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Speaker 1: Yes, what do you side Tim Allen? Is that Tim

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Speaker 1: Allen sounds like sounded like your version. I'm santo now,

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Speaker 1: I feel like Tim Allen would be like, no, that

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Speaker 1: does not sound like me. But did you watch Home

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Speaker 1: Improvement growing up? I did? I mean not religiously everything,

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Speaker 1: but yeah, definitely. Every week. Every week was family viewing.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Al gathered around the TV to watch Tim

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Speaker 1: Allen talked to his neighbor's hat yes, Wilson, yeah yeah,

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Speaker 1: and poor Al Richard Carne was taking the brunt of

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Speaker 1: all of his all the jokes. Did they ever actually

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Speaker 1: fix anything on that show? I'm trying to all the

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Speaker 1: time when they're actually no. The gag was that everything

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Speaker 1: went chaotic, you know what I mean? Because he was

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Speaker 1: always like more power and he would like juice up

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Speaker 1: his drill and it would like and Al would say,

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Speaker 1: I don't think so, Tim, and then he would drill

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Speaker 1: his way right through a wall or something, right into

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Speaker 1: the kitchen. She'd be like, I'm making something. What did

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Speaker 1: you do? Rash through the wall? Yeah, And they're like,

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Speaker 1: oh no, and the audience like funny, let's show his

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Speaker 1: wife and we're here today coming back to you to

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Speaker 1: finish up the second half of the story about some

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Speaker 1: early entertainers who changed the game. Very excited to have

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Speaker 1: you back for this. Yeah, yeah, last time we introduced

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Speaker 1: you to George Walker, Bert Williams, and Aida Overton Walker

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Speaker 1: and they were three of the best and brightest to

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Speaker 1: ever grace the Voodville stage. And I hope you fell

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Speaker 1: in love with them the way that I did reading

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Speaker 1: about them, because I was just like, these hotties are

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Speaker 1: so funny and awesome. I love them. Diana's having a

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Speaker 1: real um For me, it was like Max and Carlotta

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Speaker 1: are regular listeners, know my obsession with them, or m

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Speaker 1: or Dorothy Putnam and just you just get sucked into

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Speaker 1: some of these stories. They just own you why you're researching.

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Speaker 1: And that was this for Diana for sure. Definitely, there

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Speaker 1: are some of these folks we've we've covered. I'm just like,

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Speaker 1: why is this the first time I've ever hearing about

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Speaker 1: these these people, Like I don't understand why they're not

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Speaker 1: huge parts of my history. But but you know, I

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Speaker 1: guess we didn't do a lot of vaudeville history in

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Speaker 1: my public and your theater your theater degree do gardly

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Speaker 1: no lot of history needed for that degree. Well there

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Speaker 1: should be more, agree honestly. But anyway, so George, Burt

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Speaker 1: and Aida crushing it. Last time we left them, right,

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Speaker 1: they had just put out their big hit, Into Homie,

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Speaker 1: which was the very first musical to open on Broadway,

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Speaker 1: entirely written and performed and produced by black people. Very exciting.

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Speaker 1: But they have more shows up their sleeve. Obviously they

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Speaker 1: have a lot of history to make. We got some

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Speaker 1: drag performances to get to and of course some tragedy

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Speaker 1: to overcome. I wish a right, so let us go

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Speaker 1: and hear the rest of the story. All right, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: let's go show time. Pay their French come listen. Well,

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Speaker 1: Elia and Diana got some stories to tell. There's no matchmaking,

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Speaker 1: a romantic tips. It's just about ridiculous relationships, a love.

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Speaker 1: It might be any type of person at all, and

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Speaker 1: abstract cons up a concrete wall. But if there's a story,

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Speaker 1: were the second clinch ridiculous Roles a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. So yeah, when last we left off, we

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Speaker 1: had discovered that Into Homey kind of helped Williams and

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Speaker 1: Walker develop a formula for their shows, and their formula

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Speaker 1: was like, we need to go to somewhere cool. We

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Speaker 1: need big show stop in chorus numbers, and we need

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Speaker 1: Aid to reten in a lead role as people loved

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Speaker 1: her so much. Right, it's like today being like, if

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Speaker 1: you want to make a billion dollars in the box office,

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Speaker 1: you called Dwayne Johnson and you put him in a

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Speaker 1: khaki shirt and in the jungle somewhere and boom, formula done.

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Speaker 1: I would watch their Jumanji. I would watch the Williams

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Speaker 1: Waker Jumanji, Laudeville Jumanji, or like an early nineteen hundred

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Speaker 1: Broadway Jumanji. Come on, get some studio, jump on board here,

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Speaker 1: come on ship that I would green light. You know

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Speaker 1: what I mean, Somebody, why don't we have an unlimited

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Speaker 1: stack of money? I know I'd be like, I don't

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Speaker 1: care if this makes I'm gonna watch. I'm gonna watch this.

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Speaker 1: This is for me. I'm producing a hundred billion dollar

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Speaker 1: musical for myself, for me, damn it. I'm gonna watch

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Speaker 1: it once and go, yeah, that's pretty good. All right,

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Speaker 1: and that's it, hundred million gone. Somebody give us some money, please.

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Speaker 1: It's not not a comp telling arguments. We'd like to

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Speaker 1: set it on fire, all right. So into home. He

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Speaker 1: had just like gotten them international fame, right and their

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Speaker 1: next Broadway show was called In Abyssinia, which opened in

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Speaker 1: February nine six, and on black Work Broadway dot com,

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Speaker 1: it says that the show is about Walker, George Walker,

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Speaker 1: winning the lottery and then taking his dimwitted friend played

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Speaker 1: by Bert Williams to the African country of Abyssinia, of

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Speaker 1: their ancestors, Abyssinia. While we recently talked about that on

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Speaker 1: our episode about Menelek in tay too, because Abyssinia also

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Speaker 1: known as Ethiopia. That's right, and Metelick makes an appearance

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Speaker 1: misplay um Black Work Broadway says, quote the duo's misadventures

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Speaker 1: land them before Abyssinia is ruthless monarch Menelik, who bangs

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Speaker 1: a gong to determine whether they live or die. Three

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Speaker 1: bangs means death, four indicate life. At the show's climax,

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Speaker 1: after an extremely memorable pause, Menelik banged it a fourth time.

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Speaker 1: You know they've got a lot of comedy out of that,

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Speaker 1: speak of Tim Allen. You know that that would just

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Speaker 1: be a whole along. There'd be a commercial break everybody

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Speaker 1: just like on the edge of the see oh no,

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Speaker 1: it's very It's I'm thinking about Gladiator and Joaquin's Phoenix

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Speaker 1: with his with his thumb out, is he gonna go

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Speaker 1: up or down? Up or down? This is interesting that

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Speaker 1: they present mentally as a ruthless monarch in this. Of course,

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Speaker 1: we learned in our episode he was anything, but he

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Speaker 1: was just uh, he just successfully resisted colonization. And we

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Speaker 1: did learn also in that episode how the Western world

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Speaker 1: really besmirched his n Tito's name. So you can see

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Speaker 1: that coming across Even in the States, people hear about

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Speaker 1: this guy and they're like, oh, this ruthless monarch. So

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Speaker 1: even in American black theater, Menelik is still seen as

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Speaker 1: kind of a villain. It's true. And what's interesting too is,

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Speaker 1: like George and Ada, we talked a lot about them

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Speaker 1: pushing back against stereotypes of black people for white audiences

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Speaker 1: because they knew who they're playing to, like we can

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Speaker 1: maybe change your mind and heart about some things. But

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Speaker 1: they did also touch on a lot of issues within

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Speaker 1: the black community itself. So for example, um into Homie,

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Speaker 1: they're taking a group of people to colonize to Homie.

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Speaker 1: They were kind of touching on African imperialism, like within

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Speaker 1: the black community, not just the white community. Interesting. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean it was interesting how much they were trying

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Speaker 1: to put subtext for everyone who appened watching. You know,

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Speaker 1: they were like every issue in my life, I'm putting

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Speaker 1: it in my art, which I think it's cool. I

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Speaker 1: wonder because I don't have you know, I haven't read

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Speaker 1: the show. I haven't seen the show obviously, but in Abyssinia,

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Speaker 1: if they are presenting menelik as a more ruthless monarch

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Speaker 1: is like a bad person sort of or bloodthirsty or whatever.

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Speaker 1: It is the impression I get from this quote, you

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Speaker 1: know that they're they're still Americans, they're still Westerners, They're

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Speaker 1: still getting the propaganda of the Western world saying you know,

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Speaker 1: it kind of transcends race at that point, and it's like, well,

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Speaker 1: who am I going to sympathize with? Not this brutal

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Speaker 1: murderer who is out here banging gongs and telling people

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Speaker 1: whether they live and die, which, at least in my

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Speaker 1: research I never saw happening. That's definitely a theatrical device

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Speaker 1: for comedy purposes only. So again, I don't know how

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Speaker 1: this show actually portrays him, but you could see a

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Speaker 1: lot of Americans and Westerners at the time we're portraying

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Speaker 1: him has a pretty bad stereotype, right, And it's really

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Speaker 1: too bad that we can't watch this show. I don't

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Speaker 1: I don't know that a lot of these scripts and

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Speaker 1: scores still exists, like there's full copies of them anywhere,

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Speaker 1: because it would be so cool to see a remount

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Speaker 1: some of these shows, like and I would love to

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Speaker 1: see Into Homie sometime. But I wonder if also, you're like, well,

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Speaker 1: it's also still like they're saying some stuff maybe we

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Speaker 1: don't want to say. I don't know, um, but yeah.

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Speaker 1: In Abyssinia also featured live camels. Gotta involve some animals.

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Speaker 1: You sell some tickets that way, and it included a

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Speaker 1: bit of a love story between Aida, who played a princess,

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Speaker 1: and George's character, which had never been tolerated in a

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Speaker 1: black production before. So this is another boundary they're kind

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Speaker 1: of pushing, is they're like, we're normal people, we fall

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Speaker 1: in love and spine and cool, which I love that too.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, it was a huge smash, just like in Dahomie.

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Speaker 1: It was very very popular show, even though some white reviewers,

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Speaker 1: like this one in Chicago Tribune, complained that quote, there

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Speaker 1: is hardly a trace of negroism in the play, which

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Speaker 1: is like, you didn't employ a stereotype enough for me.

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Speaker 1: That's not how you are. I've seen other shows, so

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Speaker 1: I know how you're supposed to be. But George Walker

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Speaker 1: was unrepentant. He told the Toledo b in an interview quote,

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Speaker 1: it's all rot this slapstick, bandana, handkerchief, bladder in the

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Speaker 1: face act with which black acting is associated. It ought

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Speaker 1: to die out, and we are trying to kill it.

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Speaker 1: The George I know, and I love that he was,

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Speaker 1: so he's like, I'm trying to kill it. You're absolutely right.

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Speaker 1: I don't want that ship and it's not going to

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Speaker 1: be in my shows. That's awesome. Little worried about those camels,

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Speaker 1: but that's okay. I mean, early nine hundreds camel animals

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Speaker 1: in show business in general not well treated. We'll just

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Speaker 1: skim right past it, dancing past the darkness. Uh Now.

