Josephine Baker

Josephine (June 3 1906 – April 12 1975) was a multi-talented dancer-singer-actor, who could play both comedic and sophisticated roles. She brought a sense of eroticism to the 20th century stage. Through her ambitions, hard work, and independence she fought her way into professional theatre.

Early Life

Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine McDonald on June 3 1906, in St. Louis Missouri. Her mother Carrie McDonald was a washerwoman and her father Eddie Carson was vaudeville drummer who left Josephine’s mother.

From an early age Josephine’s independence can be seen. In 1919, at the age of 13, she moved out of her mother’s house and became a waitress at the Chauffeurs’ Club (a hangout for jazz musicians.) Soon thereafter she married Willie Wells; the relationship soured and he left her. Later in 1921, she married Willie Baker whose name she kept; they too divorced in the same year.

Getting to Broadway

After Willie Wells left her she joined the Jones Family Band, a group of street performers that played ragtime. Here she danced, clowned, and learned to play the trombone. Her dance movements- which look spontaneous- were actually developed from social dances that she learned and practiced daily. This was even true of her signature eye rolling and knee knocking (which she sometimes did to ward off anxiety).

Her next step towards Broadway was the Dixie Steppers, a traveling vaudeville troupe. She was hired along with the Jones Family Band outside the Booker T. Washington vaudeville house when the Dixie Steppers were down an act. She played cupid and got caught in the wires. The manager loved her and gave her a job as a dresser for the troupe’s female lead, because she was too small to be a chorus girl. They traveled across the US and she ended up in Philadelphia.

Broadway Success

Josephine’s Broadway debut was Shuffle Along, the first all black Broadway Musical by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake. Josephine left Willie Baker went to New York, and slept on park benches. Here she was hired as a dresser and stand-in chorus girl at the age of 15 in 1921. She was not a full company member because of her age, the New York state regulations were age 16. She also was too thin, too small and too dark. When she did fill in for a chorus girl she was a box office draw. She would clown and mock the very idea of a chorus line.

In 1924, Shuffle Along closed and she became a full company member for Sissle and Blake. She was in their next production, The Chocolate Dandies where she was the fifth principal in the cast and the fifth highest paid company member (not including Sissle and Blake). The Chocolate Dandies was not as much of a success as Shuffle Along and Josephine moved on to working at the Plantation Club in Time Square in New York. It was a large-scale night club featuring a black revue. She was a chorus girl but stepped out every night to do a specialty dance usually comic in nature.

European Success

She was recruited while working at the Plantation Club for a European tour of an all-black revue. On September 22, 1925, she arrived in Paris. She performed in the “La Revue Negra” at the Théâtre Champs-Elysées. The closing number was Danse Sauvage, an erotic dance with Joe Alex. Also in this year she starred in the Folies- Bergère in their show La Folie du Jour, where she performed her famous banana dance wearing a skirt made entirely of bananas. In 1926 she opened her opened her own night club, Chez Josephine, and recorded music for the first time. She also did a few films while in Paris: La Sirene des Tropiques, Zou-Zou, and Princess Tam Tam. She was truly admired by the French; they made Josephine Baker dolls, and hair products. She was their star and became on of the most photographed women of her time.

Return to America

She came back to America to star in the Ziegfeld Follies. Despite her European success, she was not received as celebrity. The American public did not respond well to this version of the Follies because of Josephine’s ethnicity. She appeared at the Apollo Theatre for amateur hour in Harlem under the alias Gracie Walker. She met with much racism from whites and blacks. She was unable to get a hotel room and was criticized by other blacks because she was said not to know her place. Josephine refused to stay in America when performing mammy songs was her only option. As an entertainer she had evolved beyond that and returned back to France, married, and became a French citizen.

Timeline 1919-1937

1919- Age 13

Married Willie Wells

Jones Family Band

Dixie Steppers

1921/22- Age 15

Married Willie Baker of Philadelphia

Shuffle Along

1924- Age 18

Shuffle Along closes

The Chocolate Dandies

1925-Age 19

Plantation Club

Goes to Paris

La Revue Negra

Folies- Bergère

Unofficially married Giuseppe Abatino as a publicity stunt; he became her manager

1926-Age 20

Opened nightclub Chez Josephine

Recorded music for the first time

1927-Age 21

Published autobiography Les Memoires de Josephine Baker

Film La Sirene des Tropiques

1934-Age 28

Film Zou-Zou

1935-Age 29

Film Princess Tam Tam

1936-Age 30

Back to America

Ziegfeld Follies

1937-Age 31

Married Jean Lion and becomes a French citizen

Quotes

“I improvised, crazed by the music... Even my teeth and eyes burned with fever. Each time I leaped I seemed to touch the sky and when I regained earth it seemed to be mine alone” Josephine Baker

“Since I personified the savage on the stage, I tried to be as civilized as possible in daily life.” Josephine Baker