The following year in 1896, she joined the successful Black Patti Troubadours which was run by reknowned performer Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones who most likely mentored young Aida. Walker’s work most effective in “Lovie Dear”, her male creation was so clever and natural of the style of her husband that the audience went wild with enthusiasm.” (1)īorn on February 14, 1880, Aida began her career at age fifteen as a chorus girl performing and touring with John William Isham’s Octoroons. “When Aida Overton Walker tipped out upon the stage, it was the same big reception she had often received in the Williams and Walker Company.
After the dissolution of the Williams and Walker troupe and her husband’s death, she regained notoriety and the press took notice. Her rendition became so popular that she used the song and costume as a part of her solo act touring again with the Smart Set Company. When her husband, George Williams, fell ill in 1909 and susequently died in 1911, she assumed his role in their show, Bandanna Land, wearing his costume: a suit, straw hat, spats, white gloves and a cane, and singing his signature song, ‘Bon Bon Buddy’. In 1909, out of necessity, Aida became a male impersonator in the last few years of her illustrious career. Aida Overton Walker was an immensely successful African-American actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, and male impersonator on the vaudeville circuit performing for black and white audiences which was rare for the time.
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