Lew Fields

Lew Fields
Lew Fields ca. 1909
Born	Moses Schoenfeld January 1867 Beverly Hills, California, United States
Died	July 20, 1941 (aged 73–74) United States
Occupation	Actor, comedian
Children	Dorothy Fields Herbert Fields Joseph Fields

Lew Fields (January 1867 – July 20, 1941), born as Moses Schoenfeld, was an American actor, comedian, vaudeville star, theatre manager, and producer.

Fields was half of the great comic duo Weber and Fields, the other half being Joe Weber. Fields and Weber started performing in museums, circuses and variety houses in New York City. The young men had a "Dutch act" in which both portrayed German immigrants. Such "dialect acts" (German dialects, Irish dialects, Jewish/Yiddish dialects, Blackface and Black/African American vernacular English) were extremely common at the time, the comedy coming from the actors' mangling of the English language and dropping of malapropisms as they undertook life in America.

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 Music Hall, where they produced very successful burlesques 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, and DeWolf Hopper. Some of their routines were Pousse Cafe, Hurly Burly, Whirl-I-Gig, Fiddle-Dee-Dee, Hoity-Toity, Twirly Whirly, and Whoop-de-Doo.