New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-08
THE EVOLUTION OF
WEBER AND FIELDS
How They Set Out To Be Irish
and Came to Sing Die
Wacht am Rhein."

Weber and Fields. who have rednited
TO appear at the Palace this week, nave
not always been German comedians.
When they made their stage debut at
the age of nine, unknown to their par
cnts. they were Irish comedians, play
ing thirty-three turns a day for IS
week each at concert hall on the
Bcwery. At that time the United
States was the haven of refuge Tor
mary foreigners, and New York the city
which most of them made their
homes. The Land League troubles were
rife in Ireland then, and very large
percentage of the immigrants were
|. Irish Therefore the two boys, deter
mined on a stage career of comedy, mt
upon the Irish as the proper race 70
portray, and so it was that Weber and
Fields appeared in green coat, green
knickerbockers, green stockings and
with pipe and shillelah, singing a song
. that began thus:
We are two Jolly Irish lads.
As YOU can plainly see
And II we're not mistaken
We think YOU viii agree
That are Jolly lrsh lads
As Jolly MS can he.
To this song came the usual accom-
paniment of slapstick and dance steps,
end Weber and Fields made good 1t
wasn't necessary for them to make so
very good at SO a week, but they won
enough applause to enable them to OBJ
tain engagements to play the music
halls on the East Side and finally have
their salaries doubled. But just about
this time the influx of the Irish i'm
migrants began to ebb and the Ger
mans began coming over in droves.
Quick to take advantage of this fact,
TIE boys changed their green raiment
for something more suggestive OF the
Teuton, and with wooden shoes and
blond wigs they came out one night
ard sang:
We are two jolly German lads,
As Jolly can be-
Aud II we're not mistaken
We think you will agree
Thai Jolly German lads.
Is Jolly can be.
The applause which greeted their
first attempt at German comedy COM
plctely overshadowed all their success
with the Irish brogue, and from that
time. thirty-eight years ago, Weber and
Fields have been known as German
omedians, and never once have they
deviated from this type of entertain
ment. As sole stars, each has chung to
the dialect, twisted and contorted, that
wor fame and fortune for the pair.
The comedians had a hard time at
first. after they had begun to Ego on
the road" and il was not an infrequent
occurrence for them to go hungry and
foot it" to the next town. But they
were inventive and always up-to-the-
moment in everything they did. Out of
some popular fad of the day they saw
opportunities for burlesque, and were
always quick to grasp them. Pool be-
came a widfre fad-they gave pool
table scene; roller skating became the
craze-they roller skated; now bowling
became the pet sport they set up
bowling alleys on the stage; marks
manship now claimed public attention
they organized a schuetzenfest of
their own, and so they kept on, always
changing their act, always giving the
public something new.
When they realized that they were
becoming sought after by managers
they undertook to form their own com
pany, presenting musical farce and bur
lesque, and their first metropolitan OPP
portunity came TO them when they
bought the old Imperial Music Hall, at
Broadway and Twenty Street,
which they rechristened Weber e.