George Walker (vaudeville)

George Walker (1872 or 1873 – 1911) was an American vaudevillian. In 1893, in San Francisco, Walker met Bert Williams, who became his performing partner. Walker and Williams appeared in The Gold Bug (1895), Clorindy (1897), The Policy Player (1899), Sons of Ham (1900), In Dahomey (1902), Abyssinia (1906), and Bandanna Land (1907). He was married to dancer and choreographer Ada Overton Walker.

Early life

George W. Walker was born in 1873 in Lawrence Kansas, the son of a policeman. He began his career as a child performer, touring in black minstrel and medicine shows. These performances eventually lead Walker to San Francisco in 1893, where at the age of 20, he would meet Bert Williams.

George Walker and Bert Williams

Two prominent figures of the minstrel era were Bert Williams and George Walker. When the duo appeared on the minstrel scene, they dubbed themselves the "Two Real Coons" at the Casino Theatre in New York City in 1896. The debut of Williams and Walker was considered to be significant to black comedy and black professional theatre because of their innovations, such as the hit musical comedy In Dahomey that toured Europe and the U.S., popularizing the cakewalk, and professionalizing American black theatre by founding professional organizations for black entertainers.