Weber and Fields' Broadway Music Hall, sometimes simplified to Weber and Fields' Music Hall, was a Broadway theatre located in Manhattan on 29th Street near the corner of 29th and Broadway going towards Sixth Avenue.[1] It was the resident theatre of comedy duo Joe Weber and Lew Fields from 1896 through 1904; with the pair starring in numerous original high energy musical farces mounted at that theatre.[2]
1893 photograph of the Imperial Music Hall (left) as seen from the intersection of 29th Street and Broadway
Originally named the Imperial Music Hall,[3] the theatre was designed by architect M. V. B. Ferdon.[4] It was built by impresario George J. Kraus in 1892, and was modeled after the Empire Theatre in London's West End.[5] The theatre opened as a variety theatre on October 24, 1892.[6] Kraus managed the theatre until May 27, 1896, when the building was leased to Weber and Fields.[6] At this point the theatre was closed for renovations, and it was renamed Weber and Fields' Broadway Music Hall when it re-opened on September 5, 1896.[6]
After nearly eight years of performance together at the Weber and Fields' Broadway Music Hall, Weber and Fields broke up their partnership in 1904 and Fields left the Broadway Music Hall while Weber remained.[7] Fields' last performances at the theatre was in the musical Whoop-Dee-Doo which closed on January 30, 1904.[8] After this the theatre was forced to close when the fire at the Iroquois Theater, Chicago, caused strict enforcement of the fire laws in New York. Weber and Fields were told that they would have to remodel or close the Music Hall and this caused a disagreement between the duo which split their partnership for an extended period of time.[9]
After Fields' departure, the theatre was renamed Weber's Music Hall beginning with Weber's first musical without Fields, Higgledy-Piggledy, which opened on October 20, 1904.[10] Some 1904 advertisements for the Higgledy-Piggledy production also referred to the theatre as Weber and Ziegfeld's Music Hall;[11] as Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. was the work's initial producer and his wife Anna Held was briefly a star in the production.[10] However, this partnership was short lived as Ziegfeld and Held did not get along with Weber, and their relationship with Weber and the theatre ended rapidly after the production premiered with the actress Trixie Friganza replacing Held and Ziegfeld divesting of his role as producer and all connections with the theatre.[12] It was later retitled Weber's Theatre.[3]
In 1913 the theatre discontinued live performance and became a cinema. The theatre was demolished in 1917.[1]
After an eight year separation, Weber and Fields reconciled and reunited after the death of Fields' father in 1912; attending his funeral together.[7] A new Weber and Fields' Music Hall (later re-named the 44th Street Theatre in 1913) was built by The Shubert Organization to house the re-formed team at 216 West 44th Street in Manhattan, and it opened with a Weber and Fields burlesque production on 21 November 1912.[7]
↑ Donald J. Stubblebine (2015). Early Broadway Sheet Music: A Comprehensive Listing of Published Music from Broadway and Other Stage Shows, 1843-1918. McFarland & Company. p.103. ISBN9781476605609.
Henderson, Mary C. The City and the Theatre: The History of New York Playhouses; a 250 Year Journey from Bowling Green to Times Square. Back Stage Books. ISBN9780823006373.
Greenfield, Thomas A. (2009). Broadway: An Encyclopedia of Theater and American Culture. ABC-CLIO. ISBN9780313342653.
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A Fine Romance", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "The Song Is You", "All the Things You Are", "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Long Ago ". He collaborated with many of the leading librettists and lyricists of his era, including George Grossmith Jr., Guy Bolton, P. G. Wodehouse, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin and Yip Harburg.
Jean Schwartz was a Hungarian-born Jewish American composer and pianist. He is best known for his work writing the scores for more than 30 Broadway musicals, and for his creation of more than 1,000 popular songs with the lyricist William Jerome. Schwartz and Jerome also performed together on the vaudeville stage in the United States; sometimes in collaboration with Maude Nugent, Jerome's wife, and the Dolly Sisters. Schwartz was married to Jenny Dolly from 1913 to 1921.
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934, 1936, 1943, and 1957. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.
Show Boat is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock workers on the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River show boat, over 40 years from 1887 to 1927. Its themes include racial prejudice and tragic, enduring love. The musical contributed such classic songs as "Ol' Man River", "Make Believe", and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man".
Florenz Edward Ziegfeld Jr. was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies (1907–1931), inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He also produced the musical Show Boat. He was known as the "glorifier of the American girl". Ziegfeld is a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Helene Anna Held was a Polish-born French stage performer of Jewish origin on Broadway. While appearing in London, she was spotted by impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, who brought her to America as his common-law wife. From 1896 through 1910, she was one of Broadway's most celebrated leading ladies, presented in a succession of musicals as a charming, coquettish Parisian singer and comedienne, with an hourglass figure and an off-stage reputation for exotic behavior, such as bathing in 40 gallons of milk a day to maintain her complexion. Detractors implied that her fame owed more to Ziegfeld's promotional flair than to any intrinsic talent, but her audience allure was undeniable for over a decade, with several of her shows setting house attendance records for their time. Her uninhibited style also inspired the long-running series of popular revues, the Ziegfeld Follies.
