Josephine Baker

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This page is for the American entertainer. For the first female director of Public Health, see Sara Josephine Baker. {{Infobox musical artist| Name = Joséphine Baker| Img = Josephine Baker sings the National Anthem.jpg| Img_capt = Joséphine Baker performing at the Municipal Theater in Oran, Algeria, North Africa. May 17, 1943.| Img_size =| Landscape =| Background =| Birth_name = Freda Josephine McDonald| Alias =| Born = June 3, 1906, [1975| Instrument =| Voice_type =| Genre = [Cabaret
[Dancer, [1906 – April 12, 1975) is one of the world's most beloved entertainers. She was an United States-born France expatriate who later became a French citizen. Baker was most noted as a singer, though in her early career she was a celebrated dancer (she is often credited as a movie star, although she only starred in 3 films in her early career). She was given the nicknames "Black Venus" or "Black Pearl" and "Créole Goddess" in anglophone nations, while in France she was known in the old theatrical tradition as "La Baker". She became a citizen of France in 1937. She is also noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States of America, and for being an inspiration to generations of African-American female entertainers. After retiring from her entertainment career, Baker adopted her "rainbow tribe" - 12 orphans of different ethnicities and nationalities

Biography Early life Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine McDonald on June 3, in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Carrie McDonald. Her father's identity is debated. Her father is identified as vaudeville drummer Eddie Carson by the official biography of her estate, but according to Jean-Claude Baker's prolific and well-researched biography:

Josephine Baker's true ethnic background is unknown. Her mother Carrie was adopted in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1886 by Richard and Elvira McDonald, both of whom were former slaves of both African and Native Americans in the United States descent,Jean-Claude Baker & Chris Chase, Josephine: The Hungry Heart. Random House, New York, 1993

She started her career as a street performer, dancing in the street as a child. She entered vaudeville joining the St. Louis Chorus at 15. She then headed to New York City during the Harlem Renaissance, performing at the Plantation Club and in the chorus of the popular Broadway theatre revues Shuffle Along (1921) and The Chocolate Dandies (1924). She performed as the last dancer in a chorus line, a position in which the dancer traditionally performed in a comic manner, as if they were unable to remember the dance, until the encore, at which point they would not only perform it correctly, but with additional complexity. She was then billed as "the highest-paid chorus girl in vaudeville."

On October 2, 1925, she opened in Paris at the Théatre des Champs-Élysées, where she became an instant success for her burlesque and for appearing practically nude on stage. After a successful tour of Europe, she reneged on her contract and returned to France to star at the Folies Bergères, setting the standard for her future acts. She performed the Danse sauvage, wearing a costume consisting of a skirt made of a string of artificial bananas.Josephine Baker's success coincided (1925) with the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs, which for one gave the name "Art Deco" and were also a renewal of interest in ethnic forms of art, including African. Therefore Josephine Baker also represented one aspect of this fashion.

In later shows in Paris she was often accompanied on stage by her pet cheetah Chiquita, who was adorned with a diamond collar. The cheetah frequently escaped into the orchestra pit, where it terrorized the musicians, adding another element of excitement to the show.

Rise to Fame After a short while she was the most successful American entertainer working in France — whereas in the United States, she would have suffered the racism prejudices common to the era. Ernest Hemingway called her " ... the most sensational woman anyone ever saw." In addition to being a musical star, Baker also starred in three films which found success only in Europe: the silent film Siren of the Tropics (1927), Zouzou (1934) and Princesse Tamtam (1935). Although Josephine Baker is often credited as a movie star, her starring roles ended with Princesse Tamtam in 1935.

At this time she also scored her greatest song hit, "J'ai deux amours" (1931) and became a muse for contemporary authors, painters, designers, and sculptors including Langston Hughes, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, and Christian Dior.

Under the management of Giuseppe Pepito Abatino — a Sicilian stonemason who passed himself off as a Sicilian count, Baker's stage and public persona, as well as her singing voice, went through a transformation. In 1934 she took the lead in a revival of Jacques Offenbach's 1875 opera La créole at the Théâtre Marigny in the Champs-Élysées of Paris, which premiered in December of that year for a six month run. In preparation for her performances she went through months of training with a vocal coach.

In the words of Shirley Bassey, who cited Baker as her primary influence, " ... she went from a 'petite danseuse sauvage' with a decent voice to 'la grande diva magnifique' ... I swear in all my life I have never seen, and probably never shall see again, such a spectacular singer and performer."

