Josephine Baker
Freda Josephine Baker (née McDonald; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 silent film Siren of the Tropics, directed by Mario Nalpas and Henri Étiévant.[3]
For other people named Josephine Baker, see Josephine Baker (disambiguation).
Josephine Baker
April 12, 1975 (aged 68)
American (renounced)
French (1937–1975)
Vedette, singer, dancer, actress, civil rights activist, French Resistance agent
1921–1975
Robert Brady
(1973–1975)
12; Jean-Claude Baker presented himself as her foster son (contested by the Baker children[1][2])
Vocals
During her early career, Baker was among the most celebrated performers to headline the revues of the Folies Bergère in Paris. Her performance in its 1927 revue Un vent de folie caused a sensation in the city. Her costume, consisting only of a short skirt of artificial bananas and a beaded necklace, became an iconic image and a symbol both of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties.
Baker was celebrated by artists and intellectuals of the era, who variously dubbed her the "Black Venus", the "Black Pearl", the "Bronze Venus", and the "Creole Goddess".[4] Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she renounced her U.S. citizenship and became a French national after her marriage to French industrialist Jean Lion in 1937.[5] She raised her children in France.
Baker aided the French Resistance during World War II.[6] After the war, she was awarded the Resistance Medal by the French Committee of National Liberation, the Croix de Guerre by the French military, and was named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour by General Charles de Gaulle.[7] Baker sang: "I have two loves: my country and Paris."[8]
Baker, who refused to perform for segregated audiences in the United States, is noted for her contributions to the civil rights movement. In 1968, she was offered unofficial leadership in the movement in the United States by Coretta Scott King, following Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. After thinking it over, Baker declined the offer out of concern for the welfare of her children.[9][10][11]
On November 30, 2021, Baker was inducted into the Panthéon in Paris, the first black woman to receive one of the highest honors in France.[12] As her resting place remains in Monaco Cemetery, a cenotaph was installed in vault 13 of the crypt in the Panthéon.[13]
Career[edit]
Early career[edit]
Baker's unrelenting badgering of a local show manager led to her recruitment for the St. Louis Chorus vaudeville act. At the age of 13, she headed to New York City[22] during the Harlem Renaissance and performed at the Plantation Club, Florence Mills's old stomping ground. After several auditions, she secured a role in the chorus line of a touring production of the groundbreaking and hugely successful Broadway revue "Shuffle Along" (1921)[28] that helped bring public attention to Florence Mills, Paul Robeson, and Adelaide Hall.[29][30]
In "Shuffle Along", Baker was a dancer at the end of a chorus line. Fearing she might be overshadowed by the others, she used her position to introduce a hint of comedy into her routine, making her stand out from her fellow dancers. She began in "Shuffle Along" with one of the U.S. touring companies, but, once she came of age, she was transferred to the Broadway production, where she remained for several months, until the show closed, in 1923. Next, Baker was cast in "The Chocolate Dandies", a revue that opened on September 1, 1924. Again, she was relegated to the chorus line. The show ran for 96 performances, finally closing in November 1925.
