Josephine Baker Books

"The life and shocking story of the icon who danced her way to fame and infamy in Paris."

I used this book for a class I taught about Josephine Baker. The images collected here give such a good representation of Ms. Baker's life, and the three long essays in the book helped me understand her better. I would love to see this exhibition personally, but since I can't do that the book makes a good substitute. La Baker was quite a woman!

Incidentally the recently released DVDs of her movies are interesting too.

The life of Josephine Baker is one of the most incredible success stories in American history. Born into a poor but vibrant district of St. Louis, as a child she took her first steps toward becoming an incredible dancer by dancing in the streets for pennies. At age 13, she ran away to join a traveling road show, and at age 16 was the star dancer of a show that toured the country. She moved to Paris to join a musical review called La Revue Négre. So great was her success that, at age 20, she was the toast of Paris, and soon after, the toast of all Europe.
Ernest Hemingway said of her "(she is) ...the most sensational woman anybody ever saw. Or ever will. Tall, coffee skin, ebony eyes, legs of paradise, and a smile to end all smiles." Baker even took lessons in dancing from the great ballet master Balanchine who, as it turned out, learned more from her than she from him!
Josephine Baker, Image and Icon is a tribute to this incredible African-American who had little or no formal education, but earned her place in history through sweat and perseverance and an incredible talent. It is a book made beautiful by the images of Baker herself, as shown by original theatrical posters, photographs, drawings, prints and paintings of Baker made by some of the most celebrated artists of the period. The book is a rich profusion of color and movement, much like the dancing for which Baker was celebrated.
The book had its origin in the mind of the Director of the Sheldon Art Galleries in St. Louis, Olivia Lahs-Gonzales. After two years of searching for art and ephemera that would best show the life and times of Baker, Gonzales mounted an exhibition at the Sheldon Art Galleries by the same name, with exhibits drawn from collections public and private across the United States and Europe.* The book itself was the natural outcome of what was shown at the gallery.
In the book, Josephine Baker and her life and times is further defined by three scholarly and highly readable treatises. Bennetta Jules-Rosette, the author of "Two Loves: Josephine Baker in Art and Life," writes of the inventing of the image of Baker and the preserving of her as an icon. Olivia Lahs-Gonzales offers a commentary on Baker in the context of the modern woman. Tyler Stovall, author of "Paris Noir, African-Americans in the City of Light," describes Paris and the Jazz Age, and the place of Baker in the black Montmartre.
Baker not only danced and sang her way into the hearts of Paris, Europe and the world, but capitalized on her fame by taking on other tasks, such as combating racism in all its aspects. She adopted 12 children of all races and religions--her "rainbow tribe"-- and installed them in an immense French chateau. And, most incredibly, she took on the dangerous role of a courier in the French underground during the Nazi occupation, for which she received the French Légion d'Honneur.
If there ever was a book that defined and embodied its subject in its pages, it is Josephine Baker in Art and Life. It is a book that belongs in the library of everyone who loves Americana in its finest manifestation.

*The exhibition has now moved on to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, where it remains until March 18, 2007

I have always been puzzeled as to why Josephine Baker has always been catagorized as a Jazz Singer (or even a movie star), particularly in the USA. Never once out of the some 230 songs she recorded and the many shows she put on, did she record or perform Jazz.

Josephine Baker was a cabaret entertainer, in the best sense of the word. She was a child of the Jazz age yes, but she was an entertainer of the old Parisian Folies Bergere, and one needs only sample any of her recordings, particularly of her later years (when she was at the hieght of her vocal and artistic powers), or, if you are lucky, see a film of her performing live to see that she was the PINNACLE of a cabaret act, the greatest of them all!

I read this book because I was helping my daughter do a book report for Black History Month. It was such a descriptive book. It really gave me a look into the life of this little girl that was so full of life and love for music and dancing. What a joy to read!

That one-line summary is what my 7-year-old son said about this book, in addition to "I love Ragtime Tumpie!" I agree with him. This is a beautiful and inspiring book about Josephine Baker, the great jazz entertainer/dancer. The illustrations are radiant and evoke a sense of excitement, heat, and music. The story is emotionally engaging, and like my son says, makes you want to dance and jubilate along with Tumpie! This is a top-notch picture book!

