I'd Rather Be In Philadelphia

by Ira Shander

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Price

$200

Dimensions

8.500 x 11.000 inches

Title

I'd Rather Be In Philadelphia

Artist

Ira Shander

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

Comedian W C Fields once mumbled under his breath when under extreme duress in a film, "He'd rather be in Philadelphia". A fate worse than death. There are a lot of stories about Fields. some true; some made up for a laugh.
For him it was probably true. His father was a grocer. Bill would juggle produce to impress the customers. His father was not amused. He was a talented individualist in a stogy berg. His grandmother forced him to get a job in a department store on Market Street. He was maybe 15. The pay was so bad he was tempted "borrow" some of the cash slips on the way to the accounting department. Some never made it. I think he ran away and joined the circus.
He went from the circus to vaudeville. Then onto Broadway and Hollywood. He played an irascible character but was a quietly generous and compassionate human being.
And as for Philadelphia's City Hall Tower as shown at right, this Victorian pile took almost 40 years to complete. There are magnificent courtrooms with gold leafed coffered ceilings and great Victorian detail throughout. Over the top but who cares. It's a monument to a former industrial powerhouse like Leeds or Manchester. The politicians and industrialists of the time were smug and proud. Their factories gave work to many. There was a sense of gritty pride.
Men and women created with their hands. What Philadelphia produced found its way to the four corners of the earth.
Today we grope for new meaning out of the old. And somehow it always shows up in the nick of time.

Uploaded

August 28th, 2022

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