Later years and death[edit]
In her later years Baker converted to Catholicism.[91] In 1968, Baker lost her château owing to unpaid debts; afterwards Princess Grace offered her an apartment in Roquebrune, near Monaco.[92]
Baker was back on stage at the Olympia in Paris in 1968, in Belgrade and at Carnegie Hall in 1973 and at the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium and at the "Gala du Cirque" in Paris in 1974. On April 8, 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, financed by Prince Rainier, Princess Grace, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, opened to rave reviews. Demand for seating was such that fold-out chairs had to be added to accommodate spectators. The opening-night audience included Sophia Loren, Mick Jagger, Shirley Bassey, Diana Ross and Liza Minnelli.[93]
Four days later, Baker was found lying peacefully in her bed surrounded by newspapers with glowing reviews of her performance. She was in a coma after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. She was taken to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, where she died, aged 68, on April 12, 1975.[93][94]
Baker received a full Catholic funeral at L'Église de la Madeleine, attracting more than 20,000 mourners.[91][95] The only American-born woman to receive full French military honors at her funeral, Baker's funeral was the occasion of a huge procession. After a family service at Saint-Charles Church in Monte Carlo,[96] Baker was interred at the Cimetière de Monaco.[93][97][98]
Baker was a Freemason.[99]
Works portraying or inspired by Baker[edit]
Film and television[edit]
Diana Ross portrayed Baker in her Tony Award-winning Broadway and television show "An Evening with Diana Ross". When the show was made into an NBC television special entitled The Big Event: An Evening with Diana Ross, Ross again portrayed Baker.[126] In the 1981 film Das Boot, a German submariner mimics Baker's Danse banane.[127] In 1991, Baker's life story, The Josephine Baker Story, was broadcast on HBO. Lynn Whitfield portrayed Baker,[128] and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special – becoming the first Black actress to win the award in this category. In the 1997 animated musical film Anastasia, Baker appears with her cheetah during the musical number "Paris Holds the Key (to Your Heart)".[129][130] In 2002, Baker was portrayed by Karine Plantadit in the biopic Frida.[131][132] A character who is based on Baker (topless, wearing the famous "banana skirt") appears in the opening sequence of the 2003 animated film The Triplets of Belleville (Les Triplettes de Belleville).[133]
Her influence upon and assistance to the careers of the husband and wife dancers Carmen De Lavallade and Geoffrey Holder are discussed and illustrated in rare footage in the 2005 Linda Atkinson/Nick Doob documentary, Carmen and Geoffrey.[134][135] In 2011, Sonia Rolland portrayed Baker in the film Midnight in Paris.[136][137] In February 2017, Tiffany Daniels portrayed Baker in the "Timeless" television episode "The Lost Generation".[138] In May 2020, Astrid Jones portrayed Baker in the El ministerio del tiempo television episode "La memoria del tiempo" (The memory of time).[139] Baker is portrayed by actress Carra Patterson in "I Am.", the seventh episode of HBO's television series Lovecraft Country.[140]
A biopic about the life of Josephine Baker was announced in November 2022. It will be directed by French director Maïmouna Doucouré and produced by French production company Studiocanal.[141][142]
Stage[edit]
In 1986, Helen Gelzer[143] portrayed Baker on the concept album Josephine – "a musical version of the life and times of Josephine Baker" with book, lyrics and music by Michael Wild.[144] The musical director was Paul Maguire. The album was produced in conjunction with Baker's longtime friend Jack Hockett and Premier Box Office.[145] A West End stage production of Josephine was premiered at the Fortune Theatre on June 4, 1989.[146] It was produced by Ian Liston and financed in conjunction with Jack Hockett and Premier Box Office. Sadly, Jack Hockett passed away in 1988 before the show was staged. Heather Gillespie played the lead role of Josephine Baker, and Baker's husband Pepito was played by Roland Alexander. Peggy Phango played Bricktop.[147]
In 2006, Jérôme Savary produced a musical, A La Recherche de Josephine – New Orleans for Ever (Looking for Josephine), starring Nicolle Rochelle. The story revolved around the history of jazz and Baker's career.[148][149] Also in 2006, Deborah Cox starred in the musical Josephine at Florida's Asolo Theatre, directed and choreographed by Joey McKneely, with a book by Ellen Weston and Mark Hampton, music by Steve Dorff and lyrics by John Bettis.[150] In July 2012, Cheryl Howard opened in The Sensational Josephine Baker, written and performed by Howard and directed by Ian Streicher at the Beckett Theatre of Theatre Row on 42nd Street in New York City, just a few doors away from Chez Josephine.[151][152] In July 2013, Cush Jumbo's debut play Josephine and I premiered at the Bush Theatre, London.[153] It was re-produced in New York City at The Public Theater's Joe's Pub from February 27 to April 5, 2015.[154]
In June 2016, Josephine, a burlesque cabaret dream play starring Tymisha Harris as Josephine Baker premiered at the 2016 San Diego Fringe Festival. The show has since played across North America and had a limited off-Broadway run in January–February 2018 at SoHo Playhouse in New York City.[155] In late February 2017, a new play about Baker's later years, The Last Night of Josephine Baker by playwright Vincent Victoria, opened in Houston, Texas,[156] starring Erica Young as "Past Josephine" and Jasmin Roland as "Present Josephine".[157] Actress DeQuina Moore portrayed Baker in a biographic musical titled Josephine Tonight at The Ensemble Theatre in Houston, Texas, from June 27 to July 28, 2019.[158] In September 2021, Theatre Royal, Bath, in conjunction with Oxford Playhouse and Wales Millennium Centre produced a UK touring production of Josephine co-written by Leona Allen and Jesse Briton who also directed the show. It toured the UK and featured Ebony Feare in the lead role as Josephine Baker.[159]
Since 2016 Dynamite Lunchbox Entertainment of Orlando Florida has been touring Josephine, a burlesque cabaret dream play,[160] co-created by and starring Tymisha Harris, to Fringe Festivals around Canada and the U.S. It played at the Montreal Fringe Festival in 2022. It is part of the 2022-2023 official season at the Segal Centre for the Performing Arts in Montreal (spring 2023) as Josephine, A Musical Cabaret.
