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Although this book was my choice, I am in the red camp here. I think I must have chosen it on the back of hearing an article on Radio 4, and found the story fascinating. I was already familiar with Caryl Phillips’ novels and thought this account of Bert Williams and George Walker, two black men making it big in early 20th century American vaudeville would be interesting.
Theirs was an incredible tale of rising from extreme poverty to fame and fortune, travelling America and to London, appearing before the Queen and earning vast riches – black Americans making it big, very big, in a white world. Williams went on to find fame as a solo recording artist - in 1920 he was one of the top three highest paid recording artists in the world. In World War II, the United States Navy named a ship after him!
Bert Williams and George Walker were pioneers in the entertainment world, as singers, dancers and comedians, laying the foundations for black comedy and music, but in doing so, they paid a huge price in compromising both their racial identity and their talent. They had to play to the white American’s view of black people as intrinsically comic, and in Bert’s case, being a lighter skinned Bahamian, he was forced to “black up” to achieve the persona that found such success with the white audience. His dilemma was summed up by W.C. Fields who described Bert as "the funniest man I ever saw – and the saddest man I ever knew."
The two achieved such success that they were able to stage their own shows, which had African themes and characters. They wrote the first musical to appear on Broadway that was written and performed entirely by African Americans – “In Dahomey” whence it has been suggested Hope and Crosby took their inspiration for the later “Road” films by Crosby and Hope. “In Dahomey” generated great reviews, and toured through America and in London. Yet at the same time, Williams and Walker continued to be subject to the racism of the time. On one occasion, when Bert attempted to buy a drink at the bar of New York's elegant Astor Hotel, the white bartender tried to chase him away by telling him that he would be charged $50. Williams' response was to produce a thick roll of hundred dollar bills out of his pocket; placing the wad on the bar, he ordered a round for everyone in the room.
So this book should have been an exciting read. Unfortunately I found the pace of writing limpid, turgid, slow moving, one paced. I didn’t like the switching between past and present tense, between first and third person, between different viewpoints. The differences between the characters were not drawn acutely enough. I became confused between A(i)da and Lottie, George and Bert, and had to keep going back to see who was speaking. This wasn’t helped by the author’s reliance on pronouns in long paragraphs, rather than using the person’s name. This complaint about the structure was echoed even by those who enjoyed the book. It made for an irritating, not inspiring read.
I skipped long passages in search of the more exciting bits – only there weren’t any. And that is the great shame of this book. It is a missed opportunity. Here is an exciting, interesting and true story about two men and the price they pay as they struggle towards fame and success yet for me, none of that excitement came through in the writing. The extravagant musicals they staged, Bert’s father’s mental breakdown in his barber shop, the fabrications about who they had trained with – all these episodes were related with as much enthusiasm as someone saying “Marseilles is a large town in the South of France.”
Phillips uses a mix of fiction and historical extracts from newspaper interviews, theatre handbills and lyrics in the book. These were very interesting, and many of the group were inspired to find out more about Williams and Walker. Lucy brought along several photos of George, Bert, Eva and A(ida), and some members had looked at video footage of black Americans performing the Cakewalk dance dating back to the early 1900s and gone on to look at other historical aspects of black American entertainment at that time. So, as a group, although we were excited by the story of Williams and Walker, most of us found that Caryl Phillips did not do justice to his subject matter.
Trizia
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