Poppy

Poppy is a 1936 comedy film starring W. C. Fields and Rochelle Hudson. The film was based on a 1923 stage revue of the same name starring Fields and Madge Kennedy. This was the second film version of the revue featuring Fields, following Sally of the Sawdust in 1925 with Carol Dempster in the title role. Plot Eustace McGargle , a con artist, snake oil salesman and shell game trickster, tries to escape the sheriff while taking care of his beloved adopted daughter Poppy, who, after pretending to be an heiress to win an inheritance, is found to be an actual heiress. Cast W. C. Fields as Professor Eustace McGargle Rochelle Hudson as Poppy Richard Cromwell as Billy Farnsworth Catherine Doucet as Countess Maggi Tubbs DePuizzi Lynne Overman as Attorney Whiffen Granville Bates as Mayor Farnsworth Maude Eburne as Sarah Tucker Bill Wolfe as Egmont Adrian Morris as Constable Bowman Rosalind Keith as Frances Parker Ralph Remley as Carnival Manager Production Fields was suffering the effects of his heavy drinking and he injured his back during the making of the film. As a result, his performance may have suffered. Fields was ill during the production, and a fairly obvious double was used in several scenes requiring physical exertion.