In the Garret (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1920. Excerpt: ... Ill The Negro Theatre W HEN I was twenty-one the wonderful Williams and Walker Company was in full blast and bloom. The two comedi ans headed a large troupe of blacks and offered musical entertainment in a sense sophisticated but which did not dilute the essential charm, the primitive appeal of the Negro. There were reminiscences of the plantation, reminiscences of the old minstrel days, and capital portraits of the new coon, who was in those days a real figure and not a myth like the new woman, who as Agnes Repplier has pointed out in an amusing paper, has been in existence since the days of Eve. This organization must have travelled extensively, though I saw it only in Chicago, for I remember the posters which covered the South Side fencings and hoardings, picturing Williams and Walker appearing at Windsor, by royal command, and Williams and Walker meeting Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales. I am almost certain that one picture showed us the pair taking tea with royalty, but to this I cannot swear. These were the days of Sons of Ham and Abyssinia.... Bert Williams shuffled along in his hopeless way; always penniless, always the butt of fortune, and always human. He reblackened his face, enlarged his mouth, wore shoes which extended beyond the limits of even extraordinary feet, but he never transcended the precise lines of characterization. He was as definite as Mansfield, as subtle as Coquelin. Duse saw him on one of her American tours and promptly decided he was America's finest actor. His pantomimic powers were great and for their exploitation he relied almost entirely on his eyes and his hands, with the occasional aid of a bracing smile. In his poker game, for example, he developed a scene, without speaking a single word, which was enjoyable even...