 The next year, he joined the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Toronto, Canada and then moved on to New York where he found work as a dialect comedian and then played for several years at Wallack's Theatre.From his seven-year apprenticeship there, Williamson emerged with a thorough knowledge of acting, play production and stage management.He then played in a musical comedy at the Theatre Comique in New York under the management of W. H. Lingard.