An exhibition and a square to be inaugurated this week in her name pay tribute to two different sides of the dynamic Baker: she was both an American singer who inspired the likes of Hemingway and the poet E.E. Cummings, and also a spy for the French Resistance in World War II.
“Place Josephine Baker,” which was opened last week by Paris Mayor Jean Tiberi, is situated in the 14th district of Paris, near that Theatre Bobino. That’s where Baker performed her last show in 1975, a retrospective of her own life entitled, “Josephine.”
Baker’s performance skills are legendary, as was her unashamed flamboyance. She often appeared topless onstage. When she came to Paris aged 19, her show, “La Revue Negre,” quickly won her a contract at the Follies Bergeres, where she performed the “Banana Dance” wearing nothing but a belt of golden bananas. This costume, together with 20 others, forms part of the exhibit, “Josephine Baker, Music Hall and Paillettes.”
The retrospective also includes some 150 photographs, posters and sketches as well as the feathered and sequined outfits restored specially for the exhibit. Says her son, Akio Bouillon: “Mummy was a myth, no doubt, but she was also famed for her courage.”
Perhaps it was that courage on stage that helped Baker to become a spy for the French Resistance. The performer passed on information about the Nazis as she toured Europe with her shows.
Other work of Baker’s, specifically for the Red Cross, won her almost every single war medal France can offer-including a Legion d’honneur from General Charles de Gaulle for her bravery. Nine of Baker’s medals are showing at the exhibit, together with her French war uniform and pictures of her marching for black civil rights in Washington in 1963.
“Baker is a star for all black musicians,” says museum curator, Laurent Teboul. “I met Quincy Jones the other day and even he collects sketches of her. She was the first black woman to perform spectacles in France and she strongly promoted equal rights. She was unique.”
