{"product_id":"9780786722358","title":"Introducing Bert Williams: Burnt Cork, Broadway, and the Story of America's First Black Star","description":"According to critics of his time, Bert Williams was “the Greatest Comedian on the American Stage.” A black Bahamian immigrant, Williams made his start as a barker advertising the rough-and-tumble “medicine shows” that dotted the Wild West at the end of the nineteenth century. Not long after joining a minstrel troupe and donning the burnt- cork makeup of blackface, he teamed up with African American George Walker in a sixteen-year partnership that would take them from rural western mining towns to the bright lights of Broadway.\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eIntroducing Bert Williams\u003c\/i\u003e, historian Camille Forbes reveals a fascinating figure, initiating the reader into the vivid world of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century popular entertainment. Williams's long and varied career is a whirlwind of drama, glamour, and ambition—nothing less than the birth of American show business.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Basic Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47068183101680,"sku":"9780786722358","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780786722358_p0.jpg?v=1763665284","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780786722358","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}