Josephine Baker
Page 62
“Entertainers find their lives where their audience is, so why shouldn’t she have stayed in Europe?”
“Josephine is the great Cinderella story,” says the actress Paula Laurence, who was a close friend of Bob Brady, and is currently a trustee of the Brady Museum in Cuernavaca. “We have to think of what an enormous inspiration she has been, not just for people of her race, but for oppressed and disadvantaged people all over.
“By her own ambition, by clawing her way through the world, she evolved into that incredible woman, but underneath, she was the same desperate, hungry, impossible to satisfy, rapacious creature she was in the beginning, or she could not have survived.
“She never changed, it was the fight, the challenge that captured her.”
Are you smiling, Mother, or scowling at the way others remember you? Were you happy with my introduction to your movies Zou Zou and Princess Tam Tam at New York’s Film Forum, in the winter of 1989? You broke the theater’s box office record, but I can hear you now, demanding, “Why should that surprise you?” (The films, wrote historian Donald Bogle, “provide us with a rare glimpse . . . of the charisma that drove international audiences wild for almost six decades.”)
Since I started this book, the children and I have become closer, and I have been urging them to write their own stories. People are curious, they ask me, “What ever happened to all those children?” I just say, “We’re all alive, and no one is in jail.”
In 1991, eleven of my brothers and sisters were reunited—for the first time since Josephine’s death—on a French TV show. Noël, hospitalized for schizophrenia, was not there, but for him you are still “the lady with a lot of heart who thought about children.”
Jari helps me in the restaurant, and recently, Koffi and his wife Diane came from Buenos Aires to visit. We went to Harlem to gape at William Spiller’s house, and the building where Mama Dinks lived. We also had a reunion at Chez Josephine with your nephew Artie, who laughed when he met Koffi. “The last time I saw you,” Artie said, “was when Josephine brought you to Les Milandes in that shoe box.”
For Koffi, you were a kind of Joan of Arc. “She fought for her ideas, even sometimes against herself. She was very ambivalent. ‘I think white, but I’m black.’ In her head, it was a difficult conjunction of ideas.
“She was very demanding of me because I was the darkest of the children. ‘You are black, you have to be well dressed.’ She wanted me to be proud of myself and fear no one. I like the color of my skin. It would be too sad, too monotonous to have only one color. The sky is blue, the sea green, the human race is the human race, not the white race or the black race.
“If Mother was still with us, she would be fighting against AIDS. I don’t have her fame or strength, but in my own way, I can do a little to better the world, we all can.”
Clearly, you did some things right, Mother. But you did some things wrong, too. You broke my heart. “Mother dropped you for Jean-Claude Brialy,” Marianne told me, “because in France, you had no name, while Brialy was a star, he could help her.”
It doesn’t matter anymore. All your life, you were a hustler, and I’m a hustler too; secretly, I used to admire the way you delivered the blows; half the time your victims didn’t know they were wounded until they saw the blood.
Following Balanchine’s advice, I kept searching for you, and found behind your seven veils more than I’ve chosen to tell. As your friend Donald Wyatt says, “Even a legend deserves some privacy.”
But some of the rumors about your adventures are too fascinating to ignore. Is it true that Charles de Gaulle, hero of the Resistance and legendary president of the French Republic, succumbed to your charms? Did you sleep with him? Marcel Sauvage told me he knew it for a fact.
I wouldn’t bet against it. I don’t forget that once you were a Goddess of the Macumba, and that you never liked to sleep alone. Even in death.
The baby of Luis and his wife Michele is buried with you. She was born after you died, and lived only a short time. “My mother had just left us,” Luis says, “and it was like she was punishing us twice. I had the impression that she was stealing my child; she was alone in her grave, and she took her granddaughter so she would have company in eternity.”
Seven years later, in 1982, when Richard was so ill he could no longer come to the telephone, I called Margaret. “You and he share Carrie’s blood, I think you should make peace with your brother.”
By the time I arrived in the town of Baillargues where Richard lived with his family in a kind of housing project, Margaret was already there. Richard was weak, he had not been out of bed for a long time, but he asked Margaret to shave him. I finished off the job with a touch of my electric razor, and a splash of my Vetiver cologne.
