← Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood
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Acast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's the show that we recommend.
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I'm Eden Share.
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And I'm Brock Ciarlelli.
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We played best friends on the Middle.
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And became best friends in real life.
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We're here to re watch the Middle with all of you.
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Each week we'll recap an episode with behind the scenes stories, guest interviews and what we think now, many years later.
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There'S a lot to dive into. So let's get to middling.
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ACAST helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com.
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Hello delicious friends and welcome to who did what Now? The history podcast. That's not your history class. With me, your host, Katy Charlewood, history harlot and reader of books who has hurt their back again. Well, it is autumn and you know what they say, it's time to fall. I regret nothing. I regret nothing. It was a bad pun and I. I own it. No, I didn't even fall. I just turned too sharply and what do you know, my back just went, oh no. Because I'm not only emotionally broken, but physically broken. Because you know the joy of being a millennial time waits for no man or woman like the eagle eyed amongst you who are watching the socials. Around the same time of the date of release of this podcast is. You'll notice that I'm not quite the same awkward goose that I usually am. Instead, I'm like an awkward robotic goose who needs to oil their joints. And you're like, wow, she's so incredibly stiff. Why is that? It would be the pain, most likely and the fact that my muscles have gone, no, no, we're not doing that today. So. So yeah, that's, that's where that is. So, like my plan is I gotta, I gotta rejoin the gym because I think I just need to build up muscle strength, really, and hope for the best. Like that's, that's my goal. The worst part is I still put on platform like stilettos for a video just to. Just to make a whole thing about legs. It was not the most gracious of things. And I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, katie, quit your jibber jabber. In fact me, in fact you. I will. But first we've got to get our source on. Our sources are Folies Berger by Paul Durvall, Josephine by Josephine Baker. Josephine Baker by Patrick Hammond o'. Connor. The Josephine Baker Story by Ian Wood. Jazz Cleopatra, Josephine Baker in her time. Scandalous women. The lives and loves of history's most Notorious Women by Elizabeth Carey. Man Agent Josephine American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy by Damian Lewis. Naked at the A Biography of Josephine Baker by Len Haney. La Veritable Josephine Becker by Emmanuel Bornini. Remembering Josephine by Stephen Papich. Underneath a Harlem the Harlem to Paris Years of Adelaide hall by Ian Cameron Williams. Women Heroes of World War II by Catherine Atwood. Never been a the 1917 race riot that Sparked the Civil Rights Movement by Harper Barnes. We also have articles from Le Printion, the New York Times, the Guardian, the Telegraph, and of course, we have our old friends, biography.com and history.com. are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then let's begin. Actually, before we do begin, on the big stuff to the brim, full story of Josephine Baker, an icon and idol, a trailblazer, a trendsetter, and one of the most stunningly beautiful women to ever grace this earth. Before we get into all that, like, I. I love. She did so much. She did so much stuff in her life that when I first talked about her, I did a live show at the Prohibition cabaret bar, which no longer exists, by the way. And unbeknownst to me, they had an original Josephine Baker poster downstairs in sort of the jazz part of the bar. And so there's a photo of me with it at the end of the night because I'm just, like, posing because I was so excited. And so I covered her. But it's a live show, it's a short period of time, and so I had to condense a lot of stuff down. And so when I was doing the story for the Patreon, I just used the same story, and so it's much shorter. And now I decided, you know what? Let's give Josephine Baker her dues and let's tell her story as much as we can. So this is the first in. I think it's two. It could be three, but I think it's two. Two series. Two series, Two episodes on Josephine Baker. We'll see how far I get, because I'm still writing the next section. But without further ado, let me tell you about Josephine Baker. Josephine Baker was born Frieda Josephine MacDonald on the 3rd of June, 1906. To carry MacDonald and someone else now. Okay, so Carrie would go on to say that Josephine's biological father was vaudeville drummer and performer Eddie Carson. But here's the thing. He. He sort of. He never confirms it, really, and he just kind of plays along with it for a while. Like, his name isn't even on the birth certificate. The only thing that's there are the Initials, E, D, W. And like he wasn't really in Josephine's life either. So it's not as if it's like, oh well, he raised her. He did not. But we'll get back to that. Here's the thing. When Carrie MacDonald was very pregnant, she was admitted to the Women's hospital, also known as the Social Evil Hospital. Listen, people give places weird names. It's just a thing they do for why, whoms to say. But they did. It was probably very reasonable and rational for the time period. Anywho, this women's hospital, Social Evil Hospital, was an exclusively White Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. So Carrie was admitted in May and discharged six weeks later when Josephine was two weeks old. Now, Carrie MacDonald was a black woman in 1900s Missouri, and she spent four weeks in an exclusively