Cooper, John W. (John Walcott), 1873-1966

John Walcott Cooper (1873-1966) was a Brooklyn born ventriloquist. From 1886 until about 1890 he was a singer with The Southern Jubilee Singers. Cooper debuted as a ventriloquist in the 1895-1896 theatrical season, and gave his first professional show in 1897. He began touring the minstrel circuit with Richards and Pringles Georgia Minstrels as early as 1901. In addition to ventriloquism, with his first wife, Etta Freeman, a pianist, he told stories in dialect, did fancy paper tearing, freehand drawing, and "mind reading."

From the very outset, Cooper wrote his own material and continued to do so throughout his sixty years as a performer, and also designed his scenery. In his earliest skit, "Fun in a Barber Shop," he appeared as a barber in a shop occupied by five "customers," and performed all of the voices. Until the late 1920's, Cooper took his act into the nation's leading vaudeville houses, lodge halls, and private clubs, and was billed as a "clean and wholesome" performer.

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