Dancing in the Dark
by Caryl Phillips
Secker & Warburg £12.99, pp209
It was 1911 when George Walker died, ravaged by syphilis, aged 38. He and his partner, Bert Williams, had entertained thousands in America and abroad with their show, The Two Real Coons, counted Buster Keaton and Edward VII among their fans and enjoyed the huge success previously reserved for white men.
Walker, from Kansas, and Williams, from the Bahamas, met and formed a partnership in San Francisco in 1893, playing initially in lumber camps and mining towns where their reception was sometimes less than welcoming.
In 1895, they decided reluctantly to 'play the coon' which was to form the basis for lifelong popularity for both of them. Williams was transformed into a bumbling buffoon, a black version of Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp, while Walker played the swell and the straight man.
At the dawn of the new century, they were headlining on Broadway, and Williams was to become the highest-paid entertainer in America. WC Fields said: 'Bert Williams is the funniest man I ever saw' but also 'the saddest man I ever knew'. Although Walker and Williams worked together until shortly before Walker's death, they grew increasingly distant. Walker enjoyed, above all, being centre stage in the bar, while Williams became increasingly misanthropic and melancholic. After Walker's death, Williams led his own company and performed until his death in 1922. Yet personal happiness eluded him and colour never ceased to be an issue in his success.
Caryl Phillips's novel tells their story with sensitivity and eloquence. He is a consummate storyteller with a sweetshop of anecdotes, but is always moving the narrative forward.
The tale of the rise, success and subsequent decline of Walker and Williams is a sinister version of the American Dream: two poor, black men arrive, through years of hard work, at fame and fortune, yet in doing so, must increasingly mute their own voices and carry the guilt of encouraging racist stereotypes in the minds of their mostly white audiences.
Williams once said that nobody in America knew his real name and, if he could help it, nobody ever would; but Phillips has ensured that, even if his name is not remembered, his story and Walker's will never be forgotten.
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