Literature[edit]
Baker appears in her role as a member of the French Resistance in Johannes Mario Simmel's 1960 novel, Es muss nicht immer Kaviar sein (C'est pas toujours du caviar).[161] The 2004 erotic novel Scandalous by British author Angela Campion uses Baker as its heroine and is inspired by Baker's sexual exploits and later adventures in the French Resistance. In the novel, Baker, working with a fictional Black Canadian lover named Drummer Thompson, foils a plot by French fascists in 1936 Paris.[162] Baker was heavily featured in the 2012 book Josephine's Incredible Shoe & The Blackpearls by Peggi Eve Anderson-Randolph.[163] In his novel Noire, la neige, Marseille, Editions Parenthèses, ISBN 978-2-86364-648-9, Pascal Rannou evokes the relationship between Valaida Snow and Josephine Baker, who is one of the main characters of this story.
Music[edit]
The Italian-Belgian francophone singer composer Salvatore Adamo pays tribute to Baker with the song "Noël Sur Les Milandes" (album Petit Bonheur – EMI 1970). The British band Sailor paid tribute on their 1974 self-titled debut album Sailor with the Georg Kajanus song "Josephine Baker" who "...stunned the world at the Folies Bergère..." The title track of the 1987 Premiata Forneria Marconi album Miss Baker was written in honor of the American dancer Josephine Baker. British singer-songwriter, Al Stewart wrote a song about Josephine Baker. It appears on the album Last days of the century from 1988.
Beyoncé Knowles has portrayed Baker on various occasions. During the 2006 Fashion Rocks show, Knowles performed "Dejá Vu" in a revised version of the Danse banane costume. In Knowles's video for "Naughty Girl", she is seen dancing in a huge champagne glass à la Baker. In I Am ... Yours: An Intimate Performance at Wynn Las Vegas, Beyoncé lists Baker as an influence of a section of her live show.[164] In 2010, Keri Hilson portrayed Baker in her single "Pretty Girl Rock".[165] In January 2022, Laquita Mitchell sang the title role in the New Orleans Opera production of Josephine by Tom Cipullo.[166]
Artworks[edit]
In 1927, Alexander Calder created Josephine Baker (III), a wire sculpture of Baker, which is now displayed at the Museum of Modern Art.[167] A nude portrait of Baker by Jean de Botton was the "cynosure for all eyes" when it was shown at the Salon d'Automne in Paris in 1931.[168] When auctioned in Paris in 2021 the painting set a world record (EUR 179,200) for the artist.[169][170] Henri Matisse created a mural-sized cut paper artwork titled La Négresse (1952–1953), possibly inspired by Baker.[171][172] Hassan Musa depicted Baker in a 1994 series of paintings called Who needs Bananas?[173] Season 14 of the Duolingo French Podcast is titled The Secret Life of Josephine Baker. The season finale was released in November 2023.
Documentaries[edit]
In 2006, Annette von Wangenheim directed the documentary Joséphine Baker: Black Diva in a White Mans World, about Baker's life and work from a perspective that analyses images of Black people in popular culture.[179]
In 2018, Josephine Baker: The Story of an Awakening, directed by Ilana Navaro,[180] premiered at the Beirut Art Film Festival in 2018.