Baker was so well known and popular with the French that even the Nazism, who occupied France during World War II, were hesitant to cause her harm. In turn, this allowed Baker to show loyalty to her adopted country by participating in the French Resistance, smuggling intelligence to the resistance in Portugal coded within her sheet music. After the war, for her underground activity, Baker was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Légion d'Honneur by General Charles de Gaulle, and also the Rosette of the Résistance. "Josephine Baker - Biographical Essay" (bio), webpage: http://www.africanamericans.com/JosephineBaker.htm AA-JBaker.

Yet despite her popularity in France, she never obtained the same reputation at home. Upon a visit to the United States in 1936, she starred in a failed version of the Ziegfeld Follies (being replaced by Gypsy Rose Lee later in the run) her personal life similarly suffered, and she went through six marriages, some legal, some not. During this time, when Baker returned to the United States, she was allegedly at a dinner party and began to speak in French as well as English with a French accent. An African-American maid was reputed to tell her, "Honey, you is full of shit. Speak the way yo' mouth was born." She had the woman fired.

In January 1966 she was invited by Fidel Castro to perform at the Teatro Musical de La Habana in Havana, Cuba. Her spectacular show in April of that year led to record breaking attendance.

In 1973, Josephine Baker opened at Carnegie Hall to a standing ovation.

Civil rights involvement Though based in France, she supported the American Civil Rights Movement during the 1950s. She protested in her own way against racism, adopting twelve multi-ethnic orphans, whom she called her "Rainbow Tribe." Her adopted children were: Akio (Korean son), Janot (Japanese son), Luis (Colombian son), Jarry (Finland son), Jean-Claude (Canada son), Moïse (France Jewish son), Brahim (Arab son), Marianne (French daughter), Koffi (Ivory Coast son), Mara (Venezuelan son), Noël (French son), Stellina (Morocco daughter). http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/bake-jos.htm Lkwdpl.org Retrieved on 05-10-09

For some time she lived with all of her children and an enormous staff in a castle, Château de Milandes, in the Dordogne in France. Baker bore only one child herself, stillborn in 1941, an incident that precipitated an emergency hysterectomy.

She refused to perform for segregated audiences in the United States. http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/3-02/3-02bostock-e.htm Qualitative-research.net Retrieved on 05-10-07. Her insistence on mixed audiences helped to integrate shows in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nevertheless she was near bankruptcy until she was given an apartment and financial assistance by her close friend, Grace Kelly of Monaco, the American wife of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco.

She also worked with the NAACP. http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/3-02/3-02bostock-e.htm Qualitative-research.net Retrieved on 05-10-07. In 1963, she spoke at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom at the side of the Martin Luther King, Jr. http://www.nbjcoalition.org/news/black-history-profile-5.html Nbjcoalition.org Retrieved on 05-10-07 Wearing her Free French uniform with her Legion of Honor decoration, she was the only woman to speak at the rally. http://www.abbeville.com/civilrights/washington.asp Abbeville.com Retrieved on 05-10-07 After King's assassination his widow, Coretta Scott King, approached Baker in Holland to ask if she would take her husband's place as leader of the American Civil Rights Movement. After many days of thinking it over, Baker declined, stating that her children were " ... too young to lose their mother."Josephine Baker and Joe Bouillon, Josephine. Harper & Row Publishers, New York, 1977

Death On April 9, 1975, Baker starred in a retrospective revue at the Bobino in Paris — Joséphine à Bobino 1975, celebrating her 50 years in show business. The revue, backed by Prince Rainier and Princess Grace, opened to rave reviews and became the rage of Paris. Demand for seating reached such an extent that fold-out chairs had to added to accommodate spectators. The opening night audience included Prince Ranier and Princess Grace, Sophia Loren, Mick Jagger, Shirley Bassey, Diana Ross and Liza Minnelli.

On the morning of April 10 Baker was found lying peacefully in her bed surrounded by newspapers with glowing reviews of her performance. She had slipped into a coma. She was taken to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, where she died at the age of 68 on April 12, 1975.

Her funeral was held at L'Église de la Madéleine. Paris came to a standstill on the day of her funeral, and 20,000 filled the streets to watch her procession. She was interred at the Cimetière de Monaco.

Legacy Baker became the first American-born woman to receive the highest French military honor, the Croix de Guerre. "Place Joséphine Baker" in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris was named in her honor. She has also been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. The first swimming-pool over the Seine river which has been launched for the 2006 edition of Paris-Plage, is named "Piscine Joséphine Baker" after her.

