#Aida Overton Walker

[baura-bear]

Something possessed me. First thing I’ve drawn in months.

[vintagestagehotties]

Hot Vintage Stage Actress Round 3

Aida Overton Walker: Miss Hannah from Savannah in Sons of Ham (1900 Off-Broadway); Rosetta Lightfoot in In Dahomey (1903 Broadway); Bandanna Land (1912 Broadway)

Dorothy Gish: Fay Hilary in Young Love (1928 Broadway); Helen Storer in Mainly for Lovers (1936 Broadway); Mary Surratt in The Story of Mary Surratt (1947 Broadway)

Propaganda under the cut.

Aida Overton Walker:

As fucking gorgeous as she looks in every picture ever that exists of her, it makes me so so sad that there aren’t any photos of her when she was a drag king in her vaudeville shows, I just know that if I had seen that back in ye olden days my heart would explode 

Dorothy Gish:

[silentdivasblog]

Lady of The Day 🌹 Aida Overton Walker ❤️

[valkyries-things]

AIDA OVERTON WALKER // PERFORMER

“She was an American vaudeville performer, actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, and wife of vaudevillian George Walker. She appeared with her husband and his performing partner Bert Williams, and in groups such as Black Patti's Troubadours. She was also a solo dancer and choreographer for vaudeville shows such as Bob Cole, Joe Jordan, and J. Rosamond Johnson's The Red Moon (1908) and S. H. Dudley's His Honor the Barber (1911).”

[2t2r]

15 des plus belles femmes de 1900

Nouvel article publié sur https://www.2tout2rien.fr/15-des-plus-belles-femmes-de-1900/

15 des plus belles femmes de 1900

[costumeloverz71]

Aida Overton Walker (1880-1914), aka "The Queen of the Cakewalk", was an African-American vaudeville performer, actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, and wife of vaudevillian George Walker. She appeared with her husband and his performing partner Bert Williams, and in groups such as Black Patti's Troubadours. She was also a solo dancer and choreographer for vaudeville shows such as Bob Cole, Joe Jordan, and J. Rosamond Johnson's The Red Moon (1908) and S. H. Dudley's His Honor the Barber (1911).

[peridotlionheart]

I don't see as much art at this time in history. I do genealogy, and I often think of what my ancestors went through. It's nice to see joy from this time.

Aida Overton Walker (1880 to 1914) also known as  “The Queen of the Cakewalk.“    American vaudeville performer, actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, and wife of vaudevillian George Walker.

Artwork by Abbi Udell

[make-friends-with-the-rats]

Alright y'all, buckle up.

Bad news :( Irving Hall/Irving Place Theatre was not, in fact, the location of the real 1899 newsies rally.

GOOD NEWS! :D I have found that the real location of the rally was the New Irving Hall at Norfolk and Broome Streets.

BAD NEWS!! :( New Irving Hall was not a theater. It appears to have been simply an event hall, meaning that "Medda's Theatre" that we all know and love is not actually historically accurate to the real 1899 strike.

Allow me to explain this revelation.

As far as I'm aware, the stage version of Newsies does not ever provide a name for Medda's theatre other than that it was located vaguely on/in the Bowery. Meanwhile, the 1992 film clearly gives us the name of the theater as 'Irving Hall.'

When you do a google search for Irving Hall or Irving Hall theatre in NYC in the 1890s, the top (and pretty much only) result is Irving Place Theatre which was originally Irving Hall, a venue not a theater, that opened in 1860. Irving Hall/Irving Place Theatre seems to check out as the historical basis for Medda's theatre then. Right? Well...

Irving Place Theatre. Map and photo from my previous post on newsies locations

Over the years, many newsies fans have landed on Irving Place Theatre as being 'Medda's Theatre.' But Irving Place Theatre was located at Irving Place and 15th streets, a far cry from the Bowery as the musical claims. So I did some digging trying to figure out if perhaps the musical had chosen a different theater for Medda, perhaps one that Aida Overton Walker was involved with. But I found something else instead.

Great Meet of Newsboys. The New York Sun, July 25, 1899, page 2.

When you go back and consult primary sources from the real 1899 newsboys' strike, you find that the rally was held not at Irving Place Theatre or Irving Hall on Irving Place and 15th, but that it was held at New Irving Hall at Broome and Norfolk streets.

I went down a rabbit hole trying to find information on New Irving Hall in NYC in the 1890s and came up with almost nothing. But I did go back to my map and found Broome and Norfolk, which I discovered to be much closer to the Bowery (highlighted below in yellow) than Irving Place Theatre was.

Marked in pink, relative location of New Irving Hall in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

At last, I found a single 2019 article with information on New Irving Hall and found out two important details.

First, that New Irving Hall seems to have been built or at least turned into a hall in the late 1890s and then burnt down in 1907. This narrow timeline could explain the lack of historical resources on New Irving Hall and the predominance of Irving Place Theatre in search results.

