Before there were the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, or Abbott and Costello, there was Weber and Fields—the largely forgotten comedy team who made all of them, and many others, possible.

The famous roughhousing German dialect comedians were not only the most popular funny men in the country at the turn of the last century, they went on to become two of the most successful producers on Broadway. And, in rare spare moments, they managed to record some of the first comedy albums. These are now being re-released in a new edition by Archeophone Records, with liner notes co-written by Chelsea Community News’ own Trav S.D.

The record officially drops May 31, but pre-sales are under way now. The direct link is here: https://www.archeophone.com/catalogue/weber-and-fields-mike-and-meyer-files/.

TRAV S.D. aka D. Travis Stewart | Trav S.D. has been writing about arts and culture in NYC for 20 years, for such publications as the NY Times, American Theatre, The Village Voice, Time Out NY, Reason, The NY Sun, and the NYC Community Media family of papers. In addition to creating the popular blog Travalanche, he is also the author of two critically acclaimed books: No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous (Faber & Faber, 2005) and Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube (Bear Manor Media, 2013). He was an Affiliated Writing Fellow at American Theatre in 2001. When he’s not doing all that, he also writes and performs.

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