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Speaker 1: In their next production, they really did push some serious

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Speaker 1: boundaries because in that show, the black folks got one

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Speaker 1: over on the white folks, and the white audiences ate

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Speaker 1: it up, loved it. This one was called Bandana Land,

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Speaker 1: and George and Burt played these two businessmen from a

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Speaker 1: realty company who realized that white people's racism can be

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Speaker 1: turned around and you against them. White people didn't want

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Speaker 1: any black owned, black controlled public spaces around them, So

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Speaker 1: the realty company opened a black amusement park called Bandana Land,

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Speaker 1: and it has this huge, noisy party, blackest party you've

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Speaker 1: ever had a young life like prick nick for nineteen

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Speaker 1: o nine. And this made the neighboring company, a white

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Speaker 1: owned railroad company, so upset and scared that they bought

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Speaker 1: out the property at a highly inflated price. And George

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Speaker 1: and Burt just laugh all the way to the bank.

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Speaker 1: And then of course, you know, it turns into that

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Speaker 1: bit they always do where Bert has to get his

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Speaker 1: share of the money from George and this like trickster

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Speaker 1: versus dupe comedy. But that's so great that they're like, oh,

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Speaker 1: you won't buy my land. Well, I'm gonna convince you

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Speaker 1: you want to buy my land by upsetting you so

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Speaker 1: much for more than you and everything normally. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: mean I love it too that they're just like, we're

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Speaker 1: not intending it all to run this park, you know,

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Speaker 1: not intended to do nothing. It's totally producers like, let's

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Speaker 1: make a show that does so badly. In her book

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Speaker 1: Staging Race Black Performers in Turn of the Century America,

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Speaker 1: author Karen Sodaropolis writes that in this show, Williams and

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Speaker 1: Walker are again addressing segregation, white racist stereotypes, and African

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Speaker 1: American exploitation of those stereotypes for economic gain, which we've

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Speaker 1: talked about before. You know, Williams and Walker, we're getting

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Speaker 1: a lot of heat from the black community for performing

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Speaker 1: in black face, for continuing to show these stereotypes to

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Speaker 1: white audiences. They were like, you're maintaining this idea of

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Speaker 1: black people for them, and they're they're kind of opinion.

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Speaker 1: Was like, yeah, but I'm pulling back a little every

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Speaker 1: single time, so I'm kind of bringing them along with me.

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Speaker 1: And I feel like, you could you kind of have

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Speaker 1: to play what white people want to pay for, so,

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Speaker 1: you know, do you do nothing thing or do you

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Speaker 1: do the bad thing and make some money and get

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Speaker 1: your seat at the table, which is kind of what

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Speaker 1: we talked about last we did. We talked about the

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Speaker 1: frustrations of incremental change, yes exactly, and out like was

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Speaker 1: so frustrated, just like, just do what I'm saying but

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Speaker 1: then you see people you know you you go in

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Speaker 1: and make a big demand and everyone just says no.

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Speaker 1: When you get your left with nothing, do you get nothing? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Its so frustrating. So yeah, this is super tricky because

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Speaker 1: they could push boundaries, but only as far as white

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Speaker 1: people were willing to accept, as far as white audiences

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Speaker 1: were willing to accept, because otherwise they would be torpedo

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Speaker 1: in their whole business. But it seems like most white

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Speaker 1: reviewers did not pick up on this deeper joke of

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Speaker 1: white people being taken advantage of because of their racism,

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Speaker 1: which kind of reminds me of the Cakewalk, which was

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Speaker 1: of course they were satirizing the white masters. White people

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Speaker 1: were like, how good are you? Like insane? Variety wrote

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Speaker 1: that it was quote a real artistic achievement, representing, as

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Speaker 1: it does, a distinct advancement in black minstrelry. Realizing perhaps

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Speaker 1: that the white public is chronically disinclined to accept this

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Speaker 1: stage negro in anything but a purely comedy vein, and

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Speaker 1: having at the same time a natural desire to be

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Speaker 1: something better than the conventional colored clown, Williams and Walker

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Speaker 1: have approached the delicate subject from a new side, and

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Speaker 1: I like that variety was like, yeah, I mean, of

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Speaker 1: course they don't want to play that insane stereotype all

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Speaker 1: the time. Obviously, they want to stretch and grow and

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Speaker 1: be artistically challenged. Bandana Land sold out four weeks worth

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Speaker 1: of performances, and the New York Times review wrote that

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Speaker 1: the kpwalk number that they did in it was so

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Speaker 1: insanely popular that it had to be on court thirteen times.

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Speaker 1: That is still crazy, like, especially thinking about we said

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Speaker 1: last the low would bend or backwardscrobatics of water on

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Speaker 1: their head. Time you had to do that. Whatever, They're like, whatever,

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Speaker 1: We're selling ticket every single time we come. Oh it's

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Speaker 1: ten pm. You want us to do it again? All right?

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Speaker 1: Everybody back out on stage? All right? Well? Ben Dana

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Speaker 1: Land previewed in nineteen o seven and open on Broadway

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Speaker 1: in eight That same year, George Walker took a significant

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Speaker 1: step in his mission to create a fully funded network

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Speaker 1: of black theater professionals, and he created the charitable organization

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Speaker 1: called the Frogs. There were several clubs and groups like

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Speaker 1: this that were advocating for theater performers to get better

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Speaker 1: wages and more flexible contracts, more performance opportunities, so on,

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Speaker 1: so on. But apparently it was like studio contracts were

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Speaker 1: where if you were with one theater, you could not

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Speaker 1: go perform at another theater, like the contracts that you know,

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Speaker 1: confining or whatever. But there's all these existing groups like

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Speaker 1: the American Actors Beneficial Association or the White Rats Club

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Speaker 1: that didn't allow black members. The White Rats in particular

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Speaker 1: were like super opposed to the black community, and they

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Speaker 1: would boycott shows with black casts and they were refused

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Speaker 1: to share the stage with black acts. They felt that

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Speaker 1: black people, you know, actually being able to support themselves

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Speaker 1: through their talents and not just quote take what they

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Speaker 1: were given was a threat to guess who White men's

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Speaker 1: prosperity and opportunity, my prosperity. Man. It's it's funny to

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Speaker 1: see for how long white men have been afraid that

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Speaker 1: their prosperity is going away, and you know, all this

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Speaker 1: time later, it still isn't. It still ain't because there's

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Speaker 1: always a white rat, you know what I mean, that's

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Speaker 1: will will protect it well, but that's not why, you know,

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Speaker 1: they just they like if there weren't the white Rats,

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Speaker 1: they would still have their fucking prosperity. You know what

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Speaker 1: I'm saying. I know what you mean. Yeah, I'm just

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Speaker 1: saying it's like I'm not and then the credit of

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Speaker 1: saying like, oh, your group has protected it because they

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Speaker 1: had it would be there anyway. No, I just mean

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Speaker 1: because of white supremacy, there's always someone there to go

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Speaker 1: ahead and tramp down on whomever is trying to come up.

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Speaker 1: But I think you're right. It's just like, even if

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Speaker 1: you weren't trying to tramp down, there would still be

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Speaker 1: plenty of opportunity. You know, It's silly to say make

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Speaker 1: a bigger pie means I get less pie. It's not. No,

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Speaker 1: It's just what I'm saying is is no matter how

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Speaker 1: long white people, white men especially have been saying I'm

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Speaker 1: about to have everything taken away from me, it's never happened.

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Speaker 1: It's not going to happen. We're never on the brink

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Speaker 1: of that happening. Um. You know, even with the largest

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Speaker 1: concessions being made, there's like you said, there's plenty of pie, um,

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Speaker 1: and some people have more than they will ever be

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Speaker 1: able to eat. Yeah, and it's just rotting, yeah, going

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Speaker 1: to waste anyway. Uh. These guys also didn't want any

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Speaker 1: women and unstaged surprise, surprise, white men only. It's always

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Speaker 1: been kind of the rallying cry. Yeah, they're like, what

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Speaker 1: women and black people be encroaching, That's what they said,

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Speaker 1: which I hate that word. That's not what's happening. But

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Speaker 1: as George himself said, quote, we thought that as there

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Speaker 1: seemed to be a great demand for black faces on stage,

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Speaker 1: we would do all that we could to get what

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Speaker 1: we felt belonged to us by the law of nature.

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Speaker 1: George founded and was elected the first president of the Frogs,

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Speaker 1: and Burt Williams was the second president, and then throughout

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Speaker 1: the nineteen tens they would put on these annual parties

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Speaker 1: called the Frolic of the Frogs that was so popular

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Speaker 1: with both white and black people that they were able

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Speaker 1: to tour it to other cities. They donated to other

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Speaker 1: charitable organizations, and they worked to create more professional opportunities

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Speaker 1: for black people, eventually expanding beyond just theater, and they

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Speaker 1: included lawyers and doctors in their membership. It's incredible. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and I really want to go to a Frolic of

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Speaker 1: the Frogs party, please please. Yeah. A bunch of the

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Speaker 1: most talented performers you've ever seen throwing down, having a

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Speaker 1: great time with a bunch of people who just want

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Speaker 1: the support performers. And it must be said, the fashion

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Speaker 1: was had to be on point. You know, they were

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Speaker 1: so dressed to them nines. They probably look incredible, every

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Speaker 1: single person there. Just I don't like to get dressed

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Speaker 1: up that much, but sometimes I wish that we still

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Speaker 1: have those vibes were like, we're going out, so it's

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Speaker 1: time to look nice instead of like I'm going out.

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Speaker 1: I will wear my house slippers. Let me change into

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Speaker 1: my other tuxedo for dinner, and then I'll have my

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Speaker 1: dessert tuxedo on standby, and then I'll put on my

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Speaker 1: special jacket to go get undressed. I also loved George's

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Speaker 1: quote about black faces on stage because he's like, y'all

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Speaker 1: are putting on this black face makeup to play black people.

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Speaker 1: You want to see black people, so by the law

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Speaker 1: of nature, black people should maybe be playing that. We

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Speaker 1: should maybe be the ones, you know, really like that seriously,

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Speaker 1: But tragedy struck in nineteen o nine, George Walker, that

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Speaker 1: suave charmer, that ladies man. He had been stepping out

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Speaker 1: on aida with other women. No George and his messing

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Speaker 1: around got him a case of syphilis, which at the

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Speaker 1: time had no cure. He actually collapsed on stage from

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Speaker 1: a stroke in the middle of a Bandana Land show.

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Speaker 1: But the show must go on, so Aida simply put

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Speaker 1: on George's classy gentleman's outfit and performed his part in drag. Wow, okay, George,

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Speaker 1: you know a talented performer, Like you said, show's got

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Speaker 1: to go on. You're gonna get up, You're gonna do it. Like,

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Speaker 1: who knows George better than me? Wife? I can mimic

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Speaker 1: that motherfucker all day. Oh I know what he sounds like,

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Speaker 1: do I? She adds a couple extra little choice phrases

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Speaker 1: in there. Yeah. And he was sick enough that he

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Speaker 1: actually he did have to leave the production for good.

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Speaker 1: He could not come back to Bandana Lands. But I

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Speaker 1: eat his rendition was so delightful and popular with audiences

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Speaker 1: that they just kept on doing George's part in Drag

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Speaker 1: for the rest of the run. What's the show we

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Speaker 1: were just talking about? We had an episode recently about

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Speaker 1: women in drag performing and people losing their minds about

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Speaker 1: it over in Austria. Right, Oh my god? What right?

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Speaker 1: What was that? What the fun was it? Hang on,

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Speaker 1: I just where we know our own subjects. Uh, let's see.

