This is a cleaned–up version of a remark reproduced by Wikiquote, from Halliwell's Hundred – a filmgoer's nostalgic choice of films from the golden age, by Leslie Halliwell (1982). "The story goes that a polite young lady journalist invited [Fields] to lunch at Chasen's in hope of a story. Lunch in his case was a liquid affair, and left him uncommunicative. Noticing the passion with which he shooed away the hovering waiter with the ice water jug, she seized an opening. 'Mr. Fields, could you tell me the reason for your well–known aversion to water?' 'Delighted, my dear,' he replied with suddenly increased bonhomie. 'Never touch the stuff – very unhealthy. Fish fuck in it.'"
Chasen's was a famous restaurant on Hollywood's Beverly Boulevard, on the border with Beverly Hills. It was frequented by film stars, entertainers, politicians and other dignitaries. It opened in 1936 and was the site of the Academy Awards party for many years. It was particularly famous for its chili; Elizabeth Taylor had several orders of Chasen's chili flown to the set of Cleopatra in 1963 while filming in Rome.
Many of the restaurant's regular customers – including Frank Sinatra, Alfred Hitchcock, James Stewart, and Groucho Marx – had booths named in their honor. The Ronald Reagan booth (now on display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library) was where Reagan proposed to his second wife, the actress Nancy Davis.
Other famous customers of Chasen's included Walt Disney, Marilyn Monroe, Shirley Temple, Cary Grant, Jack Benny, Jackie Gleason, James Cagney, Clark Gable, and F. Scott Fitzgerald – as well as W. C. Fields himself.
Chasen's closed in 1995, after suffering a decline in business over the course of many years.
© Haydn Thompson 2021