Collections/August 2021
The Queen of Paris: Josephine Baker
Featuring a new introduction by scholar Terri Simone Francis Dancer, singer, actor, activist, and incandescent emblem of Jazz Age Paris, the elegant, vivacious, and startlingly modern Josephine Baker was born in St. Louis, but it was in her adopted home of France that she first rose to fame performing in the legendary Folies Bergère. Her uninhibited dancing and magnetic stage presence soon established Baker as the toast of Europe, opening the doors to a film career that made her the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture ( Siren of the Tropics ). Though her screen vehicles—including the splashy backstage musical Zou Zou , which paired her with a young Jean Gabin, and the exuberant comedy Princesse Tam Tam —often cast…
4 films — 0 on the Channel, 4 unavailable