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Speaker 1: It was the Sister Jan, Sister Betty, the h Jesse, Carmichael, Brenda,

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Speaker 1: Gussie for real Austria, it was they did show. It

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Speaker 1: was the Mummy, the Mummy thing, right. It was Collette,

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Speaker 1: it was Collecte. It was Collette, Okay, Brenda, Brenda and Jan,

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Speaker 1: you know, and Collette exactly yeah, well she it was

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Speaker 1: when she and Missy were in the place and that yes,

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Speaker 1: and Missy was dressed as the gentleman archaeology was wearing

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Speaker 1: pants and people lost their minds, right, and they were

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Speaker 1: already upset, and then they kissed and they had to

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Speaker 1: shut down the whole production and everything. So weirdly that

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Speaker 1: was around the same time as this. But I guess

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Speaker 1: Das dressed as a man but not kissing anyone. Yeah, sure, sure,

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Speaker 1: like a different thing. Also probably played well, I guess,

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Speaker 1: probably not played so much for a laugh because she's

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Speaker 1: just playing his part. Well, but it is a comedy show, yeah,

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Speaker 1: so she did do his his part easier to get

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Speaker 1: away with it. In comedy people are always a lit

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Speaker 1: more forgiving that kind of stuff. You know. That's very true,

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Speaker 1: and it's so funny how drag has been such a

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Speaker 1: part of theater history. I mean, you know, women used

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Speaker 1: to not be allowed on you have ben we're in

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Speaker 1: drag playing the ladies parts. And that's why those Shakespeare

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Speaker 1: comedies where it's men dress as women dress as men

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Speaker 1: just as women are always so funny, all the way

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Speaker 1: back to a man. You keep going back to it.

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Speaker 1: The layers are hilarious. Um, but anyway, it's so funny

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Speaker 1: how prudish people get over time when we were We

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Speaker 1: feel like we're getting so much more progressive. Actually we're

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Speaker 1: regressing in some ways. I mean the clothing thing, it's

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Speaker 1: and it's it's still obviously it's around now is people

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00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:41,040
Speaker 1: are bending gender and clothing a lot. But this idea

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Speaker 1: of like you're not supposed to wear pants, you're a woman,

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Speaker 1: Like it's not natural, and I'm like, natural is naked.

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Speaker 1: None of us supposed to be wearing anything. Very true?

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Speaker 1: And who wants that not? Who said? Who said men

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Speaker 1: wear pants and women don't wear pants? Who that was?

395
00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:02,199
Speaker 1: That is made up? That came out somebody's imagination and

396
00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:04,960
Speaker 1: we just were like, yes, that'll work for a while,

397
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,000
Speaker 1: and now we're like clinging to it. Like it's the

398
00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:11,359
Speaker 1: last door on the Titanic and we're like, we can't

399
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:16,560
Speaker 1: both fit on here, ladies. I have heard that, um,

400
00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:22,000
Speaker 1: like high heels were h totally men's fashion that for

401
00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:24,640
Speaker 1: a very long time, and then women started wearing them,

402
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:28,720
Speaker 1: so men were like never mind. Or brewing beer used

403
00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:32,439
Speaker 1: to be solely kidding for women, but as soon as

404
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:37,160
Speaker 1: it became a commercial enterprise, men only were cooking women

405
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:40,560
Speaker 1: as it was being paid, well, it was a men exactly. Women.

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Speaker 1: Women belong in the kitchen unless you're getting paid for it,

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Speaker 1: and then it should be met. Then it's art and

408
00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:47,560
Speaker 1: it's a guy's like stuff like that where you you

409
00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:50,760
Speaker 1: go back far enough and you see these turns of

410
00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:53,280
Speaker 1: like who was making money off of it? Or women

411
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Speaker 1: started so men stopped, or women were doing it and

412
00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,359
Speaker 1: then men started and women had to stop because you know,

413
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Speaker 1: like it's just such a weird we don't know what

414
00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:02,840
Speaker 1: women and men are supposed to do. That's the thing.

415
00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:05,480
Speaker 1: It's always been different. We should all just do what

416
00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:11,879
Speaker 1: we made all that shut up. Honestly, the words women

417
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:17,159
Speaker 1: and men are made up words words, all words are

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00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:22,280
Speaker 1: made up. It's like damn good point. Well, sadly, though

419
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Speaker 1: George was actually sick enough from syphilis said he had

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Speaker 1: to leave theater for good. Um, he stepped down from

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Speaker 1: the frogs. That's when Bert Williams stepped up to be president.

422
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:35,639
Speaker 1: But it spelled the end of the Williams and Walker

423
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:39,000
Speaker 1: company because George Walker was the businessman. He was the

424
00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:42,399
Speaker 1: savvy one going out getting the deals and making things happen,

425
00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:44,960
Speaker 1: and it was like a great performer, but he was

426
00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:47,200
Speaker 1: not trying to do all that. Aida was not trying

427
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:49,080
Speaker 1: to do all that. So they kind of said, well,

428
00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:52,960
Speaker 1: here goes that. Without George, we don't have this company.

429
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:55,800
Speaker 1: And in nineteen eleven, George Walker passed away at only

430
00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:59,320
Speaker 1: thirty eight years old, tragically young. Can you imagine what

431
00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:01,840
Speaker 1: he would have done if he lived to sixty A right?

432
00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:03,720
Speaker 1: I mean I can't because I feel like he would

433
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:06,320
Speaker 1: have just changed so many things. He was just such

434
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:10,320
Speaker 1: a force against stereotypes, and he was so outspoken in

435
00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:12,280
Speaker 1: a way that Burt was not. That it would have

436
00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:14,879
Speaker 1: been really cool to see him. Ye see him live

437
00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:19,040
Speaker 1: a little longer and get through more of more than undreds.

438
00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:22,560
Speaker 1: But fellas if you're out there running around on your wife,

439
00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:25,879
Speaker 1: you might get syphilis and die and not change the

440
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:34,240
Speaker 1: world more than you otherwise would have come on I do.

441
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:36,280
Speaker 1: I don't know if you got any info on this,

442
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:39,440
Speaker 1: but I noticed in here we don't suggest that Ada

443
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:44,160
Speaker 1: got syphilis. I did wonder about it. Speculation station they

444
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:47,000
Speaker 1: weren't sleeping together. Maybe not, the things weren't so so

445
00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:49,399
Speaker 1: hot at home, maybe not. I mean, it might be

446
00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:52,080
Speaker 1: that his stepping out, he was like, well then you

447
00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:55,960
Speaker 1: don't come home to me. But it's hard with especially

448
00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:59,560
Speaker 1: with I think with black performers, because they don't want

449
00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:03,840
Speaker 1: to put out their business right. They're like, we need

450
00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:08,119
Speaker 1: to show a respectable married couple that's doing otherwise it's

451
00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:10,639
Speaker 1: going to feed into everything you already think about every

452
00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:13,399
Speaker 1: black person in the world, and so you know, I

453
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,640
Speaker 1: don't think they There is a lot of personal anything

454
00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:20,000
Speaker 1: written by Ada herself about like my marriage is going poorlier.

455
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,399
Speaker 1: I wish George wouldn't eat on me. I'm fine with

456
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:24,800
Speaker 1: George cheating on me. We're married for business reasons. I mean,

457
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:29,520
Speaker 1: I don't know, because she never remarried either, so maybe

458
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:33,000
Speaker 1: she wasn't that interested in being married, and that's possible

459
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:37,000
Speaker 1: to now. At the time of his death, George Walker

460
00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:40,119
Speaker 1: Burt Williams and Aida Overton Walker were described by The

461
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:44,119
Speaker 1: Boston Guardian as being quote the most popular trio of

462
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:49,159
Speaker 1: black actors in the world. Just quite an achievement. But

463
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:52,119
Speaker 1: now that George is gone, Burt and Aida would have

464
00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:56,080
Speaker 1: to forge their own performance paths, and so we will

465
00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:59,800
Speaker 1: find out what they did without George right after they

466
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:04,720
Speaker 1: messages from my wonderful sposes a soap. If you want

467
00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:12,399
Speaker 1: to be clean, use a soap, ladies and gentlemen. Try

468
00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:16,280
Speaker 1: toxic tarnish the best third squenching drink. You can imagine.

469
00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:21,000
Speaker 1: It's full of toxic poison. Drink up. Feel good? Are

470
00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 1: you dragging around preps? Well, you need cocaine. Here's a

471
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:31,480
Speaker 1: whole bottle of cocaine. Drink it up, Ladies. You'll feel

472
00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:36,760
Speaker 1: amazing and thinner than ever. If your feelings got you down,

473
00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:41,760
Speaker 1: try electrocuting yourself and all your troubles will disappear in

474
00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:43,960
Speaker 1: a puff of smoke from the top of your head.

475
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:49,440
Speaker 1: Shock away your hysteria. Oh products, we've come so far,

476
00:28:51,400 --> 00:29:02,320
Speaker 1: lad it's what's the dinner? M hm. Welcome back to

477
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,800
Speaker 1: the show everyone. So after George's death, Bert went back

478
00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:09,160
Speaker 1: to the high class vaudeville stages. But even though he

479
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:12,680
Speaker 1: was a huge box office draw, those guys the White

480
00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:17,640
Speaker 1: Rats club pressured theater managers to reduce Bert's billing from

481
00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:20,800
Speaker 1: top billing to second billing. That was the whole thing.

482
00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:23,280
Speaker 1: It's like, well, Vine, if he's the most famous guy

483
00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:24,959
Speaker 1: in the world, I at least don't want him at

484
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:29,880
Speaker 1: the top of the marquee. Now, the first time they

485
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:33,120
Speaker 1: did this, it worked just like they wanted. They took

486
00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:35,280
Speaker 1: Bert's name from the top, they put it down below,

487
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:38,920
Speaker 1: you know, just trying to just trying to reduce him literally,

488
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:41,880
Speaker 1: very true, you know, both probably try and break his

489
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:46,880
Speaker 1: spirit and also just like diminish his celebrity, you know,

490
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:50,719
Speaker 1: and nasty stuff. Sort of a very very underhanded message

491
00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:53,080
Speaker 1: to say, it doesn't matter how rich and famous you are,

492
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:56,120
Speaker 1: you'll just be a black man to me, which means

493
00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:58,400
Speaker 1: you're below me. I don't care if I'm a brand

494
00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:04,479
Speaker 1: new performer, I'm better right right. But then Bert got

495
00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 1: booked at Hammerstein's Victoria Theater, who the White Rats also

496
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:13,080
Speaker 1: pressured to produce his billing. Now, the Victoria also acquiescedly

497
00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:16,280
Speaker 1: said all right, we'll put Bert's name second, but I'm

498
00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:21,080
Speaker 1: the marquee. They made Bert's name twice as large as

499
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:25,320
Speaker 1: the headliner. That's my kind of sabotage, That's all I'm saying.

500
00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:28,520
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you go through history like like World War

501
00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:30,800
Speaker 1: two has so many good examples of this. Like I

502
00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:34,120
Speaker 1: know that I live in a fascist regime regime in Italy. Um,

503
00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:37,280
Speaker 1: but I'm just gonna do my job really shitty, really shitty,

504
00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:39,600
Speaker 1: and make sure the trains don't run on time, or

505
00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:43,360
Speaker 1: I'll funk up this passport or just little ways to

506
00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:47,000
Speaker 1: the rebel. I love it. They're just like, oh yeah,

507
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:57,640
Speaker 1: this show starring Schad Michaelson and putting it out there.

508
00:30:57,680 --> 00:30:59,920
Speaker 1: But they're like, we know who you're buying a freak

509
00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:03,680
Speaker 1: ticket for. Oh yeah, okay, white rats, We'll go ahead

510
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:05,960
Speaker 1: and put his name second. We don't want to hurt

511
00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:09,480
Speaker 1: the little baby feelings. Why don't you take a popsicle

512
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:13,440
Speaker 1: and go run around out side. Oh you poop your pants?

