Dancing in the dark
Phillips, Caryl2006
Book
Total copies: 15
After a career spent playing African 'savages' in white companies, Bert Williams slowly felt degraded by his situation, turning to drink in order to ease the pain of his predicament. This novel is based on the story of his life, at a time when racism was normal and political correctness a foreign theory. 'The funniest man I ever saw, and the saddest man I ever knew.' This is how W.C. Fields described Bert Williams, the highest-paid entertainer in America in his heyday and someone who counted the King of England and Buster Keaton among his fans.Born in the Bahamas, he moved to California with his family. Too poor to attend Stanford University, he took to life on the stage with his friend George Walker. Together they played lumber camps and mining towns until they eventually made the agonising decision to 'play the coon'. Off-stage, Williams was a tall, light-skinned man with marked poise and dignity; on-stage he now became a shuffling, inept 'nigger' who wore blackface make-up. As the new century dawned they were headlining on Broadway. But the mask was beginning to overwhelm Williams and he sank into bouts of melancholia and heavy drinking, unable to escape the blackface his public demanded.
Main title:
Dancing in the dark / Caryl Phillips.
Author:
Work:
Imprint:
London : Vintage, 2006.
Collation:
209 p. ; 20 cm.
Notes:
Originally published: London: Secker & Warburg, 2005.
ISBN:
9780099488873 (pbk)
Dewey class:
823.914
LC class:
PR9275.S263 P4
Language:
English
Subject:
Williams, Bert, 1874-1922 -- FictionComedians -- United States -- FictionBlackface entertainers -- United States -- FictionBiographical fictionGeneral FictionFiction & related itemsModern & contemporary fictionFiction: general & literaryBiographical fictionHistorical fictionRelating to African American people
BRN:
180039