I have been a very large fan of Josephine Baker for years. In fact my two favorite women from the 1920's, 30's, 40's etc, are Marlene Dietrich, and Josephine Baker. La Baker appears to have had a much harder life than Dietrich, in fact La Baker still struggled in her adult life, even though she became famous and wealthy. This book walks one through the full life of Josephine Baker, using story, pictues, and art media. This is one of the best books, and I recommend it to anyone, who would like to know more of the Women named Josephine Baker ~

Everyone in the 1920s knew who Josephine Baker was, and the image of her from that time has stuck with us; if you have a mental picture of her, it is probably of her lovely svelte black body dressed in little more than a skirt made of bananas, performing in a Paris dance hall. The image is so strong that it unfairly eclipses the other roles she played, and not just roles as a performer (and those roles in many media), but as spy, humanitarian, utopian reformer, and civil rights activist. It was in this latter role that Bennetta Jules-Rosette saw her when Baker took part as a speaker in the March on Washington in 1963. Jules-Rosette is a fan, but since she is also a professor of sociology and an expert in semiotics, her tribute comes with lots of footnotes. _Josephine Baker in Art and Life: The Icon and the Image_ (University of Illinois Press) is not strictly a biography. The life history is here, of course, but not necessarily chronologically. Instead, the themes of Baker's life and the art she used in making her many stage and real-life personas are examined, showing how she deliberately manipulated sex and race roles to form the themes of her life and performance.

Baker was born in 1903 and grew up in St. Louis, performing on the streets and moving to vaudeville. She became a cast member of reviews such as _Shuffle Along_ and _Chocolate Dandies_, playing to enthusiastic reviews in New York when she did her comic routines. Among the many pictures included in this volume are those of Baker in clown outfit, including enormous shoes, but also, strangely, in blackface. It was just the first of her manipulations of racial roles. In her first movie in 1927, she played a stowaway who "is chased by crew members and shocks society matrons by falling into a coal bin, turning black, and then into a flour bin, turning white." She headed to Paris in 1925, and was a sensation, admired by Picasso and Hemingway. Alexander Calder did wire sculptures of her. She was used to performing in front of primitive or surrealistic sets, and it was Jean Cocteau himself who designed the banana skirt. Her performances wowed Paris, but sometimes did not go well when Baker traveled. In Vienna in 1928, priests and politicians tried to ban her threat to public morality, and rang bells as a warning to clear the streets when she entered the city. Baker did stage performances all her life, but had more important things on her mind. During World War II, she helped the Red Cross and the French Resistance. After the war, she started adopting children, twelve of them of diverse ethnic and national backgrounds. This was her "Rainbow Tribe", installed in her chateau at Les Milandes. Because of overoptimistic finances, she lost the chateau (and she and the tribe were rescued by, among others, Princess Grace of Monaco). When Baker toured the US, she forced theater owners to desegregate when she performed. There was a famous incident in 1951 at the Stork Club which did not admit blacks, but Baker arranged an admission, only to be ignored by the waiters. Columnist Walter Winchell was present, and Baker called upon him to witness the incident, but instead he attacked her on his radio program and wrote to J. Edgar Hoover requesting an FBI investigation of Baker's political activities, and of course Hoover obliged.

Baker died in 1975, having just opened to glowing reviews of a retrospective show in Paris. Thousands watched the procession and Paris came to a standstill. Jules-Rosette analyzes her continuing influence on chameleons like Madonna, Grace Jones, and Michael Jackson. Baker was a real original, though, formed by her times but deliberately forming herself and taking roles to transform herself artistically, with the larger goal of transforming the world. It was a lifetime of brilliant performances on and off stage, and fully worthy of the intellectual dissections Jules-Rosette has brought together in a readable and entertaining volume.