New Irving Hall, New York, on fire. Fire and Water Engineering, Volume 41, 1907. The only photo or illustration of New Irving Hall I could find.

Second, New Irving Hall was not a theater. New Irving Hall, like Irving Hall before the year 1888, was just a venue hall or dance hall for events. In it's short history, it was used for fundraising concerts, political and cultural events (the hall had many ties to the local Jewish community in particular), weddings, gang activity, and the newsboys' rally in 1899. But never was it a theater.

To circle back to Irving Place Theatre, the theater was originally called Irving Hall when it was built in 1860 and was rebuilt as a theater in 1888. While I can't back this up with any concrete evidence, I think it may be safely inferred that New Irving Hall, which begins to show up in records in the late 1890s, was possibly built because the original or old Irving Hall was converted from venue hall to theater.

In a 1916 Times article, Irving Place Theatre is referred to as "old Irving Hall," implying that New Irving Hall is/was in fact the new location of Irving Hall.

Union Square Loses Its Old Residences. The New York Times, June 18, 1916.

This potential link between the two might also be the reason why the Irving Hall of Newsies seems to take inspiration from both the Irving Place Theatre and New Irving Hall.

Medda's theatre is a mix of fact and fiction. According the the stage musical, Medda's is located in some connection to the Bowery like New Irving Hall. But the very fact that Medda's theatre is a theater means that Irving Place Theatre is just as likely the inspiration.

In conclusion, the real location of the newsies' rally was New Irving Hall, and New Irving Hall was not a theater. However, the theater in Newsies, Medda's theater, blurs the distinction between Irving Place Theatre and New Irving Hall and likely took inspiration from both places.

Top: Irving Place Theatre (highlighted blue). 1897 map. Bottom: Irving Hall (highlighted blue). 1897 map.

[notchainedtotrauma]

I wrote this poem exclusively for my Root Beer patrons (20$). I wrote it thinking of Aida Overton Walker, the "Queen of Cakewalk", choreographer, dancer, actress, singer, who was a legendary performer and an imprint in the history of Black performance. She was a sublime artist, and she eargely championed Black women getting on the stage and exercising their skills and artistry. And so the title is a parallel of her voice.

Archival photographs of Aida Overton Walker, The "Queen of Cakewalk", Queen of The Vaudeville Circuit, dancer, singer, choreographer, actress

Abbey Lincoln was a jazz vocalist and songwriter.

Bobby Humphrey is a flutist and singer. Her works have been sampled by the like of Digable Planets, Eric B & Rakim, Ludacris.

Megan Thee Stallion is a rapper, performer, dancer, actress. In simultaneity with her artistic craft as a Black female performer, she is an entrepreneur and has an educational background in health administration.

Missy Elliott is a songwriter, a producer, a rapper, a worldmaker, a performer, and a constant innovator.

The visual archives above best visually describe the poem. Here are some excerpts to whet your appetite:

We nod and nod and nod and nod; a sign of reluctance and wistfulness.

We're a leg lifted across a graceful back, a waste of shoulder: more oil in the voice.

and

Cars pace up the streets slurry with neutered teeth, a familiar grit, nobody smiling.

In every room there can be, an attempt at proper dislocation, sleepless beer.

and

Is she middle of the night curling, a head tense with needle marks, pointing ?

We resemble the carpeted grass of molten glass, the cake cracklings.

[baura-bear]

Reminder that Miss Medda is loosely based off of Aida Overton Walker! African American Vaudeville performer that did a lot of work to help young black women get on the stage. She refused the stereotypical “mammy” role that was often placed upon black women and became a sensational star, even going on to perform in Buckingham palace for King Edvard VII.

[matriarchy-au]

Aida Overton Walker was an iconic dancer and choreographer on the Vaudeville circuit. She performed solo and in chorus lines, she dressed in drag and in the finest female fashions of the day... in short, Aida did it all. She died young - in her early 30s - due to kidney failure, but her legacy in the performing arts lives on.

[vintagestagehotties]

Hot Vintage Stage Actress Round 4

Theda Bara: Mme Schleswig in The Devil (1908 Broadway); Ruth Gordon in The Blue Flame (1920 Broadway)

Aida Overton Walker: Miss Hannah from Savannah in Sons of Ham (1900 Off-Broadway); Rosetta Lightfoot in In Dahomey (1903 Broadway); Bandanna Land (1912 Broadway)

Propaganda under the cut. Semi NSFW propaganda below cut.

