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Williams, Bert. (1874 - 1922) Autograph Signature "Nobody" with Photograph
Williams, Bert. (1874 - 1922) Autograph Signature "Nobody" with Photograph
Williams, Bert. (1874 - 1922) Autograph Signature "Nobody" with Photograph
Williams, Bert. (1874 - 1922) Autograph Signature "Nobody" with Photograph
Williams, Bert. (1874 - 1922). Autograph Signature "Nobody" with Photograph.

Rare autograph signature of the Vaudeville performer and comedian who was an integral figure in the development of African-American entertainment. Ink signature, signed  "'Nobody,' Bert Williams, Dec. 23rd/12," on an off-white sheet. Signature measures 3.5 x 2 inches (9 x 5 cm). Double-matted with an image of Williams in blackface to an overall size of 8.5 x 13.5 inches (21.6 x 34.3 cm). 

Composed by Williams with lyrics by Alex Rogers in 1905 and first publicly performed in 1906 in the Broadway production Abyssinia, the song 'Nobody' became Williams's signature theme and sold tremendously well for Columbia Records in the 1930s. 

Inhabiting the overtly racist landscape of his time, Williams, the child of recent immigrants from the Bahamas, made the radical decision to don blackface makeup to hide his light complexion. Behind this mask he became a Broadway headliner–as influential a comedian as Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, and W. C. Fields, who called him “the funniest man I ever saw, and the saddest man I ever knew.” Williams went on to become the first black performer in the Ziegfeld Follies. 

Williams, Bert. (1874 - 1922) Autograph Signature "Nobody" with Photograph

Schubertiade Music and Arts
SKU: 23677
$1,500.00
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Williams, Bert. (1874 - 1922). Autograph Signature "Nobody" with Photograph.

Rare autograph signature of the Vaudeville performer and comedian who was an integral figure in the development of African-American entertainment. Ink signature, signed  "'Nobody,' Bert Williams, Dec. 23rd/12," on an off-white sheet. Signature measures 3.5 x 2 inches (9 x 5 cm). Double-matted with an image of Williams in blackface to an overall size of 8.5 x 13.5 inches (21.6 x 34.3 cm). 

Composed by Williams with lyrics by Alex Rogers in 1905 and first publicly performed in 1906 in the Broadway production Abyssinia, the song 'Nobody' became Williams's signature theme and sold tremendously well for Columbia Records in the 1930s. 

Inhabiting the overtly racist landscape of his time, Williams, the child of recent immigrants from the Bahamas, made the radical decision to don blackface makeup to hide his light complexion. Behind this mask he became a Broadway headliner–as influential a comedian as Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, and W. C. Fields, who called him “the funniest man I ever saw, and the saddest man I ever knew.” Williams went on to become the first black performer in the Ziegfeld Follies. 

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