Then we went in to dinner. Margaret had prepared a feast like in the old days on Bernard Street, fried chicken, potato salad, ribs, lemon pie. I sat at the head of the table, and at the other end, in a high chair, was your eighteen-month-old great-niece (and my godchild), Nais. She was Richard’s first French grandchild.
Richard was weak, but happy, and after the meal, he asked me and his son Alain to help him outside. Margaret said no. “You can’t go out, it’s going to kill you.”
We went anyway.
When the neighbors saw him coming through the door, they surrounded him, kissing him, telling him how wonderful he looked. He led me to the front of the building and there, parked near the sidewalk, was an old gray Ford.
“Tumpy bought me that car, Jean-Claude,” he said. “I have no money for insurance or repairs, but I keep it to remind me she could be generous. I know she hurt you, too, but you have to forgive her. The people that were good to her, she kicked them in the ass, and the ones that were bad to her, she fed them. That was Josephine.”
That was Josephine. I must have heard it a thousand times from a thousand people. You were what you were, and Richard was right. I must forgive you for the bad times, say thanks for the good times, and move on. But you know what? I still miss you.
Richard and I bent over the rusty Ford, putting our hands on it, tears rolling down our cheeks. Back in the apartment again, I helped put Richard to bed, and then Margaret asked to be left alone with him. She was holding her Bible. You know your sister, Mother, she wanted Brothercat to be ready for the big trip.
I wandered into the living room. It was the end of the day. Nais was tired, but when Guylaine tried to take her to bed, she screamed. It was funny to see how this baby, who looked just like you, struggled. Pushing away her mother’s hands, clenching her small fists, she pounded on the floor, banging her head, rage, will, life-force—whatever it was—giving her the strength to go on with the show long after her eyes drooped with sleep.
Then and there I knew Carrie was right.
Tumpy ain’t dead.
APPENDIX 1
THE RAINBOW TRIBE AS OF 2001
AKIO, single, works in a bank in Paris.
JANOT, single, works as a gardener for the Societé des Bains de Mer in Monte Carlo.
LUIS, married, two children, works for an insurance company in Monte Carlo and lives in Menton, France.
JARI, married, no children, helps me run Chez Josephine, my restaurant in New York City. He has changed the spelling of his name to Jarry.
JEAN-CLAUDE, no. 1, married with one daughter, lives in Paris.
MOÏSE (Moses), divorced, no children, died of cancer in 1999 in Bordeaux, France.
BRAHIM, single, an actor and novelist, lives in Paris. He has changed his name to Brian.
MARIANNE, married, two children, lives in Paris.
KOFFI, married, two children, is a chef de cuisine. He lives in Buenos Aires with his family.
MARA, married, two children, works in a government tax office in Benson, France.
NOËL, single, lives in Paris.
STELLINA, married, one daughter, lives in Venice, Italy.
MY BIRTH SISTERS
MARIE-JOSEPH, widowed, one daughter, is an advertising execu
tive in Dijon, France.
MARIE-ANNICK, divorced, two children, is a professor of French and English in Sens, France.
MARTINE, married, two children, lives in Istres, France.
APPENDIX 2
In the years between 1926 and 1975, Josephine recorded over 230 songs, singing in French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, starting in September of 1926 for Odeon with a session that included “Dinah,” “I Want to Yodel,” and “I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight.” My favorite, from Princesse Tam-Tam, is ‘Le Chemin du Bonheur.” Her last album, Josephine Baker at Bobino, had Pierre Spiers conducting the orchestra. His son Gerard, who was playing drums with them, recalls that since Josephine first recorded “J’ai Deux Amours” in 1930, in C major, her voice had come down a full fifth, which is most unusual.
