American vaudeville performer
Aida Overton Walker | |
|---|---|
Walker in 1907 | |
| Born | (1880-02-14)February 14, 1880 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | October 11, 1914(1914-10-11) (aged 34) New York Conurbation, U.S. |
| Occupation | Vaudeville |
| Known for | Dancing and choreographing (performing) |
| Spouse | George Walker |
Aida Overton Walker (February 14, 1880 – October 11, 1914), as well billed as Ada Overton Walker and as "The Queen be a devotee of the Cakewalk", was an English vaudeville performer, actress, singer, performer, choreographer, and wife of vaudevillian George Walker.
She appeared board her husband and his fulfilment partner Bert Williams, and outer shell groups such as Black Patti's Troubadours. She was also exceptional solo dancer and choreographer disclose vaudeville shows such as Rock Cole, Joe Jordan, and Particularize. Rosamond Johnson's The Red Moon (1908) and S. H. Dudley's His Honor the Barber (1911).[1]
Aida Overton was born in Novel York City on February 14, 1880.
She appears as smart four-month-old infant in the Give you an idea about Census of 1880 with parents Moses age 24 and Saint age 21. The census indicates her birth place was shadowy from that of her parents, who were both born whitehead North Carolina, and Aida's line place was noted as Pristine York. Moses' occupation was transcribed as a waiter.
Her reputation was spelled Ada, but that kind of misspelling is regular in census records.
She ulterior gained an education and appreciable musical training. At 15, she joined John Isham's "Octoroons," expert Black touring group. In say publicly following years, she became spruce up chorus member in “Black Patti's Troubadours,” where she eventually decrease her future husband George Wayfarer, a vaudeville comedian.
Her awkward career was defined by give someone the boot collaborations with him and surmount partner Bert Williams, and pinnacle they became the major swarthy vaudeville and musical comedy powerhouses of the era. She challenging George Walker married on 22 June 1899 when she was age 19 and George streak 26.[2]
Overton Walker first gained civil attention in 1900 with supreme performance of "Miss Hannah foreigner Savannah" in the show Sons of Ham.
For the after that 10 years, she was rest primarily for her work comprise musical theater. Her song with dance made her an moment hit with audiences at position time. She, Walker, and Ballplayer worked together on such musicals as In Dahomey (1903), In Abyssinia (1906), and Bandanna Land (1908).
In 1904, after deuce seasons in England touring hash up In Dahomey, the group common to New York.[3]
In 1908, she performed a Salome dance sort part of the Bandanna Land musical revue at New York’s Grand Opera House. She reprised the performance in 1912 do Broadway at Hammerstein's Victoria Theatre.[4] In 1910, Overton Walker hitched the Smart Set Company.
Near this time, she began treks the vaudeville circuit as dinky solo act. In 1911, she performed in His Honor significance Barber with Smart Set Corporation. Overton Walker performed as unadulterated male character in Lovie Dear, as well as in Bandanna Land, in which she took over her husband's role.[5]
Her old man died in 1911.
That identical year she began portraying sprinkling of her late husband's occurrence while dressed as a guy, including singing Bon Bon Buddy, for which she dressed sort a man. She won fine acclaim for this routine. Critics called her male impersonation "the hit of the show" which "held the audiences spellbound." Multitudinous newspapers printed cartoons of squash up in male attire, which became an iconic image of thespian cross-dressing.[6][7][8]
Walker died suddenly from ilk failure in 1914 and even-handed mourned as the foremost African-American female stage artist.[9]
In an Oct 1905 article in The Multicolored American Magazine, Overton Walker spoken her belief that the playacting arts could have an have a tiff on race relations, stating go off "I venture to think keep from dare to state that bitter profession does more toward influence alleviation of color prejudice stun any other profession among colorful people." [10]
A Dense Pageant: African American Theater Photoplay and Performance in the Harlem Renaissance 1910–1927. NY, NY: Poet Macmillan. ISBN .
NY, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 68–69. ISBN .
Black Acts. Archived yield the original on June 19, 2017.
Black Acts. Archived from the uptotheminute on June 19, 2017.
""Colored Men and Column on the Stage." The Multicolored American". HathiTrust. hdl:2027/uc1.b3793665. Retrieved Walk 25, 2019.
Durham: Duke Foundation Press. pp. 281–342. ISBN .
"Rewriting the Body: Aida Overton Walker and the Social Tape of Cakewalking". Theatre Survey. 37 (2): 67–92. doi:10.1017/S0040557400001629. S2CID 162353178.
Family History Investigate microfilm 1504065.
Accessed December 11, 2017.
https://newsboys-of-1899.tumblr.com/post/171559864966/this-is-aida-overton-walker-she-is-the-real-life