513
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:21,440
Speaker 1: Oh a little fascist nazi poops bands. So Bert then

514
00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:26,400
Speaker 1: got cast in Zigfield's Follies, Big famous show, and before

515
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:29,320
Speaker 1: him that was an all white cast, and many of

516
00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:33,320
Speaker 1: that all white cast told Zigfield to fire Williams or

517
00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:36,680
Speaker 1: they would walk out of the show, to which Mr.

518
00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:41,920
Speaker 1: Zigfield coolly replied, quote, I can replace every one of

519
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 1: you except Williams. Okay, we're talking about the most famous

520
00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:50,320
Speaker 1: man in the world. Yeah, and y'all are all literally replaceable.

521
00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:54,200
Speaker 1: Where else will I find a white performer in New

522
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:59,840
Speaker 1: York City? Like? Yeah? And guess what. The cast stayed

523
00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:04,440
Speaker 1: and none of them walked. But there were other difficulties.

524
00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:06,960
Speaker 1: They found their own ways to make life harder for Bert.

525
00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:11,320
Speaker 1: Subtle sabotage works both ways. The Follies writers were slow

526
00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:14,040
Speaker 1: to give Bert anything to do at all. In one show,

527
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:17,160
Speaker 1: they only gave him a single two word line of dialogue.

528
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:20,800
Speaker 1: So Bert wasn't going to take this sitting down. He

529
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,440
Speaker 1: teamed up with a white comedian named Leon Errol and

530
00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:28,400
Speaker 1: they wrote a sketch that became a twenty minute centerpiece

531
00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:30,840
Speaker 1: and one of the best love sketches in the show.

532
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:34,240
Speaker 1: And their partnership was like shocking at the time because

533
00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:38,520
Speaker 1: Bert's character delivered most of the punchlines and usually got

534
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 1: the better of Leon's character. That's just totally unheard of.

535
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:44,880
Speaker 1: It would have been the other way around in any

536
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:48,400
Speaker 1: black and white comic duo if there was, and if

537
00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:53,040
Speaker 1: there was one, exactly exactly Now, after that, Bert got

538
00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:56,360
Speaker 1: a record deal with Columbia, and not only did he

539
00:32:56,400 --> 00:33:01,640
Speaker 1: get very generous contract terms, but they also dropped this

540
00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:05,320
Speaker 1: super racist tone that they've been using to promote black performers,

541
00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:10,280
Speaker 1: and instead they touted Bert's quote inimitable art and direct

542
00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:15,400
Speaker 1: appeal to the intelligence. Yeah, another just another way of

543
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:18,160
Speaker 1: people being like this guy is different, which is still

544
00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:22,560
Speaker 1: fuck up. Like he was definitely like rising above for

545
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:26,320
Speaker 1: the times for sure. He also became the first black

546
00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:30,600
Speaker 1: comedian to appear on film. This was nineteen fourteen, and

547
00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:33,720
Speaker 1: he started in several silent films throughout the nineteen tents.

548
00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,720
Speaker 1: Tim Brooks, in his book Lost Sounds, Blacks and the

549
00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:41,640
Speaker 1: Birth of the Recording Industry wrote quote, Williams had become

550
00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:45,240
Speaker 1: a star who transcended race to the extent that was

551
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:50,560
Speaker 1: possible in nineteen ten. Very much a caveat, and the

552
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:55,280
Speaker 1: extent was not extensive enough because Birt suffered from chronic

553
00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:59,920
Speaker 1: depression and alcoholism thanks to the racism that he experienced day.

554
00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:03,960
Speaker 1: It made him feel really isolated. Um, of course we're

555
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:06,520
Speaker 1: talking about segregated America. So when he was touring with

556
00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:09,560
Speaker 1: the follies, he had to eat and travel separately. From

557
00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:12,080
Speaker 1: the rest of the cast. At one point, I think

558
00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:14,399
Speaker 1: they even had a strike and no one told him.

559
00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:15,960
Speaker 1: So he showed up for work and he was the

560
00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:19,960
Speaker 1: only one there. Nobody told him. Um. One time he

561
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:21,680
Speaker 1: went to a bar and the guy was like, we

562
00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:23,640
Speaker 1: don't serve black people. If you want to drink, it'll

563
00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:26,640
Speaker 1: be fifty dollars, and Bert pulled out a huge roll

564
00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:28,600
Speaker 1: of money. It was like, I'm buying for everybody. Then

565
00:34:28,640 --> 00:34:33,279
Speaker 1: you know, you know, right, But like, why don't have

566
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:36,680
Speaker 1: to fight where I go? God? So exhausting. And Bert

567
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:38,600
Speaker 1: was not a fighter. He was not that type of person,

568
00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:40,600
Speaker 1: you know. He was just like a very reserved guy.

569
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:43,880
Speaker 1: He didn't want to be having conflict everywhere he went. Hello,

570
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:47,320
Speaker 1: he has dedicated his life to making people laugh exactly

571
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:50,759
Speaker 1: and playing music and singing. Mean, the guy wanted to

572
00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:53,880
Speaker 1: spread joy and everybody goes he's getting like tramped on.

573
00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:57,479
Speaker 1: And yeah, he continued to be the highest paid black

574
00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:00,399
Speaker 1: entertainer in the business, but he would consistent he gets

575
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:04,400
Speaker 1: subpar material to work with. W. C. Fields, who worked

576
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:06,759
Speaker 1: with Bert in the Follies, once said that Bert was

577
00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:09,960
Speaker 1: quote the funniest man I ever saw on stage and

578
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:12,880
Speaker 1: the saddest man I ever knew off of it, which

579
00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:17,600
Speaker 1: makes me very sad, heart breaking. In February, Bert was

580
00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:21,240
Speaker 1: sick with pneumonia, and like George, he collapsed on stage

581
00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:24,279
Speaker 1: during a performance, which the audience thought was a comedy bit,

582
00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:27,719
Speaker 1: and Bert quipped quote, that's a nice way to die.

583
00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:31,600
Speaker 1: They was laughing when I made my last exit, and

584
00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:34,800
Speaker 1: he passed away only a month later at forty seven

585
00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:37,799
Speaker 1: years old, still too young in my opinion. He was

586
00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:41,080
Speaker 1: mourned by thousands and remembered as being one of the

587
00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:45,440
Speaker 1: greatest comedians and recording artists of all time. And we

588
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:48,399
Speaker 1: did not get too much into Bert, but there's much

589
00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:50,239
Speaker 1: more to learn about him. So we packed him up

590
00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:52,480
Speaker 1: for sure and listened to his song Nobody is a

591
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:55,319
Speaker 1: big song that he did and stuff. He's very very

592
00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:57,719
Speaker 1: cool person to learn about. I thought, brave of you

593
00:35:57,800 --> 00:35:59,719
Speaker 1: to say that forty seven years old is too young,

594
00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:02,319
Speaker 1: and our opinion, because I know there's a lot of

595
00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:08,000
Speaker 1: people out there like is pretty good. I honestly, I

596
00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:13,360
Speaker 1: never thought anybody should live past forty. Shut up already

597
00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:16,960
Speaker 1: at leads up for the rest of us. But we

598
00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:19,759
Speaker 1: still got Aida to talk about because her life after

599
00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:23,799
Speaker 1: George died often as treated as just a footnote, as

600
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:26,719
Speaker 1: if like her career died off with George, but in

601
00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:30,880
Speaker 1: fact she only got more famous and beloved. She basically

602
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:35,560
Speaker 1: became like the Beyonce of her time. She was the queen.

603
00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:39,520
Speaker 1: She choreographed all the time for musical theater shows. She

604
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:43,239
Speaker 1: continued to perform herself, and besides Bert, she was the

605
00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:47,759
Speaker 1: only black artist regularly performing in white venues. Now at

606
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:51,680
Speaker 1: this point, thanks to rising costs of like transportation and

607
00:36:51,719 --> 00:36:55,279
Speaker 1: the popularity of movies, touring theater companies were on the

608
00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:58,840
Speaker 1: decline and one of the largest black troops remaining was

609
00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:02,120
Speaker 1: the Smart Set Company. And that's who Aida joined in

610
00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:06,239
Speaker 1: their show His Honor the Barber. She was billed as

611
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:09,440
Speaker 1: a supporting actress, but all the reviewers agreed that she

612
00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:11,239
Speaker 1: was basically the real star of the show. I mean,

613
00:37:11,719 --> 00:37:16,200
Speaker 1: we're here to see Aida. Critics Sylvester Russell wrote that quote,

614
00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:19,120
Speaker 1: she is the dominant feature of the show and the

615
00:37:19,239 --> 00:37:23,440
Speaker 1: box office attraction. Without her last season, there would have

616
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:27,760
Speaker 1: been no box office attraction. She is a superior artist.

617
00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:31,800
Speaker 1: He straight up said, the entire box office was nothing

618
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:35,000
Speaker 1: going on in it except for her. I love that.

619
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:37,759
Speaker 1: Like if she hadn't been at play, nobody would have

620
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:41,520
Speaker 1: gone to sea. In the show, she reprised her drag

621
00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:45,240
Speaker 1: number impersonating George, and she sang a song called That's

622
00:37:45,239 --> 00:37:48,760
Speaker 1: Why They Call Me Shine, and it is name dropped

623
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:52,400
Speaker 1: in nearly every review of this show as the highlight.

624
00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:57,040
Speaker 1: Sylvester Russell wrote that quote, her male creation was so

625
00:37:57,160 --> 00:38:00,239
Speaker 1: clever and natural of the style of her husband, that

626
00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:06,160
Speaker 1: the audience went wild with enthusiasm. The Chicago Defender wrote, quote,

627
00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:08,520
Speaker 1: all the people who ventured out to see the Smart

628
00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:11,759
Speaker 1: Set Company were drawn there to see Mrs Walker, the

629
00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:16,560
Speaker 1: most fascinating and vivacious female comedy actress the Negro race

630
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:21,080
Speaker 1: has ever produced. Her male specialty held the audience's spellbound.

631
00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:24,239
Speaker 1: Certainly there are no other stars in the Smart Set

632
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:28,799
Speaker 1: Company while she is on stage. I love that it's

633
00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:32,080
Speaker 1: not only this, but she's like she's bringing back George

634
00:38:32,120 --> 00:38:34,640
Speaker 1: and it shows you how beloved he was. And everyone

635
00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:37,360
Speaker 1: was like, I get to at least kind of experience

636
00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:42,120
Speaker 1: him again because she's so good at doing him. Yeah,

637
00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:45,239
Speaker 1: like that she's keeping George alive away with his his

638
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:48,279
Speaker 1: She also did a song called Bon Bon Buddy, so

639
00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:51,320
Speaker 1: it's like a big part of her Fondeville act. She

640
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:53,960
Speaker 1: would always do George, and I think that's really just

641
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:57,480
Speaker 1: a lovely tribute, kind of keep his name in people's minds.

642
00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:00,200
Speaker 1: And that's although I wonder if everyone else in the

643
00:39:00,239 --> 00:39:03,680
Speaker 1: smart Set company was like, well, geez, I thought I

644
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:06,560
Speaker 1: did pretty good, but all right, you know, my husband

645
00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:09,120
Speaker 1: died ten years ago. To actually nobody seems to care

646
00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:11,560
Speaker 1: about that. I could impersonate him, but he's a big

647
00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:18,640
Speaker 1: piece of ship. Nobody wants to see by a husband.