Lew Fields was an American actor, comedian, vaudeville star, theatre manager, and producer. He was part of a comedy duo with Joe Weber. He also produced shows on his own and starred in comedy films.
Say, Darling is a three-act comic play by Abe Burrows and Richard and Marian Bissell about the creation of a Broadway musical. While the play featured nine original songs with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne, all the songs are presented as either rehearsal or audition material.
The Olympia Theatre, also known as Hammerstein's Olympia and later the Lyric Theatre and the New York Theatre, was a theater complex built by impresario Oscar Hammerstein I at Longacre Square in Manhattan, New York City, opening in 1895.
The 44th Street Theatre was a Broadway theater at 216 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Manhattan in New York City from 1912 to 1945. It was originally named Weber and Fields' Music Hall when it opened in November 1912 as a resident venue for the comedy duo Weber and Fields, but was renamed to the 44th Street Theatre in December 1913 after their tenure at the theatre ended. It should not be confused with the Weber and Fields' Broadway Music Hall, often referred to as simply Weber and Fields' Music Hall and also known as Weber's Music Hall or Weber's Theatre, which was used by both Weber and Fields or just Weber from 1896 through 1912.
Joseph Morris Weber was an American vaudeville performer who, along with Lew Fields, formed the comedy double-act of Weber and Fields.
The Anco Cinema was a former Broadway theatre turned cinema at 254 West 42nd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It opened in 1904 and was originally named the Lew Fields Theatre. It continued to operate as a playhouse under various names until it was converted into a movie theatre in 1930. Its block was famous for its concentration of Broadway theatres turned cinemas. After World War II, the street declined and the Anco Cinema eventually became a pornography venue. It closed as a cinema in 1988 and was gutted for retail use. The building was demolished in 1997.
Edgar McPhail Smith was an American writer and lyricist for musicals in the early decades of the 20th century. He contributed to some 150 Broadway musicals. Weber and Fields starred in many of his works.
Slug is the musical project of Ian Black. Under the alias, Black has so far released two studio albums: Ripe (2015) and HiggledyPiggledy (2018). However, in September 2022 it was announced that his 3rd album Thy Socialite! will be released on 20 January 2023. Black had previously been a member of the North East surf-pop band The Bubble Project, as well a touring member of Field Music.
Bonnie Maginn, also known as Bonnie Magin, was an American stage actress, model, singer and dancer, and vaudeville performer.
Louis De Lange, also known as Louis De Lange Moss was an American playwright, actor, and theatrical manager. As a stage actor he primarily appeared in light operas and musicals; notably portraying Sir Joseph Porter in the original production of John Philip Sousa's pirated version of Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore in Philadelphia, on Broadway and on tour in 1879. As a dramatist he mainly wrote the books for musicals; often in collaboration with writer Edgar Smith on projects created for the comedy duo Lew Fields and Joe Weber. De Lange also worked as Fields and Weber's manager for their national tours. His wife was the Broadway actress Selma Mantell who appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies among other Broadway shows. Their son was the bandleader and lyricist Eddie DeLange.
Higgledy-Piggledy is a musical in two acts with music by Maurice Levi and both book and lyrics by Edgar Smith. It was produced by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. and Joseph M. Weber, and written as a starring vehicle for Ziegfeld's longtime romantic companion, the actress Anna Held, and for vaudevillian comedian Joe Weber who had recently split from his comedic partnership with Lew Fields. While critical responses to the production overwhelmingly cited the felt absence of Lew Fields and the difficulty of Weber's persona coping with that loss, the work was still a popular success and well received largely due to the actress Marie Dressler who gave a highly lauded star making performance in the role of Philopena Schnitz that propelled the show through a relatively long run on Broadway and on tour.
Ernest Albert, born Ernest Albert Brown, was an American painter, illustrator, muralist, and scenic designer. He was a prolific scenic designer, first in St. Louis and Chicago and then on Broadway. He is considered a major American landscape painter and was elected the first president of the Allied Artists of America in 1919.
Frederick Charles Solomon, sometimes given as Fred Solomon or Frederic Solomon, was a British-born American composer, conductor, actor, librettist, playwright, theatre director, and multi-instrumentalist. After studying music at the School of Military Music, he began his career playing the cornet and acting in Britain before emigrating to the United States in 1885.
Silvio Hein was an American composer, songwriter, conductor, and theatrical producer. He was a songwriter for Tin Pan Alley and composed the scores to fourteen Broadway musicals. His most successful stage work was the 1917 musical Flo-Flo which he created with the French librettist and playwright Fred de Gresac. His songs were also interpolated into musicals created by others, including The Little Duchess and Ziegfeld Follies. In addition to his work writing music, he also worked as both a conductor and producer on Broadway. In 1914 he was a founding member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
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