Theda Bara:

THE GREATEST VAMP ICON TO HAVE EVER LIVED

Aida Overton Walker:

As fucking gorgeous as she looks in every picture ever that exists of her, it makes me so so sad that there aren’t any photos of her when she was a drag king in her vaudeville shows, I just know that if I had seen that back in ye olden days my heart would explode 

[emmedoesntdomath]

On behalf of @caw-salem

I have to ask you for

The woman

The myth

The LEGEND

MISS MEDDA LARKIN/LARKSON

MEDDA IS SO UNDERRATED AND FOR WHAT

medda’s actually such an interesting character, historically AND personality wise, and we definitely don’t talk about that as much as we should???? and so- of course- we’re going to talk about all of it.

medda larkin/larkson (which, by the way, likely wasn’t her real name, but a stage name, probably because it rolled of the tongue better) wasn’t a real person, but she WAS based off of a real person: aida overton walker.

aida overton walker was a black actress, dancer, choreographer, and vaudeville performer who performed in various musicals, acts, and dances from 1898 to her death in 1914. she is often renowned as the ‘queen of the cakewalk’ and is seen as one of the most influential black performers of the early 1900s. she orchestrated benefits for institutions that supported primarily black women, refused to perform stereotypes on stage, and starred in the first all-black musical to be performed in a broadway setting, and then in england.

by the time she passed away, she had independently produced shows for two different black female groups, performed on some of the finest stages in the world, choreographed dance numbers for high class white socialites, created roles for black women on stage, and set a standard for performing vaudeville.

SHE WAS THIRTY FOUR.

THIS WOMAN WAS A BADASS.

so if medda larkin/larkson was based on this absolute bombshell of a woman (also, side note- I have no idea why they decided to make her white in 92sies. it’s definitely a decision that I’m not a fan of), then clearly, medda herself has to be HALF as amazing as she was, right?

medda first begins as a dancer, and as backing vocals to a bigger name in the bowery. she works her ass of, smiling sweetly, dancing with grace and a little bit of flair. she gets noticed almost a year in, when she has to stand in for the lead vocalist. suddenly, everything takes off for her.

she becomes a main act, garnering so much attention that she’s consistently in the papers. she doesn’t get paid much, but it’s enough that she can set aside a little bit here and there. she gets her own backing vocalists, her own gorgeous costumes.

and then the bowery owner dies.

there’s no more shows, no more crooning to the audience. the pay stops coming, and there’s a sign on the front door warning of close. medda, who has now spent years of her life here, who thinks of it as her home, is devastated. that is, until she asks how much they’re selling for.

so she borrows some money, pulls some favors (she knew the governor, and damn, if she wasn’t going to use that to her advantage). she begs, pleads, literally cries on her knees. gets a lawyer when they stare at her in disgust. takes ‘em to court, and then-

the bowery’s hers.

by the time she meets jack kelly, she’s been in charge for a couple years, and has met her fair share of poor kids who just need to get out of the cold. she more or less takes him in (he looked too afraid for her not to), and somehow that leads to her claiming the rest of the newsies as her children (not just the manhattan kids, either). she had a rough life too, she reasoned. she can cut some corners for these kids.

miss medda larkin, ladies, gentlemen, and my good people. the angel, the saint, the absolute fucking badass.

[newsiesproduction]

Hey i can't see anything about auditions for Medda I was wondering if you've already found one or if you just weren't auditioning her yet

The post is right here (you have to scroll down really far to get to it)

[theeleventhsignofthezodiac]

Unknown Photographer

Aida Overton Walker

[lboogie1906]

Aida Overton Walker (February 14, 1880 – October 11, 1914) billed as Ada Overton Walker and as “The Queen of the Cakewalk”, was a vaudeville performer, actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, and wife of vaudevillian George Walker. She appeared with her husband and his performing partner Bert Williams, and in groups such as Black Patti’s Troubadours. She was a solo dancer and choreographer for vaudeville shows such as Bob Cole, Joe Jordan, The Red Moon, and His Honor the Barber. She is known for her performance of the “Salome” dance at the Victoria Theatre. This was her response to the national “Salomania” craze that spread through the white vaudeville circuit.

She was born in New York City to Moses and Pauline. Her occupation was recorded as a waiter. Her name was spelled ‘Ada’, but this kind of misspelling is common in census records.

She gained an education and considerable musical training. At 15, she joined “Octoroons,” a Black touring group. She married George Walker (1899-1911).

She gained national attention in 1900, with her performance of “Miss Hannah from Savannah” in the show Sons of Ham. She was known for her work in musical theater. Her song and dance made her an instant hit with audiences at the time. She, Walker, and Williams worked together on such musicals as In Dahomey, In Abyssinia, and Bandanna Land. After two seasons in England touring with In Dahomey, the group returned to New York.

Her career and performances were praised by critics. Her husband fell ill and the partners closed In Dahomey in 1909. She left the stage for a time to care for her husband.

She joined the Smart Set Company. She began touring the vaudeville circuit as a solo act. She performed in His Honor the Barber with Smart Set Company. She performed as a male character in Lovie Dear, as well as in Bandanna Land, in which she took over her husband’s role.

Her husband died in 1911. In 1912, she went on tour with her show for 16 weeks, then returned to New York, where she performed as Salome at the Paradise Roof Garden on Broadway. She had continued performing two months before her death. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence