I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia - Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia

A black and white photograph of W. C. Fields, dressed in a full-length fur coat and bowler cap, shaking hands with Philip Goodman, who wears a long coat and cap and smokes a pipe. They stand on the deck of a ship.

The expression “I’d rather be in Philadelphia” is derived from a fictional epitaph that locally-born entertainer W.C. Fields (1880-1946) proposed for himself in Vanity Fair magazine in 1925: “Here lies W.C. Fields. I would rather be living in Philadelphia.” By implying that Philadelphia would be slightly preferable to the grave, the joke tapped a vein … Continue reading I’d Rather Be in Philadelphia