648
00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:21,680
Speaker 1: I hate to stop us there, but we've got to

649
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:29,960
Speaker 1: go to a commercial, so don't go away, and we're

650
00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:33,319
Speaker 1: back at It. Was such a superstar at this point

651
00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:36,840
Speaker 1: that she was able to realize her own dream, inspired

652
00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:40,280
Speaker 1: by her early role model Cieretta Joiner Jones of Black

653
00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:45,680
Speaker 1: Patty Fame, of forming her own vaudeville company Um. She

654
00:39:45,760 --> 00:39:49,640
Speaker 1: had one male partner named Lackay Grant and eight female

655
00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:52,880
Speaker 1: dancers in this company, and the broad Acts wrote in

656
00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:56,360
Speaker 1: September nineteen eleven that she was getting top billing on

657
00:39:56,480 --> 00:40:00,680
Speaker 1: vaudeville stages and the highest pay quote, keeping pace with

658
00:40:00,760 --> 00:40:05,000
Speaker 1: Bert Williams, and in an article for Yale University's Black

659
00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:08,880
Speaker 1: Acts Archive, Wells Thorn writes that this was quote no

660
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:13,399
Speaker 1: mean feat, as Williams was otherwise unrivaled among the black

661
00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:18,840
Speaker 1: theatrical community in prestige, popularity, and income. Her prominent place

662
00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:21,320
Speaker 1: on the bills is also indicative of a high degree

663
00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:24,759
Speaker 1: of star power. Bert Williams never received top billing until

664
00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:29,279
Speaker 1: the fall of nineteen fourteen, So she's I mean, crushing

665
00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:34,040
Speaker 1: it in every way. And she then blew everyone's minds

666
00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:37,000
Speaker 1: in nineteen twelve when she announced that she would be

667
00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:41,800
Speaker 1: performing the popular salam A opera dance of the seven

668
00:40:41,880 --> 00:40:46,440
Speaker 1: Vale at Amerstein's Victoria Theater. I know that one, yeah, right,

669
00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:49,360
Speaker 1: heard of that? So there was like a bugs Bunny

670
00:40:50,200 --> 00:40:56,400
Speaker 1: or something really got from I'm saying looney two in

671
00:40:56,560 --> 00:41:00,120
Speaker 1: terms of cultural education, who knew about opera because of

672
00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:05,400
Speaker 1: Bugs Bunny? Hello for anything else? Good old bugs, thank you.

673
00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:08,560
Speaker 1: I didn't know anything about duck season nor rabbit season

674
00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:13,680
Speaker 1: before I watched Elmer Fudd was a real teacher for me. Now,

675
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:17,000
Speaker 1: I is version of this dance had premiered in Bandana

676
00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:19,479
Speaker 1: Land in nine seven, but this would be the first

677
00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:23,080
Speaker 1: performance of it for white audiences. And this dance was

678
00:41:23,160 --> 00:41:28,040
Speaker 1: sexually charged and titillating. It actually caused the Met Opera

679
00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:31,920
Speaker 1: to shut down Salome after a single mind. They were

680
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:35,919
Speaker 1: like too sexy for them, Met, and that naturally kicked

681
00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:39,200
Speaker 1: off a salomania craze all over vaudeville, because of course,

682
00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:41,480
Speaker 1: everyone wants to see a show that you can't talk

683
00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:43,879
Speaker 1: to one night because it's too sexy. They're like, let

684
00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:46,960
Speaker 1: me check that sh it out. So for white women

685
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:50,080
Speaker 1: who performed this dance, they would be as sexy and

686
00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:52,400
Speaker 1: risky as possible with it, and it would kind of

687
00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:56,120
Speaker 1: show how modern they were, you know, the new century woman,

688
00:41:56,640 --> 00:41:58,960
Speaker 1: and they were able to like hike up their skirt

689
00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:02,319
Speaker 1: a little more, show your world to me. But of

690
00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:04,640
Speaker 1: course Aida knew that she could not perform that the

691
00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:08,279
Speaker 1: same way because black women in general, and black actresses

692
00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:12,800
Speaker 1: in particular, we're already seen as like over sext and immoral.

693
00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:17,359
Speaker 1: And I Eta believe that performing arts could combat stereotypes.

694
00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:20,640
Speaker 1: We've seen that throughout her whole career. She wrote in

695
00:42:20,719 --> 00:42:24,000
Speaker 1: nineteen o five quote, I ventured to think and dare

696
00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:27,319
Speaker 1: to state that our profession does more towards the alleviation

697
00:42:27,719 --> 00:42:31,720
Speaker 1: of color prejudice than any other profession among black people,

698
00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:34,480
Speaker 1: which I think is true because again you're touring around,

699
00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:36,799
Speaker 1: so you get to see a lot of people and

700
00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:39,320
Speaker 1: present to them a different story. I mean, the world

701
00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:42,520
Speaker 1: is so much about stories we're telling ourselves, and so

702
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:45,520
Speaker 1: it's really I think that's so powerful that she recognized

703
00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:48,879
Speaker 1: how much I mean, all three of them did. Yeah, Well,

704
00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:51,680
Speaker 1: your geography can do so much to shape your worldview

705
00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:55,160
Speaker 1: because you're so limited in your experiences sometimes or you

706
00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:57,520
Speaker 1: never see people who don't look like you, so all

707
00:42:57,560 --> 00:42:59,080
Speaker 1: you have to go on is the stories you've been

708
00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:02,919
Speaker 1: told and taught. And so then a touring show comes

709
00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:04,359
Speaker 1: to town and you watch it and you're like, oh,

710
00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:07,880
Speaker 1: these are wonderful people doing an amazing thing. Maybe I

711
00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:11,320
Speaker 1: should rethink the nonsense to have been taught my whole life.

712
00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:14,800
Speaker 1: So she's looking at the existing stereotypes and she's seeing

713
00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:17,800
Speaker 1: the power of performance. But she knows that she couldn't

714
00:43:17,840 --> 00:43:22,279
Speaker 1: present an erotic dance like white performers could, right, So

715
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:26,520
Speaker 1: instead she created this dramatic character piece out of it,

716
00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:29,920
Speaker 1: and she would convey the thoughts and the emotions of

717
00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:34,359
Speaker 1: the Salome character. Wells Thorn writes, quote the performance of

718
00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:37,800
Speaker 1: classical dance by a black woman on a concert stage

719
00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:43,040
Speaker 1: shared by white actors was considered controversial and even shocking.

720
00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:47,640
Speaker 1: Certain types of high art, such as drama and classical dance,

721
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:51,359
Speaker 1: were at the time off limits to African Americans, who

722
00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:54,799
Speaker 1: were thought to be better suited to lower entertainments such

723
00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:58,480
Speaker 1: as comedy and ragtime. Now, of course, a lot of

724
00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:02,120
Speaker 1: people were opposed to this before Mints, but money talks,

725
00:44:03,080 --> 00:44:07,480
Speaker 1: and after a single performance, her engagement was extended from

726
00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:11,760
Speaker 1: one to three weeks, making her the first black woman

727
00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:19,200
Speaker 1: to be accepted as a classical high art dancer and choreographers. Incredible,

728
00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:23,560
Speaker 1: um A, just the reinterpretation is brilliant. That's something that

729
00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:25,799
Speaker 1: if I just saw two performers do side by side

730
00:44:25,840 --> 00:44:27,920
Speaker 1: to that, I'd be like, oh wow, look at this

731
00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:31,040
Speaker 1: sexy seven day Veils dance. That's exactly what it's supposed

732
00:44:31,080 --> 00:44:33,040
Speaker 1: to be. I can't imagine it any other way. And

733
00:44:33,080 --> 00:44:35,280
Speaker 1: then some brilliant person comes out and is like, actually

734
00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:38,920
Speaker 1: I'm redoing this as a dramatic character piece. I'd be like, damn,

735
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:42,280
Speaker 1: where'd you come up with that? That is clever and brilliant,

736
00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:45,040
Speaker 1: and I love it. I love I mean, I love

737
00:44:45,239 --> 00:44:48,239
Speaker 1: re genrefying things, you know, turning stuff on its head.

738
00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:50,759
Speaker 1: That's that's so fun. It's like cover songs, you know,

739
00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:53,000
Speaker 1: like I want to hear a country version of this

740
00:44:53,040 --> 00:44:55,319
Speaker 1: song or whatever. I love that stuff when they cut

741
00:44:55,320 --> 00:44:58,120
Speaker 1: a trailer to make it look like a horror but right, yeah, yeah, yeah.

742
00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:01,080
Speaker 1: But then taking something like this and then utilizing it

743
00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:05,480
Speaker 1: for such a cultural purpose beyond just your own reinterpretation,

744
00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:09,280
Speaker 1: there's actual Like I'm i have a serious, valuable message

745
00:45:09,320 --> 00:45:14,120
Speaker 1: to do, and I'm undermining your existing stereotypes by presenting

746
00:45:14,160 --> 00:45:16,759
Speaker 1: you with something you weren't expecting. There's so much to

747
00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:21,840
Speaker 1: it's and I have the talent to choreograph and to

748
00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:24,520
Speaker 1: blow your fucking mind with it and pull it off.

749
00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:28,160
Speaker 1: And you can't deny me, but to choreographic and to

750
00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:30,920
Speaker 1: perform it, right, That's all three of them were, Like,

751
00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:33,480
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna be so good that you can't deny me.

752
00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:36,319
Speaker 1: You simply can't. Right. That is all those to it.

753
00:45:36,719 --> 00:45:39,000
Speaker 1: You can try all you want, but they're gonna put

754
00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:43,919
Speaker 1: my name bigger than yours, trust me. Now. Her next

755
00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:47,000
Speaker 1: ambition was to produce her own vaudeville show. So she

756
00:45:47,080 --> 00:45:49,560
Speaker 1: had her own company and she's appearing in other shows,

757
00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:52,759
Speaker 1: but she wanted to like actually do the lineup herself,

758
00:45:52,880 --> 00:45:56,360
Speaker 1: get the space, you know, handle that her own vaudeville show,

759
00:45:57,239 --> 00:46:00,280
Speaker 1: and she premiered her show in Chicago with a copany

760
00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:04,240
Speaker 1: of twelve. The Chicago Defender wrote in their review, quote,

761
00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:08,879
Speaker 1: here we're arraid the cream of Budvillians, headed by the

762
00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:12,920
Speaker 1: divine Aida. There is but one thing that is a

763
00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:16,520
Speaker 1: bit disappointing, and that is that she doesn't appear often

764
00:46:16,680 --> 00:46:20,799
Speaker 1: enough on the bill. And this reviewer Alfred Anderson, said

765
00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:24,440
Speaker 1: that Aida was quote the last word in the realms

766
00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:27,279
Speaker 1: of our dramatic art, and also pointed out that her

767
00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:30,719
Speaker 1: talents had not faded over the years. Quote how her

768
00:46:30,920 --> 00:46:34,640
Speaker 1: art endures and passes the acid test of changing moods

769
00:46:34,640 --> 00:46:39,640
Speaker 1: and fickle calls. She commands our admiration and highest praise.

770
00:46:40,200 --> 00:46:45,000
Speaker 1: She was also being frequently invited to prominent white gatherings

771
00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:48,440
Speaker 1: teach them dances that could do at their parties. And

772
00:46:48,480 --> 00:46:50,439
Speaker 1: I love this idea of a bunch of white people

773
00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:55,040
Speaker 1: being like, listen, ladies, gentlemen, I'm very excited to tell

774
00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:57,759
Speaker 1: you that we have the one and only I don't

775
00:46:57,800 --> 00:47:00,640
Speaker 1: Overton Walker here and she's gonna teach us a really

776
00:47:00,680 --> 00:47:04,120
Speaker 1: fun dance that we can do together. I'm so excited

777
00:47:04,120 --> 00:47:06,600
Speaker 1: because now my party is the hit of those STU.