I honestly must admit I was surprised - schocked in fact - with seriousness,love and depth this author approached a subject which would many consider lightweight.As a difference from many other celebrated biographers who are basically just listing recording dates,Rose goes into describing the atmosphere around Paris in 1920's,what a half nude black woman on the stage meant to european audience at the time,all of a sudden we have discussion about Picasso,Hitler,De Gaulle and the whole book is just simply fascinating.On many occasions there were clever observations about life - I find myself seriously thinking about my own life while reading a book about a person who doesnt have anything in common with me - its almost a biblical saga about a strong individual,a fighter and survivor in a world that objects to anybody who stands above the crowd.Baker could have just used her sex appeal to get rich and built herself from the poverty,instead she changed the world around her and used all her energy to spread humanity wherever she went (it made me think about Lennon lyrics:"you may say I'm a dreamer,but I'm not the only one").Rose doesn't just idolise Baker,there is a understanding that such a strong personality was as powerful to audience as overbearing to people close to her in private life,which seems to be a destiny of anybody with a big influence.
Instead of another entertainer-biography I stumbled upon serious and deep analysis of fascinating character,brave and honest,sensitive woman.Bravo!

"Jazz" is very compelling, very vivid! It leaves nothing out and informs the reader of cetain aspects of Baker's life that maybe one did not know about. She contributed a lot to the Civil Rights movement and was considered to be ahead of her time.I,personally, recommend "Jazz Cleopatra" to all who was, is, and wants to be a fan of Josephine Baker!!

Josephine Baker was a unique entertainer, we all know, but she was also an amazing woman off stage.

This fascinating biography satisfies not only the interests of musicians and jazz fans but also those readers interested in Black history and the lives of remarkable women. I read it twice, I loved it so much. Good sense of mid 20th century Paris, and other details really do come alive.

Jazz Cleopatra is a slim volume (269 pages of text, plus notes and bibliography) but clearly a well-researched and well-written one. Rose's extensive notes and bibliography give a small idea of how much thinking went into the writing of the book, and indeed it has the feel of something which has been carefully considered.

It is worth emphasizing that the subtitle of the book is "Josephine Baker in Her Time". I stress the point because I think that the reader should expect that this is not so much a biography (although biography is an important element) as it is a contextual portrait. Rose spends a lot of time on Baker not just as a person, but as an icon and the book is often closer to cultural criticism than "true" biography.

This is not a bad thing, necessarily. It is just that I was looking more for biography and probably more for personality and that is not what this book is about.

1-3-99

Dear Amazon.com

I would appreciate you giving me a contact number for Ms. Haney, I would like to write to her directly regarding a matter. Sincerely Sheila10011@yahoo.com

The middle-aged librarian at my local library kept a straight face but I wondered what went through her mind. You see, I'd just taken out a copy of Lynn Hanley's "Naked at the Feast" biography - the original edition with Picasso's beautiful portrait of Josephine, nude in all her glory. To onlookers, the cover resembled an erotic art collection.

Some 30 years after Paris bid its final farewell to one of its brightest stars, interest in Josephine Baker's life and career remains high. La Baker's meteoric rise from the slums of St Louis in America to the 'Toast of Paris' is the stuff that legends and dreams are made of.

There are several biographies on Josephine's life on the market. Lynn Hanley's book makes for interesting reading for the following factor: it was written from the prospective of an inquisitive researcher rather than an obsessed hero-worshipping fan. Hanley discovered that many of the myths and legends surround Baker were created and fuelled by the lady herself. Josephine constantly re-invented herself to stay ahead of her game. I'm not going to spoil it and reveal all here.

If you're curious but unfamiliar with Josephine Baker's incredible life and career, I recommend that you read this well-researched but under-rated book first.

I think that this book sould be a best-seller because it contents a lot of profitable information about Josephine.

Josephine Baker was enigmatic during her lifetime and even more so after her death. A chanteuse, a sex symbol, the mother of 12 adopted children, French Resistance heroine, Baker reinvented herself as often as necessary to stay at the top of her trade - whatever that trade was at any given moment. Jean-Claude Baker (one of her 'adopted' children) chronicles her life in this engaging biography with a mix of love, admiration, and incredulity. The lady had balls, and while not a tell-all book, The Hungry Heart does her ample justice.

