Mae West & Bert Williams

According to a book review in The New York Times, actor Lincoln Perry - - stagename Stepin Fetchit - - "caroused with Mae West . . .".
• • At the height of his career, from the late 1920's into the mid-30's, Lincoln Perry soared as Hollywood's first black superstar. His "Laziest Man in the World" shtick, so exquisitely honed that the New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther wrote that it was" as stylized as James Joyce," made him an icon everywhere in the world. He effortlessly stole scenes from the finest actors in Hollywood,earning the respect of greats like Charlie Chaplin, Lionel Barrymore and Will Rogers. He owned a dozen chauffeur-driven limousines, served watermelon to white guests at his lavish soirées and caroused with Mae West and Jack Johnson [www.nytimes.com/].
• • Lionel Perry [born in Key West, Florida in 1902] seems to have modeled his act on Mae West's favorite: the great black minstrel and vaudevillian Bert Williams [1875-1922].

• • In an interview with Charlotte Chandler, Mae described meeting Bert Williams when she was a child. Little Mae was so enchanted by him that she had learnt his theme song "Nobody" along with copying the superb timing and gestures Williams used to dramatize the sad words. This was unusual for Mae, who never liked anything downbeat. Knowing how much his daughter idolized the star, Mae's father made his acquaintance and invited him home in 1903. Unfortunately, Mae did not recognize the mocha-skinned West Indian entertainer without his blackface make-up and ran into her room crying, "It's not him!" To convince her, Bert Williams started to sing, whereupon Mae emerged from her bedroom and happily sat down to supper with Bert Williams and her family.
• • Bert Williams went on to star on Broadway in the Ziegfeld Follies and In Dahomey. Mae West remained a lifelong admirer of his comedic talents.
• • [Source: Charlotte Chandler, The Ultimate Seduction, Doubleday, 1984.]
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Mae West
Photo: Bert Williams; Son of Laughter: A Symposium of Tribute to the Man and to His Work, by His Friends and Associates with a Preface by David Belasco; Mabel Rowland, editor [NY: The English Crafters, 1923]. An appreciation gathered from reviews, memoirs, and correspondence of the legendary performer, much-admired on- and off-stage, who bridged the period between minstrel performers and vaudeville. Remembrances by Ring Lardner, W.C. Fields, George M. Cohan, Jessie Fauset, W.E.B. Du Bois, Nat Wills, Leon Errol, etc.
Mae West.