white hospital before giving birth and another two weeks in the hospital recovering from birth. Which is weird enough because typically black mothers would have given birth at home with midwives, right? They wouldn't have been in hospitals, let alone an exclusively white hospital. Now, Carrie had been working for a white, well off German family when she became pregnant. And at the time it was illegal for black and white people to have children together because of anti miscegenation laws. The US was serious about segregation. They went from slavery to segregation, ensuring that black people would continue to be oppressed. Right? And they wanted to ensure there was no mixing of the races. It was illegal for. It was illegal for mixed race couples to marry and procreate. Like it didn't stop these children from appearing in the world. And yet. And like, even when it comes to Carrie McDonald, we don't know her biological heritage either. Like, we don't have that family tree, not biologically anyway, because she herself was actually adopted by a couple in Little Rock, Arkansas, Richard and Elvira MacDonald. They were former slaves of African and Native American descent. And so she was raised by this couple. And again, they were former slaves. So this is not, it's not a huge period of time right between that and then. And as Carrie grew up, she wanted to be a dancer, performing with something that she loved. And in 1904 she moved to St. Louis for the 1904 World Fair. She was like on the circuit and she was a partner in a dance called the Cakewalk. And it was done at the end of a minstrel show as part of the big finale. And she had this bit where she would strut with a glass of water on her head. And allegedly she was so good that she never spilled a drop even when she was Pregnant. See, she had worked with Eddie Carson on the Vaudeville Circus. Like, he choreographed all the routines, which is why he's like a convenient name drop. And she continued dancing with Eddie, like, and she were. They were working together up until Josephine was like one one and a half when her brother Richard was born and she named Eddie Carson as the father of Richard. So Eddie Carson just sort of claims Josephine because he's like, around. And that's where his name comes into it. Now, after she gave birth again, Carrie couldn't continue dancing because Eddie, like, he left. He. He left and he was the one who choreographed all the routines. So she could dance, but she couldn't make it up, I guess. And so in order to support the three of them, she gets work as a laundress. And because of this, she has to give up her dream, which is something that she resented Josephine for, which is like, you've got two kids, why is she the one that you're blaming? But yeah, don't worry, it gets worse. She gives Josephine the nickname Tumpty, as in, like Humpty Dumpty. She is calling her fat. And here's the thing, like, Josephine probably just had, like, puppy fat, you know, the appropriate amount of pudge that children should have. And like, again, she has two children, not just one. But it was Josephine who gets the brunt of it. It's her that she resents. Like, her mother would straight up tell her that she hated her and wished she was dead, right when, like, when she was little. Like, she remembers, like, this being yelled at her. And now this could be postpartum. It could have been because, well, it's over a century ago and the options for single black women were limited, to say the least. It's a racist, patriarchal society which demeans women. Single women, single mothers and black women. So no matter what she does, Carrie's buggered in this situation because it's an uphill battle from where she is. So they live on 212 Targhee street in Chestnut Valley in St. Louis. This was a racially mixed, low income area near Union Station. It's poor as fuck, effectively, but everybody's poor as fuck. So you're all in the same boat together. It's full of boarding houses, brothels, cramped apartments, which of course had no indoor plumbing because it's the 1900s. And so Josephine, she grew up without a mother's love. She wore dirty clothes and was often hungry. And like, she even wore, like for a while. She tells a story of how she wore these second hand heels but in order for Josephine to wear them, they just sawed the heels off to make them flat. And so she would wear these. But she's growing up in this impoverished area. And I'm not saying that everybody's in the same boat, but everybody's struggling here. Like, this is not affluent in any way. And so, like, she would play and dance around Union Station. She'd do little, like, shows on street corners. And, like, there was one boy who wanted, like, chorus girls to dance with him. And so she would learn a routine and do some dancing. And, like, so she would do this bit, right, where she would do gestures and funny faces and be a bit goofy when she danced because, like, probably because people were more likely to tip her, you know? And so she did this. And this was just something. It was just a part of her growing up, part of her childhood. Now Carrie remarries Arthur Martin, a mostly kind but perpetually unemployed man, and they end up having two daughters together. Now, Arthur being perpetually unemployed, the reason for this was he didn't have a trade. He was an unskilled worker. And so during a time in which white and black people were fighting for jobs, chances are it's gonna be the white dude that gets the job. You know, privilege. Now this is one of those things where it's like, check your privilege. Because white people, even if they are in the same sort of tax bracket as a black person, as an Asian person, so on and so forth, right? They're always going to have the upper hand, especially in the Western world, because it's built for the mayonnaise skinned like myself. And just because you have it bad, chances are any, any I say minority, but like, anyone of the global majority has it worse than you. Okay? So haud your wheesht, pal. So Anyway, if K. MacDonald married Arthur Martin for security, well, that's. That's not exactly. That's not exactly what he brings to the table. And so they end up actually sharing one bed growing up. Like, you know, because they're being not of means. And Josephine, she was really disgusted by the smell of her stepfather's feet. Like, they're rancid to her. And because they would probably, like, top and tail in bed, like the bucket grandparents in. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Like in that one. Yeah, like that. So she would end up sleeping on the floor wrapped in newspaper because she found the stench so repugnant. Like, it was so bad. She was like, I can't be in the same quarter as this. I need to be down here away from the vapors. Right. Josephine already had a tough time of it growing up, but as she grew it was very apparent that she was different to her siblings. Something that she noticed because she had fully functioning eyes and also because her mother felt the need to bring it up constantly. Something that made her different to her siblings was her skin colour. Josephine was light skinned and her siblings they were darker and so this othered her and so there's all these tensions happening at home. And Arthur Martin, he does manage to get a job at some point but he loses it. And after losing a job that he actually managed to get, Arthur became violent and he would have these depressive states and then Carrie she would get violent as well. And like for a while like Josephine ends up living with her grandmother who's like one of the only people like in her formative years that really shows her love. But she can't stay with her grandmother forever. And when Josephine is 8 years old she's pushed out of the family unit. So her mother is like we need to earn more money. You are the oldest being 8 years old. And so she forces her to get a job and she is sent to do domestic work for white families. An 8 year old child is the domestic servant for a white family. And she works for the absolutely horrific Mrs. Kaiser who was not only racist but a purveyor of cruelty. Now Josephine is eight years old, she doesn't know who her father is, her mother has abandoned her and she's already living in poverty. And like some would even go as far as to call her a street urchin. But she's working now doing domestic work. She's up at 5am to do her chores and then she has to go to school because it's illegal for her not to go to school. Like they do have education laws, you know. And so she's up at 5am to do her chores, she goes to school and then she comes back to the house and continues choring until 8pm at night. So she's all go all day and she ends up sleeping in a box in the basement. Like that is where Mrs. Kaiser puts her. She puts her in the basement with the family dog and surprise, surprise, because that's where she's sleeping. She gets fleas like she gets flea bitten from staying in the basement with the family dog. And Mrs. Kaiser, she is, she's just an abuse of shit. Right, I'm going to talk about abuse for a minute so you're going to want to Skip forward like 30 seconds. She burns Josephine's hands for using too much soap in the laundry. And Josephine, like they called her Humpty. But she loses so much weight here either from malnutrition or stress. And so she moves in and she ends up caring for this chicken, right? There's this one chicken and she's like feeding it scraps and stuff and it's like her friend and she treats it like a friend. And Mrs. Kaiser notices and so she goes, well that chicken's nice and plump and has Josephine kill it after a month after she sees the joy and connection that Josephine has. Now Josephine doesn't stay in this job. The reason being is she had let a pot boil over. And Mrs. Kaiser, after seeing, you know, the boiling pot, you know, boil over, grabs Josephine's hands, this eight year old child and forces her hands into the boiling water as punishment. She boiled her skin, it was peeling off. And Josephine, she runs out of the house screaming. But the pain is so severe that she collapses and she wakes up in the hospital with her mother by her side. How she got to the hospital, whom's to say, I do not know. And she's there, she goes home, she rests, but when her hands are healed she's sent right back out to work. And so she ends up working for this other family. They're like a neighbor family, they're not too far. And she's in a room with a bed this time. So she's already moving up in the world and she's like in a bed, in a bed that she sleeps in by herself, which is like luxury for her, you know. But the thing is she wakes up at night. She keeps waking up at night because she's convinced there's a ghost in the room. Why did she think there was a ghost? Well, I'm glad you asked because I'll tell you because she would wake up to the sound of heavy breathing and this freaks her out so much. Like she's 8, 9 years old at this point. She's 9. She goes to the lady of the house and she's like, I'm hearing spooky ghost noises. There's a spooky ghost breathing in the room because as we know, all ghosts require oxygen. And so the mistress of the house storms into the room one night and finds her husband hiding in the corner. Needless to say, Josephine does not stay in her possession and she's sent back to her parents house, well, her mum and stepdad's house who make fun of the nine year old, right, they make fun of nine year old Josephine because she didn't understand why she was sent home. Like, she's nine. She didn't get that this was dangerous. She had no idea what that man wanted to do. She didn't understand this was predatory behavior. Like, she didn't get it because she's nine. Right? She's nine. And she doesn't know because she's a child. Right? So they need work, they need to earn. And so they start moving around, like just sort of following where the work is, right? And she ends up living in boxcartown in East St. Louis. So these homes were like, they're like the boxcars from old railroads and they've just sort of turned them into houses. Although now we'd be like, look, tiny home. Isn't it fancy? These were not fancy. They were not fancy. So it's here, at 11 years old, that she lives through something that marks her for the rest of her life. The East St. Louis massacre. Foreign.
