Fields, Lew

Fields, Lew [né Lewis Maurice Shanfield] (1867–1941), actor and producer. One of the most successful and popular of American theatrical figures, he was born to immigrant parents on New York's Lower East Side. Joining an amateur vaudeville act, he first met Joseph [ Morris] WEBER (1867–1942), a native New Yorker who grew up a few blocks from Fields's home. Within a few years the pair was touring in vaudeville with their comic “Dutch” turn. The routine, in a German or Yiddish accent, frequently consisted of Fields suggesting some course of action to Weber, of Weber's bungling the matter, and of a wild‐eyed Fields then pummeling or choking Weber. Within a few years they were touring the country in vaudeville houses and even circuses, and by 1887 they had a complete company. Their “Dutch” act emphasized the fact that they were modern comedians, for dialect comics had come to replace the grotesque comedians who had been the rage. But Weber and Fields always had a respect for tradition, so their act was performed in the grotesque costumes and make‐up just then beginning to lose favor. Fields, the taller, slimmer of the pair, wore an undersized derby hat, oversized checkered suit, and a hayseed beard. Weber dressed in similar fashion but exaggerated his shorter, stockier build with excessive padding. Sometime during this period they reputedly developed one of the most famous of all American jokes, with Weber delivering the punch line, “Dat vas no lady. Dat vas my wife.” The team was so successful that in 1896 they took over the tiny Broadway Music Hall, renaming it Weber and Fields' Music Hall, and presented double bills which consisted of a short musical comedy and a burlesque of a current Broadway success. The musicals had such names as Hurly Burly (1898), Helter Skelter (1899), Fiddle‐Dee‐Dee (1900), Hoity Toity (1901), Twirly Whirly (1902), and Whoop‐Dee‐Doo (1903). The burlesques made a mockery of both the story of the play, often of its scenery and costumes, and almost always of its title. For example, in 1896 The Geisha became The Geezer, while in 1898 Cyrano de Bergerac was distorted into Cyranose de Bric‐a‐brac. The satires proved so popular that managements supposedly offered Weber and Fields bribes to spoof their plays, and the entertainments as a whole were in such demand that the partners were able to auction off opening night seats at outlandish prices. The popularity of the entertainments was enhanced by the striking productions squeezed onto the small stage, the gorgeous chorus line—the most famous before Ziegfeld's—and a host of great supporting performers, including Lillian Russell, Fay Templeton, Bessie Clayton, Sam Bernard, Peter Dailey, David Warfield, and De Wolf Hopper. The Music Hall immediately became one of Broadway's most popular attractions and continued so until the pair split up in 1903. For a time Weber by himself attempted to continue the policy at the theatre, but some of the magic was gone and he soon abandoned the attempt. He produced several regular musicals and plays, the most successful of which was The Climax (1909). The team was reunited briefly in 1912, after which Weber continued to produce, including such shows as The Only Girl (1914), Eileen (1917), Honeydew (1920), and Caste (1927). Fields, on the other hand, had a very successful career as a producer, often starring in his own productions. His first offerings were It Happened in Nordland (1904), About Town (1906), and The Girl behind the Counter (1907), followed by twelve musicals in four years, many of them distinguished by their elaborate productions, exceptional for Broadway at the time. Fields's career slowly waned, catching fire again only in the late 1920s, when he successfully produced a series of musicals written by his son Herbert Fields with Richard Rodgers, and Lorenz Hart: The Girl Friend (1926), Peggy Ann (1926), A Connecticut Yankee (1927), and Present Arms (1928). He also co‐produced Hit the Deck! (1927) with Vincent Youmans. His last Broadway production was The Vanderbilt Revue (1930). Although Fields was hardly an innovator and in interviews disclosed his commercial philosophy as pragmatic, at his peaks he gave the public what it wanted and expected, but with a special panache and style. Biographies: Weber and Fields, Felix Isman, 1924; From the Bowery to Broadway: Lew Fields and the Roots of American Popular Theatre, Armon Fields and L. Marc, 1993.