Bert Williams - WHY WE LAUGH FILM

A sneak peak clip at the Robert Townsend directed documentary "Why We Laugh."

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Ebony
• Jet
• Magazine
• Acting
• Movie
• Film
• Black
• African-American
• comedy
• documentary

[ibnewc]

Marlon Wayans said it, they were pioneers.

[Laffington]

His life was tragic though. Imagine the stress he was under...

[diddymuck]

@1mespud not quite. Fields was defiant and retaliatory. Bert Wheeler was of the "slow burn"/"why me?" school.

[xjoncamposx]

@diddymuck He died in 1922.

[1mespud]

This is the guy W.C. Fields patterned himself after.

[elnegrosombra1]

@elnegrosombra1 The auditorium at Masonic temple was filled & even more overflowed the streets to pay their respects to the late comedian. He was raised in Waverly Lodge of Scotland.

[elnegrosombra1]

He was a Freemason like me, upon his dying wish, Bert Williams wrote a letter requesting that he may have his Masonic funeral service conducted by St. Cecile, which was well-known as the lodge for theatrical entertainers in New York City. St. Cecile Lodge became the first in the state of New York to conduct a Masonic funeral service for a black man. On March 8, 1922, the solemn & beautiful Masonic ritual was fulfilled.

[diddymuck]

at last, somebody gives credit for the minstral performers and singer comics of the 30's and 40's.

[tayloreh]

'The funniest man I ever saw, and the saddest man I ever knew' is the full quote.

[kenedwards88]

"People sometimes ask me if I would not give anything to be white. I answer most emphatically, "No." How do I know what I might be if I were a white man? . . . . .There is many a white man less fortunate less well-equipped than I am. In fact, I have never been able to discover that there was anything disgraceful in being a colored man. But I have often found it inconvenient . . . . in America." Bert Williams