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The East St. Louis massacre occurred in July 1917. And I'm going to try and cliff note this as much as possible. In East St. Louis, Illinois, there's a labour dispute. These white union workers went on strike at major industries all over the city and black workers were brought in to replace the white workers who were striking. So black workers were hired as strikebreakers and, you know, as they were hungry, living in poverty, needing work, you know, gotta eat to live, gotta work to eat. Tell you more about it when I got the time, you know. So this sparked more racial tension in an already racist city. And in a move that surprises absolutely no one, white people took it upon themselves to begin assaulting, attacking and beating the shit out of any and all African American people that they came across. Like somewhere between a thousand to three thousand white men, they marched into Downtown East St. Louis and they let her rip. They openly attacked black Americans. Like there is one guy, I mean, it's like, like the Tulsa race massacre. That's one guy, he just drives in and just starts shooting at black people indiscriminately. And the National Guard are brought in to basically watch over the city until the Kenneths calm the fuck down. That being said, they're not actually doing anything. They basically Just stood around and watched. Now, you might hear this called the East St. Louis riot. It was not a riot, it was a massacre. And to call it a riot, it's like, you know, Zoot Sut and Tulsa Race Massacre, they are renamed in order to downplay what actually happened. Like they call it that to make it seem like it was something else, when really it was far more horrific. This was called a riot, but it was just an excuse to be violently racist. They attacked men, women and children. Sorry. They attacked black men, black women and black children. People were being lynched, homes were being burned to the ground. And what Josephine witnessed stayed with her all her life. She saw what was happening and she fucking ran. She go go gadget legged out of there, right? She's running through the streets, the screams of families behind her. Houses are burning, pregnant women are being attacked, and a father of her friend had been shot in the face. And so she's running in her home. Her home is gone, it's ashes. And she's so scared that she just keeps running and she runs until she's, until she's far away. And she ends up sleeping in a cardboard box scavenging for food until later when she finds her family. And this is a turning point for her. Like she's 11 when this happened, and when she's 12, she leaves school. And at 13, to get away from what little home life she has, she gets a job at the old chauffeurs club. And this is where she meets Willy Wells, who is either 19 or 25. Every time I look him up, his age changes. So she's 13 though, and I think this is something. Regardless of whether he's 19 or 25, the age gap is still too big. Okay, so Willie, he plays with the Jones house band and he is smitten with Josephine and asks her to marry him. And she says yes. At 13, because she's 13, she requires her mother's approval and her mother says yes, marry this man, my child. And she has a church wedding, like white dress and all. And. And then, well, Willy, like Arthur, can't get or well, he cannot keep a stable job. And so Josephine goes from one stressful, financially struggling family situation to another stressful, financially struggling family situation. Also, like he wants her to be a 13 year old housewife, but she's a child. And also it's not really her thing, you know, like a man from the past, Willy Wells gets into another argument about money worries and he hits her. And so she hits him back with a bottle to the face. He had it coming. He had it coming. Whoops. Sorry. I mean, she goes back to waitressing and in her spare time, she goes to all of these Dixie Stepper shows at the Booker T. Washington Theatre. So the Booker T. Washington Theatre, it was one of the first, if not the first theatres, which was for African Americans, by African Americans, and it's in St. Louis, Missouri. And she manages to get an addition at the theater. And she just about gets in the show because she's so slim that it's unusual, right? There is often talk about people assume she's not eating enough, but I think it's probably a malnutrition thing. And she's just kind of ended up skinny, or she could just have skin, skinny jeans, you know, she's always dancing. So, you know, so she ends up doing a favor for performer Clara Smith, Something laundry based, right? So she did learn some laundressing stuff from her mother, you know. So Clara Smith is a blues singer and she hires her to be her dresser. And so all of Josephine's travel is covered, her train fares and the like. And she also earns $10 a week. And in today's money, that is $161.32. That's. That's what the Internet told me. So not only was this, like, consistent money, but this was also her way out of St. Louis. And so she leaves without saying goodbye to her family. Like, she just scarpers because, you know, she's like, fuck this for a game of soldiers. I'm gonna go live my life. And so she's traveling with Clara Smith, she's acting as her dresser, like that's her job. And then as she's traveling with her, one of the chorus girls in