote!

[quote]If she had married Truman Capote, she would have been Totie Capote!

And also quite disappointed on her wedding night.

R13: I remembered the same thing and that she was from Hartford.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

R18: "If she had married Truman Capote, she would have been Totie Capote!"

...and he would have written "(PLEASE KILL ME IN) COLD BLOOD."

In the 1960s, there were Phyllis Diller, Jean Carroll, Moms Mabley, Joan Rivers, and Totie Fields making the variety show and talk show rounds on television. They pretty much paved the way for the female stand-up comedians who came after.

She had a fabulous voice. She would have made a great Dolly.

I thought it was sad that a part of her act was making fun of herself. I'm sure there are heavy female comics these days that do not do fat jokes about themselves.

Joan Rivers had Mr. Phyllis, her hairdresser, in her act and Totie had Mr. Schwartz, her French teacher, and Mr. Russo, her English teacher, at Weaver High in Hartford, CT. "We didn't know what they were then, we thought they were sissies."

To Joan and Totie flyin' around up there: What's the difference between a Jew and a pizza?

I don't know her, but I like the name.

Whoever she is, she's DEAD!

Totie Fields, the raucous‐voiced nightclub comedienne whose jokes about her obesity and whose struggle to resume her career after the amputation of her left leg two years ago won her the affection of millions, died yesterday in Las Vegas, Nev. She was 48 years old and lived in Las Vegas and in Los Angeles.

A statement issued by her family said that Miss Fields died in her home at about 7 A.M. “of apparent heart failure.” Attempts by paramedics to revive her at home failed, the statement said, and she was taken to Sunrise Hospital, where further attempts at resuscitation were unsuccessful.

Miss Fields had undergone surgery several times within the last two years, the statement also said. In addition to the removal of her leg, she had breast and eye surgery. She also suffered two heart attacks.

Miss Fields's leg was removed at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, reportedly because of phlebitis, and she later used an artificial limb. In April, she filed a lawsuit seeking $2 million in damages from seven physicians and St. Joseph Hospital in Stamford, Conn., because of the loss of her leg. She went to St. Joseph Hospital for cosmetic surgery on an eyelid and developed phlebitis, the suit said. At her death, the suit had not been resolved.

Fields was short and overweight. She was about 4 feet 11 inches in height, and weighed 170 pounds. She once said: “I come right ,out and say, ‘I'm fat!’ This deprives the wise alecks from mouthing loud asides all night, ‘Gosh, she's fat’ ‘as they glimpse me in a tent dress. They're left with nothing to say.”

Miss Fields earned recognition in New York in the early 1960's after what critics described as a “slambang” appearance at the Copacabana. She had come to New York from Boston and labored unheralded for three years. Her highly praised Copa performance won her spots on CBSTV's “Ed Sullivan Show,” where she appeared more than two dozen times.

She worked in nightclubs across the nation. “I must do clubs,” she once said, “That's where I get the feeling for this business.”

As one of the nation's premier comics, she earned in the 1960's $200,000 a year. She drove a Lincoln Continental and was not reluctant to drape herself in an azurine mink coat or some other fabulous fur.

“I break all the rules,” she once explained. “and wear everything. Ruffles, ‘ ostrich feathers, fox coats. You look fat in ‘ fox anyway, so if you start fat, you only look a little fatter.

At one time, she said, she spent about $100,000 for her personal and professional wardrobe and she thought then that it would be a good idea to produce a Totie Fields line of fat women's clothes with sizes 3, 5 and 7. “Mentally it will make us feel better,” she said.

She was a diabetic and she said that she did not eat the amount of food that was manifested in her size. “I go for bagels and cream cheese. My ruination is that I'd rather eat a loaf of bread than a steak. I know I'm never going to be thin again and I'm, happy. I think I'm precious at this weight.’

Began as a Singer

While in high school, she began her career as a singer in clubs in the Boston area where she was growing up. She was born in Hartford, but moved to Boston as a child. Her real name was Sophie Feldman. She adopted Totie because she said that was the way she pronounced Sophie when she was small. Later she switched from Feldman to Fields — “a show business gesture,” she said.

Her “Totie Returns” television performance was a recording of her performance before a celebrity‐filled audience in Las Vegas. John J. O'Connor, television critic of The New York Times, wrote then:

“The portrait of a resilient and determined performer is most affecting, ironically, when interviewing Miss Fields offstage. She speaks quietly and admirably of her ordeal and the support she received from her husband.”

“Onstage,” Mr. O'Connor continued, Miss Fields's act was “tailored snugly to the demands of Las Vegas.”

[quote]I thought it was sad that a part of her act was making fun of herself.

A lot of those earlier female stand-ups made fun of their shortcomings. Totie made fun of her size, Phyllis made fun of her looks and lack of domestic skills, Joan made fun of her many facelifts, marriage, lack of sex drive, etc. I think back then, there were very few topics female comediennes could poke fun at without upsetting the status quo.

She wasn't that funny but she had a good voice. Phyllis Diller was a lot funnier. At that time, women in comedy had to 'look funny' too. Joan Rivers was one of the first who looked normal, even though she'd make fun of her weight and not having a man. (At the time, she was chubby and single...)

Definitely a sub-Rivers, sub-Diller comic. Very popular with Merv Griffin, who always had a lot of second and third-tier comics like London Lee (look him up--lots of tired, obvious jokes).

Arlene Dahl is Lorenzo Lamas's mother.

I remember seeing her often on the Mike Douglas Show.