778
00:47:08,040 --> 00:47:11,160
Speaker 1: You can just imagine them all like learning that little TikTok.

779
00:47:11,239 --> 00:47:15,160
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Gerald, am I doing it right? You

780
00:47:15,239 --> 00:47:20,920
Speaker 1: look smashing? Honey, She's terrible. It's just like great, Yeah, nope,

781
00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:24,200
Speaker 1: that's right. Maybe lift your foot up a little bit. No, okay, hey,

782
00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:28,880
Speaker 1: you're doing a great job. I'll take cash, please, thank you,

783
00:47:28,920 --> 00:47:32,239
Speaker 1: and I'll come back tomorrow. But I love too that

784
00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:35,040
Speaker 1: it was like such a thing for white hostesses that

785
00:47:35,239 --> 00:47:36,759
Speaker 1: like they were like, if my party is going to

786
00:47:36,840 --> 00:47:39,280
Speaker 1: be really cool and people are gonna be talking about

787
00:47:39,280 --> 00:47:41,839
Speaker 1: my party, I gotta have I to come and teach

788
00:47:41,880 --> 00:47:44,439
Speaker 1: us a fun dance, different and special and it really

789
00:47:44,440 --> 00:47:49,640
Speaker 1: makes me stand out right. Probably some exploitation going on there, well,

790
00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:53,160
Speaker 1: at least some hints of, but yeah, definitely, yeah, definitely.

791
00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:57,520
Speaker 1: I mean she wasn't invited to the party, right there?

792
00:47:57,640 --> 00:48:00,360
Speaker 1: Is that now? Not only was she going to these

793
00:48:00,920 --> 00:48:04,120
Speaker 1: parties to teach dances and make their parties cooler, but

794
00:48:04,200 --> 00:48:07,160
Speaker 1: Ida was also keeping the Williams and Walker dream alive

795
00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:11,560
Speaker 1: to create more opportunity and prosperity for black performers. Now,

796
00:48:11,560 --> 00:48:14,880
Speaker 1: at this point, the Frogs was still going strong helping

797
00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:18,880
Speaker 1: black men, who was their main membership, so I e

798
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:22,359
Speaker 1: to put her focus on black women. According to an

799
00:48:22,440 --> 00:48:26,080
Speaker 1: article by David Soren and the University of Arizona's website,

800
00:48:26,480 --> 00:48:29,719
Speaker 1: she raised a lot of money for the Industrial Home

801
00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:32,400
Speaker 1: for Colored Working Girls, which was a place that helped

802
00:48:32,440 --> 00:48:35,080
Speaker 1: black women who were new to New York find lodging

803
00:48:35,080 --> 00:48:37,600
Speaker 1: and employments, because a lot of times you show up

804
00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:41,719
Speaker 1: in New York and you're a woman alone, you're exploited

805
00:48:41,760 --> 00:48:45,000
Speaker 1: by the first person who finds you, you know, and

806
00:48:45,080 --> 00:48:51,319
Speaker 1: that could just suck up your whole life. Write or like,

807
00:48:51,360 --> 00:48:53,800
Speaker 1: the only job you can find is that the ship factory,

808
00:48:53,920 --> 00:48:56,279
Speaker 1: you know whatever. Yeah, hey, honey, you want to be

809
00:48:56,280 --> 00:49:00,719
Speaker 1: a star colored me start folding these boxes any day now.

810
00:49:01,920 --> 00:49:04,319
Speaker 1: We're gonna call you next week about an audition, right

811
00:49:05,400 --> 00:49:07,880
Speaker 1: and yeah. I Eta would help them find theater jobs,

812
00:49:08,239 --> 00:49:11,680
Speaker 1: and she also produced and choreographed shows for emerging black

813
00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:15,879
Speaker 1: dance troops to showcase their original creative talent. So again,

814
00:49:15,920 --> 00:49:19,319
Speaker 1: I think that was part of part of the impetus

815
00:49:19,360 --> 00:49:21,960
Speaker 1: to put together her own vaudeville show, was to be

816
00:49:22,040 --> 00:49:25,239
Speaker 1: able to put on the bill. Look, these are young

817
00:49:25,280 --> 00:49:28,440
Speaker 1: girls that are doing something cool. Let me lend my

818
00:49:28,480 --> 00:49:31,480
Speaker 1: star power to them and get them going. You know,

819
00:49:32,640 --> 00:49:37,800
Speaker 1: I love that regular Reese Witherspoon. I think about ibously

820
00:49:37,920 --> 00:49:42,200
Speaker 1: about Denzel Pan for Chadwick's stuff like that, where it's like,

821
00:49:42,400 --> 00:49:45,000
Speaker 1: just I want I want to bring up more talent.

822
00:49:45,120 --> 00:49:47,840
Speaker 1: It's not just about me. I want I want you

823
00:49:47,880 --> 00:49:51,040
Speaker 1: to see that. It's widespread in my community that black

824
00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:53,440
Speaker 1: people are very talented and you've got a lot to offer,

825
00:49:53,520 --> 00:49:55,759
Speaker 1: and you know you're limited, and you're thinking, and I

826
00:49:55,800 --> 00:49:57,480
Speaker 1: have to show you over and over and over again,

827
00:49:57,520 --> 00:49:59,719
Speaker 1: which is a little tiresome. I wish we'd just learn

828
00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:03,080
Speaker 1: the and lesson. But that's what I kind of made

829
00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:05,120
Speaker 1: me think of, definitely, and thank god he did that.

830
00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:08,160
Speaker 1: I love Chadwick. He did so many good shows. God

831
00:50:08,320 --> 00:50:12,719
Speaker 1: Mo Rainy, it was so good. George Walker, you know,

832
00:50:12,920 --> 00:50:17,480
Speaker 1: thinking about Chadwick a lot because actually Bert Williams too.

833
00:50:17,560 --> 00:50:20,560
Speaker 1: Nobody knew Bert was sick um and he was sick.

834
00:50:20,600 --> 00:50:23,000
Speaker 1: He just kept it to himself and kept working, which

835
00:50:23,160 --> 00:50:24,960
Speaker 1: reminded me a lot about Chadwick because he was like,

836
00:50:25,040 --> 00:50:27,359
Speaker 1: let me just I know I've got us. You know,

837
00:50:27,640 --> 00:50:29,279
Speaker 1: my time is short and I want to get as

838
00:50:29,360 --> 00:50:30,879
Speaker 1: much in there as I can get. I want Tony

839
00:50:30,920 --> 00:50:34,600
Speaker 1: May holding me back or not offering things because they

840
00:50:34,600 --> 00:50:36,440
Speaker 1: think I'm gonna go in the middle of it or something.

841
00:50:36,840 --> 00:50:41,560
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just do everything I can do so much.

842
00:50:41,840 --> 00:50:43,960
Speaker 1: I know, when Black Panther two comes out, I will cry.

843
00:50:44,200 --> 00:50:46,759
Speaker 1: I will that trailer. I mean just I cried at

844
00:50:46,760 --> 00:50:49,359
Speaker 1: the trailer. Yeah, and again even even that. I mean,

845
00:50:49,480 --> 00:50:52,080
Speaker 1: you know, Marvel heads here. But like we said, we

846
00:50:52,120 --> 00:50:55,080
Speaker 1: watched we watched mo Rainy's Black Bottom what during the pandemic,

847
00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:59,200
Speaker 1: I think, and I was just like so upset, as

848
00:50:59,280 --> 00:51:01,520
Speaker 1: like it's you know, reminded me a lot when He's

849
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:04,360
Speaker 1: Ledger died. When you're like, because a few years earlier,

850
00:51:05,200 --> 00:51:07,200
Speaker 1: I did not know about Chadwick Boseman. A few years

851
00:51:07,239 --> 00:51:09,400
Speaker 1: before Heath Ledger, I didn't think much of him, you know.

852
00:51:09,440 --> 00:51:11,080
Speaker 1: I was like, I didn't like a Night's Tale, and

853
00:51:11,120 --> 00:51:13,880
Speaker 1: I thought he was just like the pretty boy doing stuff.

854
00:51:13,920 --> 00:51:18,640
Speaker 1: But by the time he died, he had been cranking out.

855
00:51:19,080 --> 00:51:24,120
Speaker 1: Both of them had given such intense and incredible performances,

856
00:51:24,600 --> 00:51:28,880
Speaker 1: and you're like, I just want to see where this go.

857
00:51:29,120 --> 00:51:31,799
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, for a really crude comparison, it's

858
00:51:31,840 --> 00:51:33,960
Speaker 1: like your favorite show getting canceled when you're like, I

859
00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:35,960
Speaker 1: really wanted to see what season six this was, like,

860
00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:39,520
Speaker 1: you know, like, uh, you know, obviously it's a person's life,

861
00:51:39,560 --> 00:51:41,640
Speaker 1: so it's different than that, but that sort of thing,

862
00:51:41,719 --> 00:51:43,400
Speaker 1: or just like I just wanted to see what was next.

863
00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:45,440
Speaker 1: It was gonna be I was gonna enjoy it, That

864
00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:47,880
Speaker 1: was gonna be a positive experience in my life, and

865
00:51:47,960 --> 00:51:51,239
Speaker 1: I'll never get it. So much to offer, and we

866
00:51:51,320 --> 00:51:54,120
Speaker 1: only got very short window, and I'm glad. I'm glad

867
00:51:54,160 --> 00:51:56,560
Speaker 1: we got what we got. You know, I can't imagine.

868
00:51:56,640 --> 00:51:59,359
Speaker 1: Sometimes I just think about how tired he must have been.

869
00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:03,080
Speaker 1: I mean, stage four cancer and he's on a set,

870
00:52:03,800 --> 00:52:07,080
Speaker 1: you know, for fucking twelve hours, fourteen hours, I mean,

871
00:52:08,520 --> 00:52:11,520
Speaker 1: and and people have really I guess didn't know. So

872
00:52:11,560 --> 00:52:14,360
Speaker 1: he was not only giving you a good performance, but

873
00:52:14,400 --> 00:52:16,600
Speaker 1: he was performing on top of that performance that he

874
00:52:16,719 --> 00:52:20,799
Speaker 1: was okay to give that performance. I mean, I just

875
00:52:21,160 --> 00:52:24,160
Speaker 1: have blown away by Chadwick Boseman. I do cry when

876
00:52:24,200 --> 00:52:28,560
Speaker 1: I think about him, because he just so many good

877
00:52:28,960 --> 00:52:33,400
Speaker 1: projects and cool things and great stories that we no

878
00:52:33,520 --> 00:52:36,560
Speaker 1: longer get to have about him, unfortunately. And going back

879
00:52:36,600 --> 00:52:40,399
Speaker 1: to George, you know, Similarly, people were in love with him,

880
00:52:40,400 --> 00:52:43,520
Speaker 1: Like people were so drunk with his talent and the

881
00:52:43,560 --> 00:52:45,560
Speaker 1: shows he's putting out, and he was clearly doing a

882
00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:49,200
Speaker 1: lot for the industry, uh and really like bringing something

883
00:52:49,239 --> 00:52:52,000
Speaker 1: new to the table. And then he's taken away too soon.

884
00:52:52,800 --> 00:52:57,120
Speaker 1: Maybe a little more by his own behaviors, but um,

885
00:52:57,160 --> 00:53:00,520
Speaker 1: but even still, you know how heartbreaking for his fans

886
00:53:00,800 --> 00:53:02,560
Speaker 1: and the people who cared about him and looked up

887
00:53:02,600 --> 00:53:04,839
Speaker 1: to him and were inspired by him. Is like that's

888
00:53:04,880 --> 00:53:09,120
Speaker 1: all I got, um, you know, which again comes back

889
00:53:09,120 --> 00:53:11,759
Speaker 1: to what must have been so wonderful about seeing II

890
00:53:11,800 --> 00:53:15,560
Speaker 1: to perform as him. I love it. I love it.