Telegram Josephine sent to German chancellor Willy Brandt from my home in Berlin on November 19, 1972, prior to her knowledge of the election results.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PERIODICALS
Der Abend
African American
The Afro-American
Amsterdam News
L’Art Vivant
Beaux-Arts
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Chicago Daily News
Chicago Defender
Chicago Star
Chronique du Pingouin
Constanze
Le Crapouillot
Daily Mail
Défense de la France
Esquire
Le Figaro
France-Dimanche
France-Soir
Gazetter and Guide
Herald Examiner (Chicago)
Hollywood Reporter
The Indianapolis Recorder
Journal du Jura
Le Merle Rose
Minute
The Nation
The National Observer
New Orleans Item
New York Daily News
New York Post
The New York Times
The New Yorker
Nippon Times
Paris Match
Paris-Soir
Paris-Magazine
Le Petit Journal
Philadelphia Independent
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia Tribune
Pittsburgh Courier
Plaisirs
Philadelphia Afro-American
The St. Louis Argus
Le Soir
Sun Chronicle
Time
Tageblatt
Vanity Fair
Variety
Die Welt
Women’s Wear Daily
WORKS ABOUT JOSEPHINE BAKER
Abatino, Pepito. Josephine Baker Vue par la Presse Française. Paris: Les Editions Isis, 1931.
Abtey, Jacques. La Guerre Secrète de Josephine Baker. Paris and Havana: Editions Siboney, 1948. Also unpublished notes and original manuscript generously supplied by Commandant Abtey.
Baker, Josephine, and Jo Bouillon. Josephine. Paris: Laffont, 1976.
Baker, Josephine, and Jo Bouillon. Josephine, Trans. by Mariana Fitzpatrick. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.
Bonnal, Jean-Claude. Josephine Baker et le Village des Enfants du Monde en Perigord. Le Bugue: PL Editeur, 1992.
Delteil, Caroline Dudley (Reagan). La Revue Nègre. Unpublished manuscript used with permission from Sophie Reagan Herr.
Guild, Leo. Josephine Baker. Los Angeles: Holloway House, 1976.
Hammond, Bryan, compiler. Josephine Baker. London: Jonathan Cape, 1988.
Haney, Lynn. Naked at the Feast: A Biography of Josephine Baker. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1981.
Hultin, Randi. Jazzens Tegn. Oslo: H. Aschehoug & Co., 1991.
Kuhn, Dieter. Josephine. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1976.
La Camara and Pepito Abatino. Mon Sang Dans tes Veines: Roman d’après une Idée de Josephine Baker. Paris: Les Editions Isis, 1931.
Papich, Stephen. Remembering Josephine: A Biography of Josephine Baker. New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1976.
Rivollet, André. Les Fausses Canailles. Unpublished manuscript used with permission of Rivollet estate, executor Bernard Houdeline.
Rivollet, André. Une Vie de Toutes les Couleurs. Grenoble: B. Arthaud Éditeur, 1935.
Rose, Phyllis. Jazz Cleopatra: Josephine Baker in Her Times. New York: Doubleday, 1989.
Sauvage, Marcel. Les Mémoires de Josephine Baker. Paris: Editions KRA, 1927. Illustrated with 30 drawings by Paul Colin.
Sauvage, Marcel. Les Mémoires de Josephine Baker, recueillis et adaptés par Marcel Sauvage. Paris: Correa, 1949.
Sauvage, Marcel. Voyages et Aventures de Josephine Baker. Paris: Editions Marcel Sheur, 1931. Preface by Fernand Divoire. Illustrated with photographs and drawings.
Worm, Piet. Text by Josephine Baker with the collaboration of Jo Bouillon. La Tribu Arc-en-Ciel. Amsterdam: Editions Mulder & Zoon N.V., 1957.
OTHER REFERENCES
Académie du Cirque et du Music-Hall. Histoire du Music-Hall. Paris: Editions de Paris, 1954.
Allen, Mearl L. Welcome to the Stork Club. New York: A. S. Barnes & Co., 1980.
Allen, Tony. Americans in Paris. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1977.
Allen, Tony. The Glamour Years: Paris, 1919–40 New York: Gallery Books, 1977.
Ambrière, Francis, et al. Vie et Mort des Francais, 1939–1945. Paris: Hachette, 1971.
Anderson, Jervis. This Was Harlem, 1900–1950. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1981. Source of Lloyd Morris quotation, which originally appeared in his book, Incredible New York.
Arletty. La Défense. Paris: La Table Ronde, 1971.
Assouline, Pierre. Simenon. Paris: Juliard, 1992.
