She was only 15 when she joined John Isham’s Octoroons, an all-black minstrel show in 1895. Her dancing talent was so evident from a young age that her parents provided her with formal training. Aida Overton Walker (1880-1914) was a singer, dancer, actor, choreographer, comedienne, and “Queen of the Cakewalk.”īorn Ada Overton (she later embellished the spelling for professional reasons) in Greenwich Village, Overton was the daughter of a waiter and a seamstress. One of America’s first women of color to become a national stage star of historic import got her start at Koster and Bial’s. Koster and Bial’s had the unique distinction of being both posh and somewhat disreputable, presenting entertainment similar in spirit to burlesque at the height of the Victorian era. This month, we will focus on female stars connected with Koster and Bial’s Music Hall, which was located at the present day site of Macy’s Department Store. In its heyday of the 1880s through the early 1910s, it was a nightlife mecca full of saloons, dance halls, gambling dens, and bordellos. The Tenderloin was so-named by a local police captain who relished the nabe for its savory graft. Now long defunct, the Tenderloin was a NYC neighborhood that at its furthest extent ran between 24th and 62nd Streets between 5th and 8th Avenues, thus overlapping with modern Chelsea. | For Women’s History Month, we will continue our series on famous vaudeville performers connected with the Tenderloin District. ![]() ![]() ![]() | Photo via New York Public Library Digital Collections (Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division)īY TRAV S.D.
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