891
00:53:16,680 --> 00:53:18,560
Speaker 1: And it's likely that we would all be a lot

892
00:53:18,600 --> 00:53:22,000
Speaker 1: more familiar with Aida Overton Walker's name and talent if she,

893
00:53:22,760 --> 00:53:27,439
Speaker 1: like George, had not passed away tragically young, because of course,

894
00:53:27,480 --> 00:53:30,600
Speaker 1: she was a lot younger than him. But in nineteen fourteen,

895
00:53:30,640 --> 00:53:33,920
Speaker 1: she was only thirty four years old, and she died

896
00:53:33,960 --> 00:53:38,319
Speaker 1: suddenly of kidney family and she was widely mourned as

897
00:53:38,400 --> 00:53:41,279
Speaker 1: having died before reaching the height of her career, much

898
00:53:41,320 --> 00:53:43,000
Speaker 1: like a lot of the people we've been talking about.

899
00:53:44,320 --> 00:53:48,000
Speaker 1: Chicago Defender wrote quote, she died young before her star

900
00:53:48,120 --> 00:53:51,680
Speaker 1: had reached its zenith, and the Philadelphia Tribune said that

901
00:53:51,760 --> 00:53:55,400
Speaker 1: she remained quote in a class by herself, second to

902
00:53:55,680 --> 00:54:00,480
Speaker 1: none in her line of work. Writer N. H. Jefferson wrote, quote,

903
00:54:01,040 --> 00:54:03,840
Speaker 1: through all of the obstacles that confronted her and the

904
00:54:03,840 --> 00:54:10,520
Speaker 1: misportunes that befel her success always crowned her efforts. And

905
00:54:10,560 --> 00:54:13,720
Speaker 1: I think, just like we're feeling right now, she always

906
00:54:13,800 --> 00:54:19,000
Speaker 1: left audiences wanting more. Yeah, I mean nice or do

907
00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:22,160
Speaker 1: and like, like to your point, it's not just about

908
00:54:22,239 --> 00:54:25,319
Speaker 1: the performances that were lost and the plays that were

909
00:54:25,360 --> 00:54:27,920
Speaker 1: lost because all of these folks died younger than they

910
00:54:27,920 --> 00:54:31,520
Speaker 1: should have, but the changes to the industry that they

911
00:54:31,560 --> 00:54:34,120
Speaker 1: would have made. I mean, imagine if they had managed,

912
00:54:34,400 --> 00:54:37,880
Speaker 1: if they had lived to to be seventy eight years old,

913
00:54:38,719 --> 00:54:41,600
Speaker 1: the things they could have done within theater with the

914
00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:44,160
Speaker 1: power that they had. I mean, and who knows, like

915
00:54:44,200 --> 00:54:47,960
Speaker 1: we've seen hubrists takedown many a character through history, so

916
00:54:48,040 --> 00:54:51,040
Speaker 1: who knows, they might have got two coffee or become

917
00:54:51,080 --> 00:54:54,080
Speaker 1: assholes in some way or anything. But you know, if

918
00:54:54,120 --> 00:54:57,440
Speaker 1: if they were anything like this, I just feel like

919
00:54:57,480 --> 00:55:01,040
Speaker 1: they could have made some real int hence changes to

920
00:55:01,760 --> 00:55:06,600
Speaker 1: that industry long before they actually came around eventually, right,

921
00:55:06,680 --> 00:55:09,200
Speaker 1: where would be where would we be today? Right? Or

922
00:55:09,239 --> 00:55:11,800
Speaker 1: maybe they would have moved to pictures, you know, talking pictures,

923
00:55:12,000 --> 00:55:15,200
Speaker 1: he started doing some of that stuff, like who knows,

924
00:55:15,280 --> 00:55:18,000
Speaker 1: But it would have been great to see Bert get

925
00:55:18,080 --> 00:55:19,279
Speaker 1: to a point where he didn't have to wear a

926
00:55:19,280 --> 00:55:22,600
Speaker 1: black face anymore to perform, because he wore black face

927
00:55:22,719 --> 00:55:25,520
Speaker 1: in the Silent films as well, because that's what I

928
00:55:25,520 --> 00:55:27,399
Speaker 1: guess people are just used to seeing him that way.

929
00:55:27,520 --> 00:55:31,719
Speaker 1: So that's my character, so strange to me, but yeah,

930
00:55:31,760 --> 00:55:35,640
Speaker 1: that is the story of George Walker and Ida Overton

931
00:55:35,719 --> 00:55:40,080
Speaker 1: Walker and Bert Williams and vaudeville at the turn of

932
00:55:40,080 --> 00:55:46,280
Speaker 1: the century. Amazing, amazing stuff. So so as very often

933
00:55:46,360 --> 00:55:48,920
Speaker 1: is the case in this show, I knew so little,

934
00:55:49,200 --> 00:55:52,600
Speaker 1: very little about this that I'm you know, I know,

935
00:55:52,840 --> 00:55:55,200
Speaker 1: there's only so many school days in a year, there's

936
00:55:55,200 --> 00:55:57,480
Speaker 1: only so many minutes per class. You got to go

937
00:55:57,560 --> 00:56:02,280
Speaker 1: from war to war. She is somebody couldn't emit dropped

938
00:56:02,280 --> 00:56:04,520
Speaker 1: these names at some point, been like, hey go go

939
00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:07,640
Speaker 1: lick these people up. Yeah, check it out. This is

940
00:56:07,640 --> 00:56:11,759
Speaker 1: what this is what biopics are for, you know, a

941
00:56:11,920 --> 00:56:15,399
Speaker 1: loose version of some fascinating person's life. That you can

942
00:56:15,400 --> 00:56:17,279
Speaker 1: then go read up on and say, well, that wasn't

943
00:56:17,360 --> 00:56:20,480
Speaker 1: very accurate, But now I know, yeah, yeah, exactly without

944
00:56:20,520 --> 00:56:22,520
Speaker 1: the biopics, so that I can then read the Medium

945
00:56:22,600 --> 00:56:25,880
Speaker 1: article about all the things that got wrong. That's what

946
00:56:25,920 --> 00:56:29,960
Speaker 1: I'm looking for. That's an education. You know, let's open

947
00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:33,000
Speaker 1: our school at forty two. But then you have to

948
00:56:33,040 --> 00:56:38,680
Speaker 1: go read about Jackie anyway, it was so great. I

949
00:56:38,719 --> 00:56:41,000
Speaker 1: wondered too. I was going to ask earlier when we

950
00:56:41,000 --> 00:56:44,799
Speaker 1: were talking about how she just outshined everyone and had

951
00:56:44,880 --> 00:56:47,680
Speaker 1: so much more success in her business. And there's got

952
00:56:47,680 --> 00:56:51,080
Speaker 1: to be an element too of just like, well, was

953
00:56:51,120 --> 00:56:54,400
Speaker 1: there room for more than one black woman star in

954
00:56:54,440 --> 00:56:58,320
Speaker 1: that industry? Like it's not not any fault of her own,

955
00:56:58,520 --> 00:57:01,920
Speaker 1: but like it was gonna be on person at most,

956
00:57:01,960 --> 00:57:05,880
Speaker 1: you know, just that she had to be so impressive

957
00:57:06,000 --> 00:57:09,520
Speaker 1: just to break into that position. Uh didn't mean that

958
00:57:09,560 --> 00:57:14,200
Speaker 1: there weren't other people probably as talented as she was. Um,

959
00:57:14,239 --> 00:57:16,439
Speaker 1: you know, but it's just like, well, we're how many

960
00:57:16,480 --> 00:57:21,120
Speaker 1: people were probably told we've already got an Aida, you know, right, Sorry, Yeah,

961
00:57:21,160 --> 00:57:24,000
Speaker 1: I don't care what you can do. We've already got one. Um,

962
00:57:24,040 --> 00:57:27,160
Speaker 1: which often happens still today. I mean in many cases,

963
00:57:27,200 --> 00:57:29,000
Speaker 1: not just in terms of race or anything like that,

964
00:57:29,040 --> 00:57:31,880
Speaker 1: but just you know, you'll, yeah, you'll have agents tell

965
00:57:31,920 --> 00:57:34,240
Speaker 1: you already got somebody looks like yeah. I've had so

966
00:57:34,280 --> 00:57:36,920
Speaker 1: many people say we've already got up Paul Rudd, you know,

967
00:57:36,960 --> 00:57:40,640
Speaker 1: and they send me back and, um, what what's that face, Diana?

968
00:57:40,680 --> 00:57:43,480
Speaker 1: What is it? You made a face? They said, They said,

969
00:57:43,520 --> 00:57:46,080
Speaker 1: We've already got a Paul d I was talking to

970
00:57:46,120 --> 00:57:49,000
Speaker 1: Paul Rudd's agents and he said, I'd love to help

971
00:57:49,040 --> 00:57:50,480
Speaker 1: you out, but I already got a guy looks just

972
00:57:50,520 --> 00:57:54,360
Speaker 1: like got an aunt man. That's so funny. But I

973
00:57:54,400 --> 00:57:57,080
Speaker 1: know I was thinking about like Dax, was it Dax Shephard?

974
00:57:57,160 --> 00:58:03,520
Speaker 1: Talking about um him and Zach Braff, Zach Brafe, And

975
00:58:04,840 --> 00:58:07,200
Speaker 1: I don't know, but he was just like, you know,

976
00:58:07,360 --> 00:58:10,280
Speaker 1: a tall guy with brown hair. Oh, here we come again.

977
00:58:12,000 --> 00:58:15,040
Speaker 1: He said his mom, I thought that Zach Braff was

978
00:58:15,120 --> 00:58:17,240
Speaker 1: him on a billboard. She like called him and I

979
00:58:17,280 --> 00:58:19,520
Speaker 1: was like, I saw you on a billboard. He's like, Mom,

980
00:58:19,520 --> 00:58:26,920
Speaker 1: that's Zach Braff, his own. Oh that's too good. I

981
00:58:26,920 --> 00:58:29,280
Speaker 1: guess I've just always kind of thought about that in

982
00:58:29,400 --> 00:58:35,920
Speaker 1: terms of how we rate famous actors as the greatest actors,

983
00:58:35,920 --> 00:58:39,760
Speaker 1: Like we really default to that, like, oh, the best actor, right, Oh,

984
00:58:39,800 --> 00:58:43,040
Speaker 1: Andrew Garfield is just doing things. No one says that,

985
00:58:43,400 --> 00:58:45,479
Speaker 1: you know what what pick a name like a year

986
00:58:45,600 --> 00:58:48,040
Speaker 1: and he's the best actor in the world right now.

