Introducing Bert Williams
Burnt Cork, Broadway, and the Story of America's First Black Star
Nonfiction, Entertainment, Performing Arts, Theatre, History & Criticism, History, Americas, United States, 19th Century
| Author: | Camille F. Forbes | ISBN: | 9780786722358 |
| Publisher: | Basic Books | Publication: | August 1, 2008 |
| Imprint: | Civitas Books | Language: | English |
| Author: | Camille F. Forbes |
| ISBN: | 9780786722358 |
| Publisher: | Basic Books |
| Publication: | August 1, 2008 |
| Imprint: | Civitas Books |
| Language: | English |
According to critics of his time, Bert Williams was the Greatest Comedian on the American Stage.” A black Bahamian immigrant, Williams made his start as a barker advertising the rough-and-tumble medicine shows” that dotted the Wild West at the end of the nineteenth century. Not long after joining a minstrel troupe and donning the burnt- cork makeup of blackface, he teamed up with African American George Walker in a sixteen-year partnership that would take them from rural western mining towns to the bright lights of Broadway.
In Introducing Bert Williams, historian Camille Forbes reveals a fascinating figure, initiating the reader into the vivid world of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century popular entertainment. Williams's long and varied career is a whirlwind of drama, glamour, and ambition-nothing less than the birth of American show business.
According to critics of his time, Bert Williams was the Greatest Comedian on the American Stage.” A black Bahamian immigrant, Williams made his start as a barker advertising the rough-and-tumble medicine shows” that dotted the Wild West at the end of the nineteenth century. Not long after joining a minstrel troupe and donning the burnt- cork makeup of blackface, he teamed up with African American George Walker in a sixteen-year partnership that would take them from rural western mining towns to the bright lights of Broadway.
In Introducing Bert Williams, historian Camille Forbes reveals a fascinating figure, initiating the reader into the vivid world of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century popular entertainment. Williams's long and varied career is a whirlwind of drama, glamour, and ambition-nothing less than the birth of American show business.
