1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:11,799 Speaker 1: Bonje. Who did what now? Le Boghui Abari? And if 2 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: you're thinking is this deja vu? No, what happened was 3 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: is again I'm traveling. I'm traveling for work with my 4 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:23,079 Speaker 1: day job, and so I had to go to Paris, 5 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 1: and I brought a microphone with me that is trey shitty, 6 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: and so I ended up having to go get another 7 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: microphone because this was so dodgic, because everything sounded fine 8 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:39,199 Speaker 1: when I was putting it through my laptop, but as 9 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:43,960 Speaker 1: soon as it was uploaded, whatever was wrong. I've checked 10 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 1: everything else out in the microphone seems to be the problem. 11 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: So I'm hoping that everything is going to be okay today. 12 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: But yes, I am in Paris and it's all fun 13 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:56,280 Speaker 1: and games until you accidentally bring your boss through the 14 00:00:56,320 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: red light district of Paris. Accidents happen, So that happened. 15 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 1: But I did get us to the Mulin Rouge so 16 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:07,680 Speaker 1: that we could get like photos and stuff outside it, 17 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 1: but like all that up at night, but we didn't 18 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:12,679 Speaker 1: get a chance to go in because it was so 19 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:15,960 Speaker 1: last minute that we didn't get like the opportunity to 20 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:19,200 Speaker 1: book tickets. But being in Paris for a couple of 21 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:22,320 Speaker 1: days where I swear I ate so much bread and cheese, 22 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: just like Dupa adufamage symbol. I also bought eighty seven 23 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 1: euro worth of Machelo. What is wrong with me? I 24 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: have problems, but I re regarded this episode of the 25 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: Josephine Baker Saga because you deserve to hear it. And yes, 26 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 1: I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, Katie, Katie, quit 27 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 1: your jibber jabba in fact me, in fact you I will. 28 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:55,280 Speaker 1: But first, well, actually no, we don't have to get 29 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 1: our source on because all of our sources were in 30 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 1: the first episode. So I guess what's left is okay? 31 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: Content warning slash trigger warning. This episode is going to 32 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: cover racism, Nazis, medical trauma, abortion, suicide, and good old 33 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:16,760 Speaker 1: fashioned misogyny. So if you were sensitive to any of 34 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:19,519 Speaker 1: these topics, I'm going to suggest that you exit stage 35 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: left and join us next time I use it in 36 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: coomfortably good. Then let's begin Josephine Baker Part two. Josephine 37 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, to a black mother 38 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: impossibly slash probably white father. She grew up in poverty 39 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: and being resented by her mother. To escape her home life. 40 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:46,480 Speaker 1: She got married twice to marry a man named Willy twice, 41 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 1: all before the age of fifteen. She made her way 42 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: to New York became a chorus girl whose growth and 43 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: popularity turned the gap between her and her mother into 44 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:59,399 Speaker 1: a chasm, with Josephine leaving the States for Paris while 45 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:05,680 Speaker 1: she skywalkeeted, garnering fans and lovers alike, leaning into this 46 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 1: obsession with primitivism, she grows. She's in Paris, she gets 47 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: a manager slash a lover, the fake Count Giuseppe Pepita Albertina, 48 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:17,520 Speaker 1: who arranges for her to be in a movie, a 49 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: moving picture. Her manager becomes her lover and they have 50 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,440 Speaker 1: a non monogamous relationship while he's organizing her entire life, 51 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 1: and he organizes everything in her life because she is 52 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:30,400 Speaker 1: very talented, but she is not the most organized of people. 53 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,080 Speaker 1: When she's twenty one years old, she writes her memoir. 54 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: She stars in a film, and this is where we 55 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:40,400 Speaker 1: left off because this is huge because she was the 56 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 1: first black woman in the world to start in a 57 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: major motion picture. Like mentioned in the previous episode, this 58 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: was a time where primitivism was so popular and it 59 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: showed in all forms of art. The movies were no exception. 60 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: Siron of the Tropics was a sign film. The plot 61 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 1: is she's an innocent, wide eyed, primitive girl from the Tropics, 62 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:09,760 Speaker 1: a siren from the Tropics, if you will, and she 63 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 1: is the one who brings the Charleston to Paris. Now, 64 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 1: this movie is so racist, like it is overtly racist. 65 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 1: Like at one point, Josephine Baker she falls into a 66 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: flower bin, right baking flower, not like bouquets of flour. 