Guest
The first black female superstar; singing with playful chat:- Sourire à la Vie (Smile even if you don't want to); My Fair Lady medley (sung to a dog) - On the street where you live/I could have danced all night; Duet: The Honeysuckle & the Bee. She was 64 years young when broadcast February 13 1971 on Norway TV, interviwed by presenter Erik Bye. Eleven minutes of conversation (in English) came before these songs; and it's now uploaded here:- Wikipedia: “Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French entertainer, French Resistance agent, and civil rights activist. Baker was the first African-American to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 silent film Siren of the Tropics. She was among the most celebrated performers to headline the revues of the Folies Bergère in Paris. Her performance in the revue Un vent de folie in 1927 caused a sensation. Her costume, consisting of only a short skirt of artificial bananas and a beaded necklace, became an iconic image and a symbol of the Jazz Age and the 1920s.“ To summarise: First married at 13 when a street-corner dancing slum child, she married her second husband at 15 when in the chorus of a successful Broadway revue. Sailed to France at age 19, where she became an instant success for her erotic dancing, and for appearing practically nude onstage. Ernest Hemingway called her “the most sensational woman anyone ever saw.“ Shirley Bassey cited Baker as her primary influence, “I swear in all my life I have never seen, and probably never shall see again, such a spectacular singer and performer.“ She spied for the French Resistance during the war. She spoke at the March on Washington alongside Martin Luther King. Much more info at: #JosephineBaker #JazzAge #CivilRights @GazelyGaze
