W.C. Fields' Personally Owned Straw Boater Hat From The Joe Franklin Memory Lane Collection W/LOA - This straw boater hat was personally owned by American comedian, actor, juggler and writer, W.C. Fields. After a rough early life often running away as a result of fights with his father, Fields went on to be proclaimed one of the greatest jugglers in the world and traveled to every inhabited continent before he was 30. He went on to star on Broadway and in several silent films, and by the advent of the talking picture he was earning more than any other star on Broadway. In a New York Times interview in 2000, Woody Allen referred to W. C. Fields as one of six "genuine comic geniuses" in movie history, along with Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Groucho and Harpo Marx, and Peter Sellers. This straw boater hat was acquired from the collection of Joe Franklin, and will be accompanied by a letter of authenticity. Joe Franklin was a legendary American radio and television host personality, author and actor, whose show featured famous guests such as Andy Warhol, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Salvador Dali, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and countless others. Franklin had a love of collecting mementos and memorabilia from his guests, and would ask each guest to leave him a personal item, many of which would oblige.