Beer Is Here

When we watch any film made in the 1930s today the experience necessarily involves an element of time travel: we're transported back to a period in history that's becoming increasingly remote. With a movie such as Beer is Here the journey goes back even further, for this is a film that offered viewers of the '30s a nostalgia trip to an era that was already remote when the film was made. The stars are the famous comedy team of Joe Weber & Lew Fields, a duo whose heyday was the 1890s and early 20th century. Weber & Fields became successful with a brand of unsophisticated ethnic humor that audiences of the day greatly enjoyed. They portrayed Mike & Meyer, a couple of greenhorn rubes fresh off the boat from the Old Country, and most of the laughs were generated by their ignorance of American customs, and their mangling of the English language. The duo toured in vaudeville for years, and opened a popular music hall in New York City. They also recorded several of their routines on early gramophone discs and appeared in a few silent movies, but their largely verbal style didn't adapt well to the silent screen. By the time talkies came along Weber & Fields were getting a bit long in the tooth, but based on the evidence in Beer is Here they were still scrappy, and ready to party like it was 1899. As you may have gathered by now, this movie may not have much appeal for anyone who isn't a theater historian, but for interested viewers it's pleasant, unusual and fairly amusing.

Under the opening credits we see headlines announcing that "Beer is Back," and this requires a bit of explanation. Prohibition of all alcoholic beverages was in effect in this country for almost fourteen years, starting in 1919 when the Volstead Act was passed. In March of 1933 an amendment to the law legalized "near beer," i.e. beer with an alcohol content of 3.2 percent. (The return of beer was celebrated in a number of films released at this time, including the Buster Keaton-Jimmy Durante feature What! No Beer?) So in the opening scene of this short two former business partners, Mike & Meyer, meet in front of their long-shuttered brewery and struggle to unlock the front door. Within a few minutes we get a good idea of the Weber & Fields style, not unlike an ethnic version of Abbott & Costello. Meyer (Lew Fields), the tall one, is sharper and more aggressive, and he punctuates the routines with a gusty laugh; Mike (Joe Weber), the short one, is simple-minded and deadpan. The guys fracture language, bicker, make up, and then bicker again. On stage in their heyday, I gather, their routines were more violent: Meyer would express frustration by whacking Mike with his hat or choking him. In this film the byplay is generally more restrained, although at one point Meyer gives Mike a good throttling, causing his white hair to fly about alarmingly. These guys look like they would be a real handful for the staff of the local nursing home.

Meanwhile, as Mike & Meyer reopen their brewery, a rudimentary plot is established. Mike's son is in love with Meyer's daughter, but they can't get married because their fathers disapprove. The young lovers sing a duet in which they express hope for a brighter tomorrow, and then we get back to the real show: more Weber & Fields. The partners find that their office is covered in cobwebs, and Mike can't remember the combination to the safe, so they blow it open with dynamite. Inside, they find a long-forgotten dachshund with a gray beard—who seems perfectly healthy for a dog locked in a safe for fourteen years—and a deck of cards. Naturally, the next thing to do is to play a hand of poker, and offer more characteristic patter: "What do you bet?" "I bet it rains tomorrow." "No, I mean what have you got?" "I got a wife and two children." "I don't care about your personal life!" Etc.

The Mayor shows up and congratulates the partners on the reopening of their brewery, saying that this means one-thousand unemployed men will be put back to work. (A thousand?!? Must be a big place!) The mayor decrees that a celebration is in order, so we duly cross-fade to a costume party in honor of the occasion. Because the brewery opened in 1908, or so we're told, everyone is required to dress in costumes of that period. The party looks like an Oktoberfest in Milwaukee, suggesting that in 1908 everyone wore lederhosen and Alpine hats, but no matter. Weber & Fields sport their original stage costumes, complete with wigs and fake goatees, and engage in more verbal sparring. The mayor tries to distract them from quarreling by inducing them to dance with young cuties (i.e. young enough to be their granddaughters), but at that point Meyer's gorgon of a wife shows up, and there's more trouble. Eventually everything is straightened out. Singing waiters salute the return of beer, the young lovers are permitted to marry, and the two elderly partners are all smiles at the fade-out.

I can't say I was convulsed with laughter throughout Beer is Here, but as a theater buff I found it fascinating. I only wish some of the other great stars of the vaudeville stage, especially Bert Williams, had lived long enough to make sound films like this one. As it stands, a lot of once-famous personalities such as Williams, Eva Tanguay, Nat Willis, etc., survive only as voices in old recordings or as names mentioned in historical accounts, but thanks to this film we can at least get a sense of what the comedy of Weber & Fields was like. The guys are obviously a little past their prime here, but still amusing and oddly charming for a couple of quarrelsome old duffers.