All fame is fleeting but it’s easy to forget how well known Oom was in the 1930s. This New York Times movie review from 1934, of W.C Field in “The Old-Fashioned Way”, reminds us that Omnipotent Oom was familiar enough to readers to toss off in a casual comparison.

To the lyric popping of vest buttons and the tortured noises of the laugh that begins deep down, the magnificent Mr. Fields has graciously placed himself on view at the Paramount, and honest guffaws are once more heard on Forty-third Street. The great man, the omnipotent oom of one of the screen’s most devoted cults, brings with him some new treasures, as well as a somewhat alarming collection of wheezes which, ten years ago in the vaudeville tank towns, must have seemed not long for this world. But somehow when Mr. Fields, in his necessary search for comic business, is forced to strike up a nodding acquaintance with vintage gags, they seem to become almost young again. (more)