987
00:58:48,400 --> 00:58:52,200
Speaker 1: And I'm like, there's probably some kid or some some

988
00:58:52,320 --> 00:58:57,000
Speaker 1: grown person in a small town in Michigan who is

989
00:58:57,560 --> 00:59:00,400
Speaker 1: the best actor in the world, and you out, but

990
00:59:00,520 --> 00:59:02,600
Speaker 1: maybe this person doesn't want to be an actor or

991
00:59:02,640 --> 00:59:05,120
Speaker 1: something or just never never tried to do anything. But

992
00:59:05,200 --> 00:59:08,200
Speaker 1: the community theater they do and we're all missing it

993
00:59:08,280 --> 00:59:10,200
Speaker 1: because it's you know, it's just such a silly thing

994
00:59:10,280 --> 00:59:17,960
Speaker 1: to quantified and how can you It's so subjective right well,

995
00:59:18,000 --> 00:59:20,840
Speaker 1: that it is so dependent on what you like and

996
00:59:20,880 --> 00:59:23,080
Speaker 1: what what speaks to you and all that kind That's

997
00:59:23,080 --> 00:59:25,320
Speaker 1: why I wish the Oscars would do. I wish that

998
00:59:25,360 --> 00:59:28,160
Speaker 1: they would do the Emmys thing and say Outstanding Performance

999
00:59:28,200 --> 00:59:31,160
Speaker 1: by an Actor and not Best Actor, because that's how

1000
00:59:31,160 --> 00:59:35,720
Speaker 1: do you come on? Seriously, you want to put Denzel

1001
00:59:35,880 --> 00:59:38,240
Speaker 1: up against Jack Black and I don't think Jack Flacks

1002
00:59:38,240 --> 00:59:39,560
Speaker 1: ever been nominated for Best Actor. But you know what

1003
00:59:39,600 --> 00:59:44,200
Speaker 1: I mean, though, why not? Like what what what's the comparison? Well, yeah,

1004
00:59:44,240 --> 00:59:47,000
Speaker 1: I mean, what in School of Rock, Jack Black gave

1005
00:59:47,720 --> 00:59:51,480
Speaker 1: such an incredible performance, but it's the kind of it.

1006
00:59:51,960 --> 00:59:55,000
Speaker 1: But it's the kind of performance that you wouldn't give

1007
00:59:55,000 --> 00:59:59,120
Speaker 1: an oscar to, even though he probably achieved what he

1008
00:59:59,200 --> 01:00:03,600
Speaker 1: was going for better than some actors in some intense

1009
01:00:03,680 --> 01:00:07,680
Speaker 1: drama that make you weep, you know, like a whole

1010
01:00:07,760 --> 01:00:10,400
Speaker 1: different conversation. A lot of actors say that they're like,

1011
01:00:10,440 --> 01:00:14,400
Speaker 1: they find comedy so much harder than drama, but it

1012
01:00:14,600 --> 01:00:17,360
Speaker 1: is not at all respected on the same level as

1013
01:00:17,440 --> 01:00:21,400
Speaker 1: dramatic acting. Um to be able to the timing and

1014
01:00:21,440 --> 01:00:26,760
Speaker 1: the delivery and everything about comedy is so invisible, and

1015
01:00:26,800 --> 01:00:29,480
Speaker 1: it's you only notice it when it's not doing it right.

1016
01:00:30,280 --> 01:00:32,320
Speaker 1: Where I think I used to say, like, dramas don't

1017
01:00:32,360 --> 01:00:34,800
Speaker 1: have to make you cry to be good, but a

1018
01:00:34,800 --> 01:00:37,960
Speaker 1: comedy has to make you laugh. And it's just two

1019
01:00:37,960 --> 01:00:41,600
Speaker 1: different things that people can't quantify it the same way.

1020
01:00:41,800 --> 01:00:47,200
Speaker 1: I as an actor myself, find them equally effortless, of course,

1021
01:00:47,400 --> 01:00:50,200
Speaker 1: which is why again it's hard. It's hard to me

1022
01:00:50,240 --> 01:00:53,480
Speaker 1: and Paul to exist in the same industry exactly exactly.

1023
01:00:54,200 --> 01:00:56,080
Speaker 1: But you know, we get by who am I like

1024
01:00:56,160 --> 01:01:00,680
Speaker 1: to get by? Who are you like well, obviously, especially

1025
01:01:00,720 --> 01:01:04,400
Speaker 1: when you were younger, you got the sissy SpaceX thing. Yeah,

1026
01:01:04,560 --> 01:01:07,680
Speaker 1: just one, but just just or twice. But you guys

1027
01:01:07,680 --> 01:01:11,360
Speaker 1: shared a look when you had long hair and when

1028
01:01:11,640 --> 01:01:14,560
Speaker 1: from her when she was like carry era like'll they'll

1029
01:01:14,560 --> 01:01:19,280
Speaker 1: definitely were like in a category together, um. But otherwise

1030
01:01:19,320 --> 01:01:21,680
Speaker 1: I think of you as a very um you know,

1031
01:01:22,200 --> 01:01:33,760
Speaker 1: Angelina Jolie meets um meets um, Kristen Shawl meets um

1032
01:01:34,000 --> 01:01:40,439
Speaker 1: meets um, like Lupizza, Niongo. You know, wow, somewhere in there,

1033
01:01:41,760 --> 01:01:45,720
Speaker 1: those are some good names. Yeah, just a dash of

1034
01:01:45,800 --> 01:01:49,800
Speaker 1: like Gary Busey because you've got that crazy. No, I'm

1035
01:01:49,800 --> 01:01:52,320
Speaker 1: going back, I'm going you got that crazy in your eyes.

1036
01:01:54,440 --> 01:01:57,040
Speaker 1: That's true. That's true. I did play a cult leader

1037
01:01:57,040 --> 01:01:58,560
Speaker 1: once and I was pretty proud of it. You were

1038
01:01:58,600 --> 01:02:01,080
Speaker 1: a great and I seeing you played an old man

1039
01:02:01,280 --> 01:02:04,960
Speaker 1: several times. True. True, and I have big teeth, So

1040
01:02:05,120 --> 01:02:09,120
Speaker 1: there you go. Basically, I remember your agent saying we've

1041
01:02:09,120 --> 01:02:14,520
Speaker 1: already got a I was like, hello, can I please perform?

1042
01:02:14,640 --> 01:02:18,520
Speaker 1: And they were like, sorry, girl, sorry, I've already got Gary.

1043
01:02:18,520 --> 01:02:22,800
Speaker 1: Although he's in big trouble right now and it's I

1044
01:02:22,840 --> 01:02:25,320
Speaker 1: don't think it's the first time. Anyway. No, I don't

1045
01:02:25,320 --> 01:02:27,560
Speaker 1: want to talk like Gary. Also don't want to be

1046
01:02:27,600 --> 01:02:31,320
Speaker 1: anything like Gary Busey. So we will have a conversation

1047
01:02:31,440 --> 01:02:36,360
Speaker 1: off Mike about that. I'm just kidding. Record everything. That's

1048
01:02:36,400 --> 01:02:39,800
Speaker 1: what people want to hear. Let's throw down. How dare you, sir?

1049
01:02:40,720 --> 01:02:43,800
Speaker 1: I'm not taking it back. I got my heels in.

1050
01:02:46,280 --> 01:02:50,120
Speaker 1: I said, if if Angelina, Jolie, Kristin Shaw and Lupete

1051
01:02:50,120 --> 01:02:54,440
Speaker 1: and youongo the three points of the tri force don't

1052
01:02:54,680 --> 01:02:59,560
Speaker 1: offset the Gary, the dash of Gary Busey, then I

1053
01:02:59,600 --> 01:03:04,360
Speaker 1: don't know what to tell you. I guess I guess

1054
01:03:04,360 --> 01:03:10,160
Speaker 1: I'll accept the dash of Gary Busey. Geez, this is it.

1055
01:03:10,280 --> 01:03:12,640
Speaker 1: You know. I do such nice things and then one

1056
01:03:12,680 --> 01:03:20,480
Speaker 1: little thing really gets meez. I cook every meal in

1057
01:03:20,560 --> 01:03:24,280
Speaker 1: this house. That's right. The one little mention at Gary Busey,

1058
01:03:24,520 --> 01:03:29,360
Speaker 1: and I'm in the doghouse. We gotta get out of here.

1059
01:03:29,840 --> 01:03:34,040
Speaker 1: It's so true. We're talking about this. We left the

1060
01:03:34,080 --> 01:03:37,400
Speaker 1: subject so long ago. I know it. But I hope

1061
01:03:37,400 --> 01:03:39,840
Speaker 1: that y'all loved them as much as I do. I'm

1062
01:03:39,880 --> 01:03:43,120
Speaker 1: like searching my brain for people to write a play

1063
01:03:43,160 --> 01:03:46,840
Speaker 1: about them and can produce it and take it to Broadway.

1064
01:03:46,880 --> 01:03:50,680
Speaker 1: Where they belong. Damn it um, But please reach out

1065
01:03:50,720 --> 01:03:53,240
Speaker 1: and tell us what you think about this this episode

1066
01:03:53,240 --> 01:03:55,920
Speaker 1: and what you thought about the Walkers and Burt Williams

1067
01:03:56,000 --> 01:03:59,840
Speaker 1: and if you have opened up your heart to night

1068
01:04:00,120 --> 01:04:03,520
Speaker 1: in tends music a little hard to get into, but

1069
01:04:06,640 --> 01:04:09,560
Speaker 1: it has its chart. Maybe I was so we got

1070
01:04:09,600 --> 01:04:11,280
Speaker 1: the swing revival, but when did we get like the

1071
01:04:11,400 --> 01:04:17,000
Speaker 1: nineteen tens like old timey know, right? Where's the talking real? Yeah?

1072
01:04:17,120 --> 01:04:19,400
Speaker 1: I'm ready. I don't know, I'm ready. We just need

1073
01:04:19,520 --> 01:04:23,000
Speaker 1: some bold band to put out one album. I guess

1074
01:04:23,040 --> 01:04:25,920
Speaker 1: there's kind of a variety show. You could say, like

1075
01:04:26,000 --> 01:04:28,960
Speaker 1: late night shows are sort of our Fraudeville revival. No,

1076
01:04:29,080 --> 01:04:31,840
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the music specifically. I see it like

1077
01:04:31,920 --> 01:04:44,880
Speaker 1: I want somebody to do an album, like we all yeah,

1078
01:04:45,080 --> 01:04:51,280
Speaker 1: come on, somebody do. I will listen at least once.

1079
01:04:51,320 --> 01:04:54,600
Speaker 1: It's probably why they haven't done it yet. Time so

1080
01:04:54,760 --> 01:04:58,160
Speaker 1: like that won't pay recording. But yeah, please reach out.

1081
01:04:58,240 --> 01:05:00,560
Speaker 1: Let us tell what you thought about these at episodes

1082
01:05:00,800 --> 01:05:04,480
Speaker 1: and who you think we should tackle next. Our email

1083
01:05:04,520 --> 01:05:07,720
Speaker 1: address is Ridick Romance at gmail dot com. Find us

1084
01:05:07,760 --> 01:05:10,360
Speaker 1: on Twitter and Instagram. I'm at Oh great, it's Eli.

1085
01:05:10,520 --> 01:05:13,840
Speaker 1: I'm at dat Boom and the show is at ridic Romance.

1086
01:05:14,280 --> 01:05:16,400
Speaker 1: Don't forget to hit us up with a review on

1087
01:05:16,520 --> 01:05:20,800
Speaker 1: Apple podcast, Rate us on Spotify. Tell all your friends

1088
01:05:20,800 --> 01:05:23,040
Speaker 1: to listen to the show. We missed them. We want

1089
01:05:23,080 --> 01:05:25,480
Speaker 1: them here with us. Thanks for tuning in. We'll catch

1090
01:05:25,480 --> 01:05:28,040
Speaker 1: you all on the next one. Love you bye, so

1091
01:05:28,240 --> 01:05:32,000
Speaker 1: long friends, it's time to go. Thanks so listening to

1092
01:05:32,200 --> 01:05:35,840
Speaker 1: our show. Tell your friends name's Uncle's in dance to

1093
01:05:35,960 --> 01:05:38,160
Speaker 1: listen to our show. Ridiculous roll Nance