He is best known for the themes and incidental music he wrote for the classic Hal Roach comedy short films of the 1930s, including the Our Gang and Laurel and Hardy series.

His only known screen appearance was as the bandleader in the nightclub scenes for the premiere Pitts and Todd 1931 short entitled Let's Do Things, which was directed by Roach himself.

A series of miscommunications led to Shield's requests for scoring assignments from the Roach organization being repeatedly declined after 1936; the work went instead to Marvin Hatley.

[2] In 1947 Shield replaced H. Leopold Spitalny as the personnel contractor for Arturo Toscanini's NBC Symphony Orchestra.

The recordings drew praise from cartoonist R. Crumb, who rendered a portrait of Shield for the CD cover, and led to a renewed appreciation of the composer's work.