the Dixie Steppers hurts her knee. And Josephine, she knows the routine, so she convinces the director to let her perform. Now she ends up, you know, doing it because she knows all the steps, but because she's so skinny, right? I mean, she's only like 14 at this point there or thereabouts. She's skinny and she's small because she's still young, right? The costume is too big for her. It's baggy and it sort of looks off and it becomes sort of comedic to see her perform. But, like, she's in Philly, she's working, she's dancing. And, like, I don't want to say that she's having an affair with Clara Smith because she's like 14, 15, and Clara Smith is much older than her and her boss. So there was like a power dynamic there. Um, and anyway, they're in some sort of trust, which I'm not entirely comfortable with. But anyhow, When Josephine is 15, she elopes with her second, Willy, Willy Baker, a man whose name she keeps for the rest of her life. And she goes to New York City to be a chorus girl on Broadway. Like, the thing is, back home with her family and community, they would always comment on, like, how light skinned she was. And on Broadway, however, she's seen as too dark. So she's at, like, the opposite end of the spectrum here. But, like, she studies the routine, she learns the dances, and she just keeps an eye, like, hoping that she'll get a chance, which she does. So, like, one of the other dancers, like, she does a bunk, like, she doesn't show up one day. And so Josephine, like, she knows the routine. She knows the routine. And so she's like, give me a go. And they're like, well, it couldn't hurt, right? And so she ends up as part of the chorus and she does this bit, like, she creates this bit where she acts like she doesn't know the routine. Like, you see it nowadays, you'll see it in, like, viral videos, but this wasn't a thing back then. And she would just sort of, like, it just kind of shows you how skilled she was because she would make it seem like she didn't know the routine. She's still in time, she's still following the basics of it, but it's like she doesn't know the moves. It's like she's bucked up the steps and she's acting like she's messing up and she's pulling faces and like, it's a whole thing. She's acting really goofy. Slowly but surely, as the dance progresses, she gets better until she's perfect. Like, she's perfectly in time with every other dancer doing all the moves at the right point. And she's so good that they say that she stands out in the chorus line like an exclamation mark. And, like, she's in these shows, which are some of the first shows with black performers, right? And this, this is all too much for Willy, right? Willy number two. Like, she ends up leaving him because he also wanted her to be a little housewife. And her mum is pissed. Carrie is so angry that Josephine isn't taking care of her husband. And, like, Josephine's like, I can't hear you. I'm dancing, right? You know? But Josephine, she's in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance. Musicals and shows are Incorporating jazz music. And there are shows that are the stepping stones to desegregation in theatres. Stepping stones, like, not. Yeah, not bridges, you know. So there are shows with black performers. And here's the weird part, they're performing in blackface, like, and you may be thinking that's racist and bad, but it gets worse or weirder because it's African Americans in blackface. It's like they're trying to ease white audiences into black performers. Existing is to, like, not scare them away. It's like we'll paint them like minstrels. It won't be weird. So obviously racists aren't super into Josephine and yet, well, some of them do that creepy thing where they call her both horrible and ravishing. Like, they're fetishizing this teenage girl and they can't see past their privilege to see how talented she is. Her dancing is playful, fun and it radiates energy. She had auditioned for Shuffle along when she first came to the city, but she didn't get it because she was too young. And, like, she also looked young, you know. But when she tries out again, she gets hired for the traveling production. And she became so popular that she got invited to perform with the OG troupe. And this is what launched her career. She's 19, in the roaring 20s, and she is hot stuff. But the more popular Josephine became, the more successful she was, the worse her relationship with her mum gets. In Josephine, she's trying to win affection with gifts and money to her mum and her younger siblings, but it doesn't work because all it is is showing just how successful and talented Josephine is. And Carrie pushes her so far away that she ends up in Paris, France. Like, imagine being so shitty to someone that they travel 5,000 miles to get away from you, which is like so Casanova of her, right? So there is this American socialite, Caroline Dudley Regan, and she's putting together a review at the Theater des Champs Elysees. And it is La Revue Necra, an all black review. Because segregation was not an issue in Paris, Caroline Dudley Regan wants to introduce jazz and black culture to gay Paris. And Josephine was one of the 25 cast members shipped off to France in September 1925. That is a century ago at time of recording. That's a century ago. So she's only 19, she's heading to Paris. It's the middle of the Roaring twenties