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Link to text of Weber and Fields comic routine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fields, Lew 1867 births 1941 deaths American male comedians Jewish American male actors American vaudeville performers American male film actors 19th-century American male actors American male stage actors 20th-century American male actors American theatre managers and producers 20th-century American comedians 19th-century American comedians Immigrants to the United States Jewish American comedians Jewish male comedians
Lew Fields (born Moses Schoenfeld, January 1867 – July 20, 1941) was an American
Lew Fields was born Moses Schoenfeld to Polish-Jewish parents. was half of the great comic duo Weber and Fields with Joe Weber. They performed in museums, circuses, and variety houses in New York City. The young men had a "Dutch act" in which both portrayed German 
In 1923, Weber and Fields partnered yet again for a
actor
An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...
, comedian
A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...
, vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
star, theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...
, and producer. He was part of a comedy duo with Joe Weber. He also produced shows on his own and starred in comedy films.
Biography
Lew Fields was born Moses Schoenfeld to Polish-Jewish parents. was half of the great comic duo Weber and Fields with Joe Weber. They performed in museums, circuses, and variety houses in New York City. The young men had a "Dutch act" in which both portrayed German immigrants
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...
. Several recordings of their act were made and released as on records.
In the case of Weber and Fields (or "Mike and Meyer" as their characters were known) and many of the other acts of this genre, this often involved stereotyping by dress and behavior, as well as comedic and often sympathetic portrayals of the characters' attempts to fit into American society. "Crafty schemes" of "making it big" in America, as well as the attempts of mere survival of immigrant poverty in America, were written into the script of these acts. A typical "Mike and Meyer" routine involved Mike, the short and clever one, unsuccessfully trying to coach Meyer, the tall and simple one, in a scheme to get them a free lunch at a working-class saloon.
The two toured successfully for many years, becoming one of the most popular and profitable acts in vaudeville. In 1896, the partners opened the Weber and Fields' Broadway Music Hall, where they produced very successful burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.
s of popular Broadway shows. In the music hall's casts were some of the greatest performers and comics on the American stage at that time, including Lillian Russell, Ross and Fenton, Fay Templeton
Fay Templeton (December 25, 1865 – October 3, 1939) was an American actress, singer, songwriter, and comedian.
Her parents were John J. Templeton and Alice Van Asse, both of whom were actors/vaudevillians; Fay followed in their footsteps, m ...
, and DeWolf Hopper
William DeWolf Hopper (March 30, 1858September 23, 1935) was an American actor, singer, comedian, and theatrical producer. A star of vaudeville and musical theater, he became best known for performing the popular baseball poem "Casey at the Bat" ...
. Some of their routines were ''Pousse Cafe'', ''Hurly Burly'', ''Whirl-I-Gig'', ''Fiddle-Dee-Dee'', ''Hoity-Toity'', ''Twirly Whirly'', and ''Whoop-de-Doo''.
The duo separated in 1904, and Weber took over operations at the music hall. Fields went on to produce many musicals
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...
. When Fields starred in the 1911 stage comedy, ''The Hen-Pecks'', one of the supporting comedians in the cast was Vernon Castle, who went on to become a famous ballroom
A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called ''balls''. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially histori ...
dancer. Fields then produced ''Hanky Panky'' which ran from August 5, 1912 through November 2, 1912 featuring songs by Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Acade ...
and Ballard MacDonald. In 1913 Fields produced and starred in the Broadway musical '' All Aboard''. In 1921, Fred Allen
John Florence Sullivan (May 31, 1894 – March 17, 1956), known professionally as Fred Allen, was an American comedian. His absurdist topically-pointed radio program '' The Fred Allen Show'' (1932–1949) made him one of the most popular and forw ...
and Nora Bayes
Nora Bayes (born Rachel Eleonora "Dora" Goldberg; October 3, 1880March 19, 1928) was an American singer and vaudeville performer who was popular internationally between the 1900s and 1920s. She is credited with co-writing the song " Shine On, Har ...
toured with Fields. During the tour the orchestra was conducted by 19-year-old Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers wa ...
, who, in 1920, contributed songs with lyrics by Lorenz Hart
Lorenz Milton Hart (May 2, 1895 – November 22, 1943) was an American lyricist and half of the Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include "Blue Moon"; " The Lady Is a Tramp"; "Manhattan"; " Bewitched, Bo ...
to the Lew Field's production of '' Poor Little Ritz Girl''.
In 1923, Weber and Fields partnered yet again for a Lee DeForest #REDIRECT Lee de Forest #REDIRECT Lee de Forest
{{redirect category shell, {{R from move{{R from other capitalisation ...
{{redirect category shell, {{R from move{{R from other capitalisation ...Phonofilm
Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s.
In 1919 and 1920, de Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patents on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofi ...
sound-on-film
Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an Analog s ...
short, where the team recreated their famous pool hall routine. This film premiered at the Rivoli Theater in New York City on 15 April 1923. Three years later, the duo were among those supporting Will Rogers
William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...
and Mary Garden
Mary Garden (20 February 1874 – 3 January 1967) was a Scottish-American operatic lyric soprano, then mezzo-soprano, with a substantial career in France and America in the first third of the 20th century. She spent the latter part of her chil ...
on the NBC Radio Network's November 15, 1926 debut broadcast. Their own NBC series followed in 1931.
Weber and Fields also reunited for the 27 December 1932 inaugural show at Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York C ...
, which proved to be the last stage appearance of the two performers as a team. In the RKO Radio Pictures
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...
film, '' The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle'' (1939), Fields appeared as himself, re-enacting a slapstick comedy scene from ''The Hen-Pecks''. They gave a cameo performance performing their "casino" routine in the 1940 movie '' Lillian Russell''.
Lew Fields died in Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hills ...
on July 20, 1941.
Personal life
Fields was the father of Dorothy, Herbert andJoseph
Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...
, all of whom enjoyed theatrical careers of their own. Fields was Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
.
Legacy
The backstage hostility inNeil Simon
Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He received three ...
's play and film '' The Sunshine Boys'' is reportedly based on the team of Smith and Dale, not Weber and Fields.
Filmography
*''Old Dutch'' (1915) *'' The Man Who Stood Still'' (1916) *'' The Barker'' (1917) * '' The Corner Grocer'' (1917) * '' Friendly Enemies'' (1925) *'' Two Flaming Youths'' (1927) *'' Blossoms on Broadway'' (1937) *'' The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle'' (1939)References
External links
* * *Link to text of Weber and Fields comic routine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fields, Lew 1867 births 1941 deaths American male comedians Jewish American male actors American vaudeville performers American male film actors 19th-century American male actors American male stage actors 20th-century American male actors American theatre managers and producers 20th-century American comedians 19th-century American comedians Immigrants to the United States Jewish American comedians Jewish male comedians