There are very few words to say on a day like this, when our hearts go out to our compatriots across the water.
Let's leave it to Josephine Baker to affirm what we all feel.
D'accord.
Showing posts with label Josephine Baker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Josephine Baker. Show all posts
Saturday, 14 November 2015
I have two loves; my country and Paris
There are very few words to say on a day like this, when our hearts go out to our compatriots across the water.
Let's leave it to Josephine Baker to affirm what we all feel.
D'accord.
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Yes, tonight, Josephine!
Eighty-five years ago, a little black songstress and dancer emerged from her vaudeville beginnings in Harlem onto the stage at the prestigious Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, and an Art Deco erotic icon was born.
Josephine Baker (for it was she), often accompanied on stage by her diamond-adorned pet cheetah Chiquita, was an instant overnight success - not least for the fact she very often performed her nightly cabaret in nothing more than a skirt made of bananas! Her glamorous (and often scandalous) lifestyle (including many lesbian lovers) is the stuff of legend. I blogged about her life as a Civil Rights champion three years ago.
I think on this occasion, we should just celebrate her life with this very late Royal Variety Show appearance as the most "glamorous granny" in the business. A year later she died, peacefully, and was lauded as the best entertainer of her generation...
Josephine Baker official website
Sunday, 3 June 2007
The most sensational woman anyone ever saw
An often unheralded champion of human rights during the 20th century, and one of the most exotic, glamorous, powerful and beautiful women in entertainment history, Josephine Baker would have been 101 years old today!
In her heyday as the predominant star of the Folies Bergere in Paris, she rivalled Gloria Swanson and Mary Pickford as the most photographed woman in the world, and by 1927 she earned more than any entertainer in Europe. Ernest Hemingway described her as "the most sensational woman anyone ever saw."
On her early attempts to return to the stage in her homeland of the USA, Josephine was initially rejected by the bigots in the audience and the media. But she vigorously campaigned throughout the 50s and 60s to fight racism. When New York's popular Stork Club refused her service, she engaged a head-on media battle with pro-segregation columnist Walter Winchell. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) named May 20 Josephine Baker Day in honour of her efforts.
In her own words: "You've got to fight every single day. When I see a roach, I step on it."
When she died in 1975, more than 20,000 people crowded the streets of Paris to watch the funeral procession on its way to the Church of the Madeleine. The French government honored her with a 21-gun salute, making Josephine Baker the first American woman buried in France with military honors.
A true star!
Josephine Baker biography on Wikipedia
In her heyday as the predominant star of the Folies Bergere in Paris, she rivalled Gloria Swanson and Mary Pickford as the most photographed woman in the world, and by 1927 she earned more than any entertainer in Europe. Ernest Hemingway described her as "the most sensational woman anyone ever saw."
On her early attempts to return to the stage in her homeland of the USA, Josephine was initially rejected by the bigots in the audience and the media. But she vigorously campaigned throughout the 50s and 60s to fight racism. When New York's popular Stork Club refused her service, she engaged a head-on media battle with pro-segregation columnist Walter Winchell. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) named May 20 Josephine Baker Day in honour of her efforts.
In her own words: "You've got to fight every single day. When I see a roach, I step on it."
When she died in 1975, more than 20,000 people crowded the streets of Paris to watch the funeral procession on its way to the Church of the Madeleine. The French government honored her with a 21-gun salute, making Josephine Baker the first American woman buried in France with military honors.
A true star!
Josephine Baker biography on Wikipedia
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