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Bert Williams (November 12, 1874 – March 4, 1922) was one of the pre-eminent entertainers of the Vaudeville era and one of the most popular comedians for all audiences of his time. He was by far the best-selling black recording artist before 1920. In 1918, the ''New York Dramatic Mirror'' called Williams "one of the great comedians of the world."〔New York Dramatic Mirror, December 7, 1918〕 Williams was a key figure in the development of African-American entertainment. In an age when racial inequality and stereotyping were commonplace, he became the first black American to take a lead role on the Broadway stage, and did much to push back racial barriers during his long career. Fellow vaudevillian W.C. Fields, who appeared in productions with Williams, described him as "the funniest man I ever saw – and the saddest man I ever knew."〔Wintz, Cary D. ''Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance'', Routledge (2004), page 1210 - ISBN 1-57958-389-X〕 ==Early life== Williams was born in Nassau, The Bahamas, on November 12, 1874, to Frederick Williams Jr. and his wife Julia.〔Contrary to occasional assertions that Antigua was Bert Williams' place of birth, the case for The Bahamas is now accepted by most scholars and biographers as irrefutable. The record is clear that Bert was born in Nassau, The Bahamas, on November 12, 1874, to Frederick Williams Jr. and his wife Julia (née Moncur), both of them natives of The Bahamas as well. This is verified by the Register of Births for St. Matthews Parish, Nassau, The Bahamas (ref. entry # 24), showing November 12, 1874, at Nassau as the date and place of birth. Bert's Bahamian origins are also confirmed by the (1920) 14th Census of the United States in which the "actor" Bert Williams working in the "theatre", a resident of New York City, is described as a native of The Bahamas along with his mother, Julia Williams who was listed as living at the time of the Census with Bert and his wife, Lottie née Thompson (ref. enumeration dated 7 January 1920 for Enumeration District No.1353, Sheet No.8 B - lines 80, 81, 82). Bert's father's place of birth is also listed as The Bahamas in the same Census although he was by then deceased. (See also Bert's father's birth certificate of 5 October 1850, Registry of Births, Registry of Records, Nassau, The Bahamas; also his death certificate 1 April 1912, NYMA (New York) showing his place of birth as The Bahamas. Bert's paternal grandparents, Frederick Williams Sr. and Emeline Armbrister are listed on birth certificates as being natives of The Bahamas as well. Moreover, Bert himself acknowledged his Bahamian origins in an interview published in ''New York World'' on 27 June 1903, following his command performance in London before the British king, when he said : "It was the proudest moment of my life ... to appear before my sovereign, for I am British born, hailing from The Bahamas." He again confirmed his Bahamian origins in an interview with the ''Chicago Record-Herald'', 25 September 1910. Similarly, in his petition for naturalization as a citizen of the U.S., Bert listed his place of birth as The Bahamas.〕 At the age of 11, Bert permanently emigrated with his parents to Florida. The family later moved to Riverside, California, where he graduated from Riverside High School. In 1893, while still a teenager, he joined different West Coast minstrel shows, including Martin and Selig's Mastodon Minstrels, where he first met his future partner, George Walker.〔Sampson, Henry T. ''Blacks in Black and White: A Source Book on Black Films'', New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. (1997), p. 264. ISBN 0-8108-1023-9〕 He and Walker performed song-and-dance numbers, comic dialogues and skits, and humorous songs. They fell into stereotypical vaudevillian roles: originally Williams portrayed a slick conniver, while Walker played the "dumb coon" victim of Williams' schemes.〔(Brooks, Tim. ''Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919'', University of Illinois Press (2004), p. 105. ISBN 0-252-02850-3. )〕 However, they soon discovered that they got a better reaction by switching roles. The sharp-featured and slender Walker eventually developed a persona as a strutting dandy, while the stocky Williams played the languorous oaf. Despite his thickset physique, Williams was a master of body language and physical "stage business." A New York Times reviewer wrote, "He holds a face for minutes at a time, seemingly, and when he alters it, bring() a laugh by the least movement."〔New York Times, "Dahomey on Broadway," February 19, 1903〕 In late 1896, the pair were added to ''The Gold Bug'', a struggling musical. The show did not survive, but Williams & Walker got good reviews, and were able to secure higher profile bookings. They headlined the Koster and Bial's vaudeville house for 36 weeks in 1896-97, where their spirited version of the cakewalk helped popularize the dance. The pair performed in burnt-cork blackface, as was customary at the time, billing themselves as "Two Real Coons" to distinguish their act from the many white minstrels also performing in blackface. Williams also made his first recordings in 1896, but none are known to survive. While playing off the "coon" formula, Williams & Walker's act and demeanor subtly undermined it as well. Camille Forbes wrote, "They called into question the possible realness of blackface performers who only ''emphasized'' their artificiality by recourse to burnt cork; after all, Williams did not really need the burnt cork to be black."〔Forbes, Camille, Introducing Bert Williams, Basic Civitas Books, 2008, pg. 59〕 Terry Waldo also noted the layered irony in their cakewalk routine, which presented them as mainstream blacks performing a dance in a way that lampooned whites who'd mocked a black dance that originally satirized plantation whites' ostentatiously fussy mannerisms.〔Waldo, Terry, This is Ragtime, Da Capo Press, 1991, pg. 25〕 The pair also made sure to present themselves as immaculately groomed and classily dressed in their publicity photos, which were used for advertising and on the covers of sheet music promoting their songs. In this way, they drew a contrast between their real-life comportment and the comical characters they portrayed onstage. However, this aspect of their act was ambiguous enough that some black newspapers still criticized the duo for failing to uplift the dignity of their race. In 1899 Bert surprised his partner George Walker and his family when he announced he had recently married Charlotte ("Lottie") Thompson, a singer with whom he had worked professionally, in a very private ceremony. Lottie was a widow 8 years Bert's senior and a homebody, thus the match seemed odd to some who knew the gregarious and constantly traveling Williams, but all who knew them considered them a uniquely happy couple and the union lasted until his death. The Williamses never had children biologically but they adopted three of Lottie's nieces and frequently sheltered orphans and foster children in their homes. Williams & Walker appeared in a succession of shows, including ''A Senegambian Carnival'', ''A Lucky Coon'', and ''The Policy Players''. Their stars were on the ascent, but they still faced vivid reminders of the limits placed on them by white society. In August 1900, in New York City, hysterical rumors of a white detective having been shot by a black man erupted into an uncontained riot. Unaware of the street violence, Williams & Walker left their theater after a performance and parted ways. Williams headed off in a fortunate direction, but Walker was yanked from a streetcar by a white mob and was beaten. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bert Williams」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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