Talk:Bert Williams

Death

The article says "Williams collapsed on stage on February 25, 1922 whilst singing "Under The Bamboo Tree". Is there any citation for that? I know he did that song, but I also know that at the time he died he was appearing in a play of that name, and I suspect there may be some confusion here. -- Jmabel | Talk 23:10, Apr 23, 2005 (UTC)

Legacy

Obviously, this needs much expansion; I don't know enough about him to do that. When someone gets around to this, please mention that Johnny Cash covered Williams' song "Nobody", because that's probably the best-known recent recording of one of his songs. -- Jmabel | Talk 23:13, Apr 23, 2005 (UTC)

Born 1874 or 1875?

He's listed under 1874 in music#Births but his birth year is given here as 1875 (and google searches, anyway, give a high number of hits for both years, but that says next to nothing.) Does anyone have a good source for either year? Thanks! Schissel : bowl listen July 3, 2005 18:11 (UTC)

Someone has now changed this, but still without citing a reference. - Jmabel | Talk 04:16, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Early bio

According to the Caryl Phillips interview on the Diane Rehm show, his family lived briefly in Florida before moving to San Francisco. Also (though I don't have anything citable on this) I've heard his family lived briefly in NYC when he was a baby or toddler, then moved back to the West Indies. Does anybody have something solid & citable on that? -- Jmabel | Talk 08:24, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

in reference to his early bio......my paternal great grandfather, david jack born onthe island of barbuda and raised on the island of antigua was friends with bert williams during childhood.

however, in the 1880 us census,, the family is living in new york, new york. by 1899, bert gets married in new york. his family is listed in the census for 1900 in new york, and his father passes away around 1903. as a married person, he is listed in new york for 1910 and 1920. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.106.7.35 (talk • contribs) 15 June 2006.

That seems plausible. Does anyone have anything citable? -- Jmabel | Talk 21:59, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

First paragraph of "Early Life" states his birth was in the Bahamas/Nassau, yet below his picture it says "Sweetes, Antigua". Which one is correct?

Quote discrepancy

This article has two different versions of the same WC Fields quote. "the funniest man I ever saw—and the saddest man I ever knew." and "Funniest man I ever saw, saddest man I ever knew." Which one is correct? Kevin143 06:28, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

African American

This series of edits removes all mention of "African American" because he was born in the West Indies. While "African American" in the narrowest sense would exclude that, it is still a pretty common designation for black people born in any English-speaking part of the Americas who immigrate as children and are reasonably assimilated to African American culture. Stokely Carmichael would be another good example. PBS, The Schomburg Institute, and The St. Petersburg Times Floridian all refer to Williams this way.

I'll allow a bit of time for a reply, rather than simply reverting. - Jmabel | Talk 21:20, 28 December 2006 (UTC)