Jean-Claude gives a well balanced account of the life and times of Josephine Baker. With unabashed frankness he describes her sexual escapades and decadent appetites, her manipulative and cunning business dealings, and her unbelievable selfishness. This biography paints a very clear picture of the woman who gave definition to the term "diva." Her demands of those who handled her and worked for her would go beyond unreasonable. For instance, she would borrow enormous sums of money from friends and would never pay them back, and would then call on them again for more favors as if she had never defrauded them. There was no request too outrageous for this woman to make. Realizing that her family in St. Louis was suffering the horrendous racial atrocities of America, she brought them to her home in France only to use them to work for her on her estate. At one point she disowned her brother because he would not allow her to adopt his child and raise it as her own. She would work her nurses, her maids, and the children's tutors so hard that the turnover became virtually unmanageable. Her maids would work extremely long hours, and as a result her employees became disgruntled and would often steal from her. She used men like one would use Kleenex. She brazenly carried on affairs with married men, some of whom were husbands of friends and fellow-entertainers. She engaged in enumerable sexual affairs (and orgies) with both men and women. Wild goings-on aside, she was a consummate entertainer--constantly reinventing herself and giving herself completely to her audience. In an era when black performers suffered atrocious injustices, she perseveared. She'd encountered terrible racism in many cities (especially when she returned to America), so much so that she was turned away from so many hotels that she had to stay with friends while under contract to perform. While not a tell-all tabloid type expose (thankfully), Jean-Claude Baker delivers a thorough account of the life of one of the world's most exciting and enduring icons. If you are a fan of historical figures and of biographies, this one is a must read.

A perfectly balanced expose of this legendary and highly complex superstar: Amoral in extremis, manic and delusional, but blessed with indomitable human spirit. Excellent historical perspective throughout.

A beautifully written biography which does not succumb to the tawdry, despite its detailed narrative of Josephine Baker's pathologically decadent lifestyle.

Absolutely the best biography of J.B., bar none. A Must Read for Paris cabaret enthusiasts.

This is a biography of LaBaker written by one of her many adopted children. He gives the inside dish on his mom, including that both she and his adopter father were gay. He points out too that she did have some self-loathing issues regarding her race as well. This book has a great photo section. It helped me to see the ugly side of Josephine that wasn't fully presented in the great movie by HBO. I am not sure it is the best work out there, but it is a must-read for any Josephine fans and scholars. In addition, people that study Black Americans abroad or French naturalized citizens should read this.

Contrary to a previous review, I did not find the book confusing or difficult to understand. As far as the terminology and writing style, one has to remember the author is English and because of that, of course, her wording will be different from that of authors on this side of the Atlantic.

This story is filled with joy and tears, happiness and loss, but the plot is strong and overall, it is definitley a book that will warm your heart and keep you interested from start to finish. There is indeed a sequel, Journey's End, but the author has changed the names of the characters in the sequel, so if one finds this book confusng, the sequel may be completely mind boggling. However both books are good and well worth the read. Two other recommendations by this author are "The Lady Who Left" and what appears to be a sequel, "Jinnie". All the books mentioned are attention grabbers and make for easy reading - enjoy!

Overall, I enjoyed this book. For the most part, the story was good. However, it was obvious that it hadn't been very well edited. There were many spelling and other errors. Some of the language was difficult to decipher and, I had to grab the dictionary to learn what a spinney is.

One confusing thing was that, in the beginning, Lucy married Mr. Solomons after Barney died and then he died when her daughter was a young child. But, at the end, when Lucy's old friend, Arthur, proposes to her, it says that she is excited because she's never been married. What?

Some things were overkill (mentioned too often), but most of the book was good. I loved the character of Bridget and her language. She's a hoot.

But, the main plot of Barney's plan is simply ridiculous. If he actually loved his family, then he wouldn't break their hearts or mistreat them. Why not go with them to America, see a doctor there, and if he dies in a year or so's time, he dies there, after getting his family settled into a new, secure life? It just seemed that pretending to go off the deep end in a week or two's time and turning them against him in such a short time was improbable and absurd.

Furthermore, Barney didn't seem like the type to cheat on his wife, and the touch of other women was a turn-off to him. So, why would he suddenly cheat on his wife with Lucy and play house with her? That just didn't make any sense and I thought it was just plain dumb.

The book ended too soon. And, I am glad to see that there might be a sequel. I'm not positive because the description of "The Journey's End" mentions a Vicky Maitland who went to America and her husband Barney was back in England. The Journey's Barney's wife's name was Joanne. But, I've sent for the book and will see if it is the sequel to The Journey or not.