Baker's sons, Jean-Claude and Jarry Baker, grew up to go into business together, running the restaurant 'Chez Josephine' on Theatre Row, 42nd Street, New York, which celebrates Josephine's life and works. http://www.chezjosephine.com/jean-claude.html Chezjosephine.com Retrieved on 05-10-07

Baker's iconic performance style has also been influential. Diana Ross, a long-time admirer of Baker, performed in Bob Mackie-designed outfits similar to Baker's and reenacted similar poses of the latter in many photo sessions. Baker's banana skirt, in particular, has made numerous media appearance. A dancer wore one in Sir-Mix-A-Lot's 1991 video for "Baby Got Back", and Beyoncé Knowles wore one when performing "Déjà Vu" for CBS's 2006 Fashion Rocks. During the Beyonce performance, images of a young Baker were projected on a large screen above the stage.

Gallery Image:Baker Banana 2.jpg|Joséphine Baker pictured in her most famous costume for the Danse bananeImage:Baker Charleston.jpg|Joséphine Baker dancing the Charleston, 1926

Portrayals

In 1991, Baker's life story, "The Josephine Baker Story", was broadcast on HBO. Actress Lynn Whitfield portrayed Baker. Whitfield, who triumphed over 500 other actresses (including Whitney Houston) for the coveted role, went on to win the Emmy for "Best Actress In A Mini-Series or Special".
The first scene of the 2003 French animation film Les Triplettes de Belleville is of a 1930's-syle cartoon parody which features a caricature of Josephine Barker
The 2004 erotic novel Scandalous by British author Angela Campion uses Josephine Baker as its heroine and is inspired by Baker's sexual exploits and later adventures in the French Resistance. In the novel, Josephine, working with a fictional black Canadian lover named Drummer Thompson, foils a plot by French fascists in 1936 Paris. The novel is said to be the first time a historical figure has been used as the heroine in a modern erotic novel.
In 2006, the director of the Opéra-Comique of Paris, Jérôme Savary, presented his À la Recherche de Joséphine (Searching for Josephine), a musical inspired by Baker's musical revues and songs from her early career. It tells the story of a French director in search of a star for his Parisian show in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He finds Joséphine Baker, who becomes the toast of Paris. It was successful and has even toured in Louisiana.

Filmography

... aka Siren of the Tropics
... aka Princess Tam-Tam
... aka The French Way
... aka Ten on Every Finger
(TV)

References Further reading

Kraut, Anthea, Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of Josephine Baker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Katherine Dunham, Theatre Journal 55 (2003): 433–50.

External links

The Official Site of Josephine Baker
A la recherche de Joséphine official site
A Josephine Baker photo gallery
Discography at SonyBMG Masterworks
Photographs of Josephine Baker

Josephine Baker
From basic beginnings, Jo Baker took the swiftest route she could, dancing and performing vaudeville, to New York City and thence to Paris.

Josephine Baker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Josephine Baker (or Joséphine Baker in francophone countries) (June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975) was an American-born French expatriate entertainer and singer.

V & A - About Art Deco - Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker, international star of sensational, exotic cabarets including La Revue Nègre, and the infamous Folies Bergère in Paris and Berlin, was born on 3 June 1906 in St ...

Josephine Baker
Mini Biography: Born to Carrie McDonald, a laundress, and Eddie Carson, a musician, Josephine's... more

The Official Josephine Baker Website
The official site with biography, quotes, filmography, and photographs.

The Official Josephine Baker Website
The Official Site of Josephine Baker. ABOUT JOSEPHINE BAKER The Official Site of Josephine Baker has everything you want to know about the original diva.

BBC - Radio 4 Woman's Hour - Timeline:Josephine Baker
Womans hour timeline content page: biography of Josephine Baker ... Josephine Baker was born into acute poverty in St Louis, USA. She became a dresser for the black revue show ...

Josephine Baker biography
Josephine Baker. NAME: Freda McDonald aka Josephine Baker BIRTH DATE: 1906 BIRTH PLACE: St. Louis, Missouri

Josephine Baker: Image and Icon
This exhibition traces Josephine Bakers important and innovative contribution to the Jazz Age through vintage photographs, posters, drawings, prints and paintings

Josephine Baker
Silent Ladies photo gallery of silent film star Josephine Baker.