and she is terrified. Like, she's scared. Like, she's so scared, she's going across the Atlantic Ocean in steerage, segregated, of course, and it's Not a quick journey. It's still like five to seven days, like if everything's with you. And it can be up to two weeks if the weather is against you in any way. And when they arrive in France, she And the other 24 black performers, they get on a train and they're confused. Like they're trying to figure out where they can sit. Cuz they're looking around for the colored section, right? That's what they're looking for. They're waiting for like a sign, a notice, a something, right? And their flabbers are gasted. Like they are shocked when they are informed that they can just sit wherever they want or like wherever their ticket says they are, you know, because there's no segregation in France. However, at the time, there was fetishization. Sorry, I mean, fascination with African art and culture. Colonialism. Yeah, it's all because of colonialism. Like we can say it's not. But I mean, France was one of those empires that colonized, well, quite a lot of Africa actually. Italy, Germany, Britain, other places, Spain, Portugal. I forgot, I forgot, I forgot empires there for a second. I'm like, what are all the empires? The ones that went out. And we're like, you have to follow our rules and our language now. And also we're taking all your cool stuff. We don't care if it has emotional, religious or sentimental value. We think it's pretty and we want it for us because it's shiny. Anyway, it's all from this colonial perspective. And there's this obsession with primitivism. So like, primitivism is when black culture and black bodies were seen as connected to a primitive and pure past untouched by white people. Like, primitivism is eugenics in a different font. It's like the other end of the scale. And it's. It's weird, there's this juxtaposition because it's like, it's lesser because it's uncivilized, but it's also seen as better because it's closer to like the primitive natural state, right? And it's, it's admired and it, it's, it's like Orientalism, you know, it's in that same sort of bag. Josephine does have better career prospects in Paris and she's celebrated, but it is through a white perspective. I mean, it's still better than the aggressive racism in the usa, but it's more like microaggressions really for her. And in Paris she saw freedom and so she shot her shot and she took it. And she's a Smart cookie. You know, she is aware of what's expected of her and how she is perceived. And she uses this to her advantage, right? She explodes onto the scene with her erotic dances, her comedy, her burlesque, and Josephine. She would talk about practicing routines on the roof of the theatre, her naked body bathed in moonlight, and how free she felt.
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Josephine Baker used the concept of primitivism to her advantage. Like, she dialed it all the way up to 11. She would be comedic, she would be goofy, she would clown about, and then she would be wild, right? Her dance sauvage was the epitome of this. So she's wearing some jewelry, some chunky bracelets, she's topless, but she is wearing a banana skirt. So it's a skirt with these, like, fake bananas all around it. I think there's like 11, 12 on it all together. And. Okay, sidebar. I. I've said this before, and I'll say it again. I would love a drag queen to do a version of Sauvage dance, but instead of bananas, it's dildos. Like, I think we could make it happen. And I think Josephine Baker would love that idea. Like, I think she'd think it's funny. But this Sauvage dance, right, she is shaking her bum, she's moving her stomach, and she is, like, writhing her hips in a way that no one had seen before. Like, this was the talk of 20th century Paris, right? And one critic, this is my favorite, one critic called it lamentable transatlantic exhibitionism. Or should I say lamentable transatlantic exhibitionism. But she was so comfortable with who she was, with her body, her style, her sexuality. Like, she knows who she is and she loves it, right? She's so popular that she starts these trends. Like white women are rubbing almond oil onto their skin. Like, well, almond oil and walnut oil. Like they tried a variety of the nuts because they were. So they are rubbing this onto their skin to try and tan. They're putting egg whites into their hair to try and style it like hers. And she is endorsing all over the shop. She's got like hair gel, well, it's pomade. She's got banana skirts. And there's even a doll of her and the doll is in a banana skirt, right? She learns French, right? She learns French so that she can read her reviews, which I, I get it, but I love. Like, that was the reasoning. She's like, I can't read these reviews, they're all in French. So she learns it and she curates this image of herself, right? This eccentric, chic fashion icon. And. And I mean eccentric, right? She starts collecting animals. Like she would often go out with her snake Kiki, like around her neck. Like, don't mind hurts. It's Josephine Baker going for lunch with a snake on her neck. And of course, oh my God, Chiquita. She also had a pet cheetah named Chiquita. Now I did my research, okay? I was like, is she named after the banana or like the banana company? That was my theory. I was like, is she named