At 7:10, Phyllis Diller mentions that Totie didn't like Joan Rivers, for reasons unknown. But Phyllis herself was great friends with Totie.

She must have been a big influence on Divine.

I really enjoyed her, but I don't remember ever seeing her anywhere but on the Merv Griffin Show. Some of the other female comics mentioned appeared on a wider variety of shows, so they're more likely to be picked up on Youtube.

Who has the biggest cock in Hollywood?

*

Arlene Dahl

R23 Great list, but I would also include Minnie Pearl. In The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, it is clear that Mrs. Maisel is largely built around Joan Rivers, but Sophie Lennon seems to be an amalgamation of Minnie Pearl, being an upper-class drama school educated lady playing a lower-class woman, and Fanny Brice, among others.

I have a vague memory of her on Mike Douglass. I thought she had cancer too.

Loved Totie...she was hilarious. Thanks for the Phyllis Diller clip also. I had forgotten how much I liked her.

Totie was also on the Ed Sullivan show quite a bit.

I sometimes get in Wiki IMDB loops. Happened with Totie. Evidently her husband Georgie was very devoted. Never bounced back from losing her. Eventually he killed himself. Sad.

What's telling to me is her whole act was about how outrageously fat she was.

Now, she would look average weight for most women.

It's so sad you can't appreciate a funny woman.

She didn't need to used bad language and bowel movement jokes to get a laugh

What a charming Jewess.

Is she the one who talked about her children Marilyn and Chickie?

She is goals.

R46, No, that was Betty Walker.

[quote]She didn't need to used bad language and bowel movement jokes to get a laugh

Hey, Mom!

Betty Walker and Valerie Harper

Wasn't Betty Walker the "Hello, Ceil?" gal?

Thanks r48.

R51, Yes, she used to appear on talk shows with just a telephone receiver and perform hilarious monologues.

I call my walker "Betty" in her honor. It has Xmas lights on it too- year-round.

".She went to St. Joseph Hospital for cosmetic surgery on an eyelid and developed phlebitis"

So plastic surgery took both Totie and Joan out.

Compared to Totie, Joan would be considered a genius. Totie was soooo mundane, so run of the mill, so predictable and boring. If she hadn't died young, we'd be making jokes on how bad she was.

Betty Walker was a one joke act, but she was more real and funnier than Totie fields was in a lifetime.

R55, Totie, Joan and Kanye's mother.

In addition to Betty Walker, Merv Griffin had a number of regulars he would have on in rotation . . . Donna Jean Young, Aliza Kashi, Gloria Loring, Jack Douglas and Reiko, Xavier Cugat and Charo, Julie Budd, Selma Diamond, Milt Kamen, Jack E. Leonard, Monti Rock III, etc.

Aliza Kashi!

Oh God--Charo with and without Cugat. She was on that show constantly.

Good one, r19

That Mike Douglas show that featured her and Gene Simmons is excruciating to watch, and not because of her. Simmons was trying very hard to be controversial ("I'm evil incarnate!") but Fields obviously saw threw this lame attempts to shock the audience. she called him "a nice Jewish boy" and "you can't hide the hook."

As others said, I wouldn't consider her funny, but she could really sell a song. It's a shame her career was that of a comedienne and not one of a stage performer or Broadway singer.

This is "Totie Returns!", her HBO Special that aired one year before she died. After she talks to the camera about the loss of her leg and this comeback, they cut to interviews with Lucille Ball, David Brenner, Florence Henderson, Steve and Eydie, Carl Reiner, Phyllis Diller, Jayne Meadows, corny ham Steve Allen, Bob Mackie, and that BITCH Rona Barrett as they anticipate Totie's comeback show. Everyone says something like "We can't believe she's doing this show with only one leg!"

As I said, she's not funny to me, but it is a great performance and she surprised me with her singing ability. She really did end her career on a high note--the last phrase she sings in the special is "'...until the Day I die!", which is kind of poetic.

She died of a pulmonary embolism. I think it was a facelift and not an eye job that caused the phlebitis and other health problems. Merv Griffin outed her for this on his show and she corrected him that it was an eye job, but it was more than that.

This DL masterpiece from 2015 should be included in all future Totie Fields threads:

[quote]We've done a thread about Miss Fields every month for the last 18 years. Plus the memorial threads around the time of her death and the floral-linked birthday friends. We wept when her widower George died in 1995, although we had use words to show it because emoticons weren't invented yet. We've celebrated her two children's life events and the births of their children. We've posted threads about her wonderful costume sense, her interior design tips, her recipes, her unpleasant and painful but effective weight-loss tips and her many suggestions on how to get and keep a man. And once in a while we laugh at her jokes.

[quote]And yet, even now, at the brink of a new age of DL formatting and accessibility to a wide world of people ignorant of the existence of this cultural treasure, the OP dares to suggest we have been remiss. Just because her searches probably misspelled her name or ignored the fact that, while she may be Totie to the world, to us she always will be what her parents named her, our dear Sophie Feldman.

[quote]The OP probably does not even know about the 24-hour Walk of Hollywood cam placed over her star, and that most of us spend our non-DL time sitting on-line watching it, and thanking God there was such a talent, a spirit, a friend such as Totie.

[quote]Feh!

Jean Carroll.

She was a funny lady and it's very sad that she died so soon.

I think it was on a "celebrity roast" of Joe Namath where she said something like, "Joe has played on wet fields, dry fields, muddy fields, hot fields, snowy fields, icy fields... but never played on Totie Fields."

The punch line (see R26) is: A Pizza doesn't scream in the oven.

Did Totie or Joan really use this line?