Barber, Noel. The Week France Fell. New York: Stein and Day, 1984.
Bechet, Sidney. Treat It Gentle: An Autobiography. New York: Da Capo Press, 1978.
Behr, Edward. The Good Frenchman: The True Story of the Life and Times of Maurice Chevalier. New York: Villard Books, 1993.
Berteaut, Simone. Piaf recit. Paris: Editions Robert Laffont-Trevise, 1969.
Bogle, Donald. Blacks in American Films and Television. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1988.
Boudard, Alphonse. Le Banquet des Leopards. Paris: La Table Ronde, 1980.
Bresler, Fenton. The Mystery of Georges Simenon. New York: Beaufort Books, 1983.
Bricktop with James Haskins. Bricktop. New York: Atheneum, 1983.
Brossat, Alain. Les Tondues: un Carnaval Moche. Levallois-Perret: Editions Manya, 1992.
Brown, Sterling. The Negro in American Culture: The Carnegie Myrdal Study. 1920.
Bushell, Garvin, as told to Mark Tucker. Jazz from the Beginning. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1990.
Castle, Charles. The Folies Bergère. London: Methuen, 1982. Source of Camille Debans quotation.
Charles, Jacques. Cent Ans de Music Hall. Geneve and Paris: Editions Jeheber, 1956.
Charles, Jacques. De Gaby Deslys à Mistinguett. Paris: Edition Librairie Gallimard, n.d.
Chiaromonte, Nicola. The Paradox of History. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1970; rev. ed. 1985.
Chisholm, Anne. Nancy Cunard, a Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979.
Coccinelle. Coccinelle. Paris: Editions Filipacchi, 1987.
Cody, Morrill, with Hugh Ford. The Women of Montparnasse. New York: Cornwall Books, 1984.
Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel, transcriber. Twenty-Four Negro Melodies. Boston: Oliver Ditson Co., 1905.
Coquatrix, Paulette. Les Coulisses de ma Memoire. Paris: Grasset & Fasquelle, 1984.
Covarrubias, Miguel. Negro Drawings. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1927.
Coward, Noel. The Noel Coward Dairies. Edited by Graham Payn and Sheridan Morley. London: George Weidenfeld and Nicholson, Ltd., n.d.
Cox, Beverly J., and Denna Jones Anderson. Miguel Covarrubias Caricatures. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.
Cunard, Nancy. Negro. New York: Negro Universities Press, 196
9. Reprint. Originally published in 1934 by Nancy Cunard, London.
Damase, Jacques. Les Folies du Music-Hall: A history of the Music-Hall in Paris. London: Spring Books, 1970.
Dance, Stanley. The World of Swing. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1974.
de Gaulle, Charles. The Complete War Memoirs. New York: Da Capo Press, 1967.
de Gaulle, Charles. Discours et Messages: June 1940–January 1946. Paris: Plon, 1970.
Derval, Paul. Folies Bergère. Paris: Editions de Paris, 1954.
Deschamps, Fanny. Monsieur Folies Bergère. Paris: Editions Albin Michel, 1978.
Doman, James R., Jr., and Assoc. The St. Nicholas Historic District. Prepared for The New York City Housing & Development Administration. New York: 1973.
Driggs, Frank, and Harris Lewine. Black Beauty, White Heat, 1920–1950: A Pictorial History of Classic Jazz. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1982.
Duberman, Martin Bauml. Paul Robeson. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989.
Dudley, Emelius Clark. The Medicine Man. New York: J. H. Sears & Company, Inc. 1927.
Ellington, Duke. Music Is My Mistress. New York: Da Capo Press, 1973.
Engel, Lehman. The American Musical Theater. New York: CBS legacy collection, 1967.
Fitch, Noel Riley. Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation: A History of Literary Paris in the Twenties and Thirties. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1983.
Flanner, Janet. Paris Journal, 1965–1971. Edited by William Shawn. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977.
Flanner, Janet. Paris Was Yesterday: 1925–1939. New York: Viking Press, 1972.
Fletcher, Tom. 100 Years of the Negro in Show Business. New York: Burdge & Company, 1954.
Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth. Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women of the Old South. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988.