after the banana company? Cuz the banana skirt. I was like, what now? No. The answer to that question is no. The man from Del Monte says no. The banana company, the Chiquita Banana Company was established in 1984. So yeah, the cheetah came first. So Chiquita the Cheetah would often escape and leap into the orchestra pit and maul musicians during performances. Now the audience thought this was like all part of the show. They thought it was wild and exciting. Not that a man was being mauled by a cheetah during a theatrical production, right? Oh my God. So Josephine Baker would take Chiquita the Cheetah to the motion pictures, right? Like there is. There's a tale from a journalist and she's like, she's sitting there and she's in, in the pictures, right? She's at the cinema and she's watching this film about cheetahs. And she turns her head and what does she see but Josephine Baker and her cheetah watching the movie about cheetahs. Like, yeah, and like, Josephine loves Paris. She loves it. She doesn't want to leave. And when the Revue Necra ends up going on tour, Josephine doesn't want to go. She doesn't want to leave Paris. And so she ends up signing a contract with the Folies du Jour. And she does go on, like, a short, like, tour, a wee trip, and she performs for, like, the King of Belgium and a few other people, but she does this short stint and then comes back for the Folu du Jour. And, like, the Fola du Jour was designed around her. There was, like, a whole host of performers, acrobats, singers, dancers, comedy, etc. And, like, I love this because it's pure diva behavior, right? So she was late all the time. She was late for everything. She was late for her own show, right? Um, like, and I mean, her own show, her name is on the marquee. Like, she ends up working at the Folies Bergere as well. But, like, these stories, they. They continue through all of this. Like, she'd be so late for a performance that she would be running through the theater just, like, dropping, like, items of clothing. So, like, jewelry, dresses, shoes, just all behind her. Just a trail, right? So, like, by the time she gets on stage, like, there is a trail of clothes behind her. And, like, my favourite story actually about this is, like, she's supposed to be on stage. Like, her number's on and she's meant to be on it. And instead of her being there, Right. She's found in her dressing room, right? No, even better, she's found naked in her dressing room eating lobster with her fingers, right? So she's just, like, holding. I like to think of her as holding lobster like a sandwich and just taking a bite out the side of it. But she's just, like, breaking apart lobster and eating it completely naked, right? I mean, that's how you don't get lobster just on your clothes. In fairness, such a diva. But, like, I love that this is just a consistent thing. And you know what's interesting actually, sidebar sort of is I was chatting with someone about Josephine Baker, like, a while back, and they were talking about how terrible it was that she was forced in Anne's top list, and how this was, like, a career she didn't, like, want to be in. And, like, anything I've ever read, like, from the horse's mouth, anything that's from Josephine Baker herself, is there's always been a love of her body. And she didn't feel forced, she felt free, right? And, like, there's this weird sort of morality projection, you know, where there's this assumption that any woman who performs burlesque or strips or is a sex worker that they are, you know, forced into that situation or they don't respect themselves or they, you know, lack worth in some way or another. And I think that's really fcking shitty. That's a very disrespectful and very misogynistic view to take, right? Some people loved their bodies. Some people love to perform. And some people love to perform, you know, with their tits out. Okay? Let people perform with their tits out if they want. You know, I love burlesque and I love the ownership of it and how it was art and politics and satire and humor and just amazing, all this stuff wrapped up in one. But of course, people want to simplify anything. And of course, women's sexuality in any way is often demonized. And here we are, are again, right? The internalized misogyny is real. But again, Josephine Baker, anything I've ever heard of her talking about, you know, her performance, like, the primitivism, not super, not great, you know, but she used it to her advantage and it's what boosted her career. And good for her, you know, she did what she did. But anyway, Josephine Baker is so popular, like, she makes an impact on men of the era. Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, right? She is a big deal and also a big spender, right? Chiquita the Cheetah had a diamond collar, you know, so she's got that. She's got a Rolls Royce and she even buys Marie Antoinette's bed, right? Like, I mean, you would if you could, though. You would if you could, though, right? And in her spare time, like, she ends up taking, like, singing lessons to help with that part of her performance, right? And eventually records, her first record after surviving bronchial pneumonia, like in the 1920s. That's a death sentence, right? Bronchopneumonia could kill you, you know. But she survived. And she ends up, like, singing like she. She has a record. And like, she's so popular, she's doing so well that she's one of the highest paid performers in Paris at the time, because risque, it serves her well. And like, she's living her life. She's having love affair after love affair. Like, they don't stick, but she's having them. The woman does not know what resting is, I swear, because she's got love affairs and then she's got business dealings, properties, hotels, and then a whole menagerie draped in diamonds. When I say she collected animals, she collected animals. There's Kiki the Snake, Chiquita the Cheetah Ethel the chimpanzee. Tomato the horse. Although she probably called it Tomato. Tomato. Or would she be Tomato if she was doing it the French way? Toma. No, because it would be tomato, wouldn't it? Anyway, I'm not here to give you French vegetables. It's a fruit. Shut up. So there's Toot. Toot the goat. There's a parakeet whose name I could not find. And my favorite, a pig called Albert who wore perfume. Albert Mon sandwich Albert. Oh, sorry. Anyway, she's in her fuck you era and she meets a Sicilian former stonemason masquerading as a count. Why is this not a limited series? Okay, so Count Giuseppe Pepita Albertina. That is what he tells everyone his name is. Which, honestly, you're an Italian count. If, if you're in any way noble, you need at least three more names, man. Like that's not enough names because you know they're funneling as many as they can. You need at least five names, man. That's. That's four. It's not even four. Giuseppe Pepita Albatina. That's three. That's not enough. He wears a monocle and has a cane because of course he does. He's just like, I'm a count and as such I will have a monocle and a cane, I swear. He probably has a cloak that he wears everywhere. Well, to the opera at least. So Count Giuseppe Pepita Albertina. He becomes her manager and lover. Like they can't get married even if they wanted to because she's still married to Willy. Right? Willie Baker. And so they're in a non monogamous relationship anyway, which, you know, she's smart enough not to put all her eggs in one basket. Now I know I mentioned this at the start of the show and I kind of touched on it with Clara Smith, but Josephine Baker was bisexual. Now she just says that she's not immoral, only natural. Right? Good for her. Right? Good for her. This is who she is. It's normal. She loves who she loves. She's attracted to who she's attracted to. And yes, do it, lady. She is out there living her best life. She's shagging who she wants to shag. And the count is there now he's even there to set stuff up for her and helps her like open a restaurant called Chez Josephine. Chez Josephine, not like Chez Renee. I'm assuming there were less rats. That being said, it's Paris in the 20s. Whoms to say? And at this point, Josephine is 21 years old. Who else feels like they haven't done enough with their life, right? She's 21 years old and is writing her first memoirs because, yeah, she's loved a life. She's performing, she's dancing, she's singing, she's having cocaine fuelled orgies with director Max Reinhard and having liaisons with Colette and Ada Bricktop Smith. Like, she even got caught boinking an English stage manager behind the curtain between numbers at the Casino de Paris. Like, how much energy do you have, Josephine? When they tell you to warm up for the show, that's not what they mean. Okay? That's not what they mean. And it only gets wilder from here. And that feels like a good time to end the first part of this Josephine Baker series. Next stop Nazis. But yes, this is the first part of the Josephine Baker series. If you liked the first part of the story, feel free to rate and review five stars. Part two will be coming in the next couple of days. You will not be waiting too long for part two. And oh my goodness, Josephine Baker is. Is. Oh, she's amazing. She's amazing. I love her so much. But yeah, if you like this story, rating review 5 stars. If you didn't like, shh, keep it to yourself. But oh, Paris, what if we cast at the Folies Bergere Bien? The next part is coming soon and I suppose. Recommendation time for reading. For reading, I am going to recommend Queen of the the Inspiring Story of Bessie Coleman by Beth Powell and Gigi Coleman. I've talked about Bessie Colby before and she's amazing. And I thought, well, let's celebrate cool women. So, yes, read that. It's amazing. Go get it. For listening, I'm gonna recommend the podcast Scam Goddess. Listen, I'm obsessed with fraud and cons and scams and all that jazz, so it's. It's a good one. It keeps me very interested. And for watching, I'm gonna give like two actually, because one's like a tiny short clip and one's an actual. An actual video because one's French and one's not French. Okay, so Abbott elementary. Like, it's a wonderful. I mean, I find it as a comfort show. It doesn't, like, shy away from topics, but it's just got so many great performers in it. It's so good. So. So you can watch that. And also there's a clip of a French guy having a sandwich utterly destroyed by a pug named Albert. Albert Mon Saui. Un. The monge pas. Un. The monge pas. It's so funny. I cried laughing watching it. So those are your recommendations for. For this month. This month. This episode. So without further ado, I shall bid you good evening. Adios. Au revoir. Au vu des er, my friends. Bye bye.
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