Introducing Bert Williams: Burnt Cork, Broadway, and the Story of America's First Black Star
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- Synopsis
- 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.
- Copyright:
- 2008
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Publisher Quality
- Book Size:
- 416 Pages
- ISBN-13:
- 9780786722358
- Related ISBNs:
- 9780465024797
- Publisher:
- Basic Books
- Date of Addition:
- 05/28/21
- Copyrighted By:
- Camille F. Forbes
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- Entertainment, Nonfiction, Biographies and Memoirs
- Grade Levels:
- College Freshman
- Reading Age:
- 13 and up
- Submitted By:
- Bookshare Staff
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.