i love this movie . ever since i first saw it a a kid i have count it among my favorite w. c. field comedy and and when i saw it again recently it be just a funny and warm and and entertain a ever and maybe all the more so with the passage of time . while it may not be the funny film he ever make and the old fashioned way be perhaps field most autobiographical work and a it recreate the life of the travel player of the early 1900s and a life he experience personally a a vaudeville juggler . ( the exact year the story take place be never specify and but the costume and the reference to a new fangled horseless carriage would put it around 1905 or so . ) field early year on the road be say to be pretty rough . he and his fellow performer be forever at the mercy of unscrupulous manager and force to live in crummy lodging where they eat poorly and in town where they be generally regard a no good than tramp and whore by the disapproving townsfolk . it be not unheard of for those unscrupulous manager to abscond with the box office receipt and strand the actor in hostile territory without a penny . yet somehow and with the advantage of hindsight and field be able to turn these unhappy memory into great comedy and comedy that also serve a something of a history lesson albeit a pleasant one for viewer interested in the early day of the american stage . because field be in his mid 50 when he make this film he be able to turn the table and in a sense represent instead of reprise his real life role a a starving young actor he would graduate by this time to the role of the unscrupulous manager and know here simply a the great mcgonigle . mcgonigle lead a ragtag troupe of player who be tour the hinterland in that ever popular temperance warhorse and the drunkard . a our story begin this troupe be flee a town one step ahead of the sheriff and and head for their next engagement in the village of bellefontaine and where prospect do not look much well . in desperate need of cash and mcgonigle be compel to woo a local wealthy widow who aspire to the stage and the magnificently name cleopatra pepperday ( play with appropriate magnificence by jan duggan ) and while in the meantime his daughter be woo by a college boy who also dream of perform . the boarding house where the troupe stay serve a the locale for two hilarious comic set piece and back to back represent first and mcgonigle lunch be ruin by mrs. pepperday rowdy toddler albert and who fling food in his face and grab his nose and and dunk his pocket watch in molasses . and then and a if he hadn not be punish enough already and mcgonigle must listen to mrs. pepperday spirited rendition of the sea shell song . these two sequence alone be reason enough to make this movie a must see comedy classic and and and interestingly and in each of them field himself play victimize straight man represent first to baby leroy and then to jan duggan and whose rendition of the song be a show stop triumph . field reaction to both of these character be priceless and but it also worth point out that in this instance the notoriously paranoid and cantankerous w. c. field and who be say to be deeply jealous of other comedian and generously share the spotlight with not one but two fellow player and permit each to temporarily steal the spotlight and to the ultimate benefit of the project . the movie finale consist of the troupe performance of the drunkard plus a couple of song and and best of all and the great mcgonigle juggling act . this extended sequence feel like an authentic recreation of just what an evening at a small town theater of the period would have be like and from the cheap look set and declamatory acting style to the heavy curtain that hit the stage with a crash after each scene . the juggling bit be a special treat and a it represent the most complete film record of field legendary feat of legerdemain . my only complaint be that there be too many cut away shot show audience member reaction while i would have be perfectly happy to watch the whole routine in a couple of uninterrupted take with no reaction shot at all . but in any event and the juggling act be wonderful . accord to a recent biography of w. c. field by james curtis the old fashioned way suffer through a troubled gestation process . just a the film be go into production field original screenplay and entitle play the stick and be find to be somewhat jumbled and too brief to sustain a feature length movie . apparently the savior of the project be an unheralded screenwriter name jack cunningham and then know primarily for his early work on western such a the covered wagon and a couple of douglas fairbanks vehicle . it be cunningham who rework and expand field original script into the seamless story it become and and who choose to interpolate the sequence from the drunkard while he also persuade field to dust off his old juggling act for the finale . if this background information be correct then viewer owe a debt of thanks to mr. cunningham for his important contribution to this terrifically entertaining and funny and and nostalgic slice of theatrical americana .