67 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:35,119 Speaker 1: She falls into a flower bin and shock horror, because 68 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:39,360 Speaker 1: it's flower, it turns her white. And so she has 69 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:41,839 Speaker 1: to do this like bath, like she has to bathe 70 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:46,920 Speaker 1: in order to like become her own skin tone. Again. Now, 71 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:52,039 Speaker 1: Josephine wasn't too fond of the movie role, you know, 72 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:55,839 Speaker 1: because it's racist, and also because she didn't have full 73 00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: use of her talents. Like you'll see this with a 74 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:04,039 Speaker 1: lot of sort of Berlin performers. You see them performing 75 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: movies that we pulled into one thing and the other, 76 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:12,159 Speaker 1: and they don't like losing creative control. Lily Saint Cyr 77 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:15,240 Speaker 1: was the same, Like they would do their own routines 78 00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 1: and then they'd be in a movie and they would 79 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 1: have to like wear this dress, like this, art like that, 80 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: and it wasn't their vibe. They were just being pushed 81 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:29,839 Speaker 1: into a role as opposed to creating their own. But yeah, 82 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:34,480 Speaker 1: she's already dealing with all of this. And then around 83 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:37,279 Speaker 1: about this time as well, there was this massive influx 84 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:42,160 Speaker 1: of Americans in Paris, some to live, some as tourists. 85 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:48,800 Speaker 1: They are everywhere and alround. About this time as well, 86 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:52,200 Speaker 1: her sister wille May, who was like her favorite sibling 87 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:56,240 Speaker 1: out of all of them. Now Willamy is technically a 88 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: half sister. And I hate the term half siblings. I 89 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: think I've made rant about it in previous episodes because 90 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 1: you know, it's that forced separation and the other ring 91 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: of someone. But yeah, Willemy was her favorite sibling. And 92 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: Willemy ends up having a back alley abortion, which was 93 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:21,359 Speaker 1: majorly illegal at the time. Okay, Okay, I've said it 94 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:25,760 Speaker 1: before and I will say it again. Sidebar. You cannot 95 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:34,039 Speaker 1: ban abortion. You can only ban safe abortion, because abortions 96 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:38,880 Speaker 1: have been happening since Biblical times. There is a recipe 97 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 1: for bitter water in the Bible, like in the terminology 98 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:48,000 Speaker 1: used the way that certain medical texts are written. They're 99 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,200 Speaker 1: not written as medical texts. It's just sort of life. 100 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:56,320 Speaker 1: And when information was presented to women, it wasn't presented 101 00:06:56,360 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: as you're having an abortion. It was how to start 102 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:05,159 Speaker 1: your period, like how to make menzies return, things like that. 103 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 1: It was written differently, like even what was it the 104 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:15,119 Speaker 1: medical pope? He even wrote about abortion, like he had 105 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 1: the Theosaurus paparum, yes, the treasure chest of the poor. 106 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: It was Pope John the twenty first. He was like 107 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:25,320 Speaker 1: a surgeon before he you know, went to the partificate. 108 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:31,160 Speaker 1: So yeah, Pop John, he was abro choice pope. Anyway, 109 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:36,240 Speaker 1: the medical term for miscarriage, for the record is spontaneous abortion, 110 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: so go fuck yourselves. Anyway, back to Willa May, she 111 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: has complications from the botched abortion and she died, which 112 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: of course means that this was the perfect time for 113 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:55,680 Speaker 1: Josephine Baker to go on tour in Europe, traveling on 114 00:07:55,800 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: the Orient Express, all arranged of course by Giuseppe Pepito Albertina. 115 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,840 Speaker 1: She performs for the King of Sweden and Prince Gustaf Adolf, 116 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 1: Duke of Lestiboten, and he was length so into her. 117 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:17,200 Speaker 1: Like she goes to the Swedish Palace through a secret 118 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 1: entrance because all these palaces have like hidden nooks and crannies, 119 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: and they're like, we're gonna sneak you in. So she 120 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:29,239 Speaker 1: goes to the secret entrance. She lays on a bed 121 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 1: covered in furs because it's Sweden, it's probably chilli, and 122 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:36,440 Speaker 1: so she's laying on these furs and the prince comes 123 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: in and you know, he's got this big velvet cushion 124 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:42,560 Speaker 1: with all of these like jewels on it for lack 125 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:46,640 Speaker 1: of a betro term, and so he covers her entire 126 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:55,320 Speaker 1: body and diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, other gems that I 127 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 1: probably don't know the name of, just covers her in it. 128 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:04,920 Speaker 1: And that that was hers to keep when she would 129 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: travel and tour. Right as she traversed the continent. Allegedly's 130 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: she would charge fifty thousand Belgian francs for a man 131 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:23,800 Speaker 1: to spend the night with her. And honestly, at this point, 132 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:27,120 Speaker 1: if a man wants to spend fifty grand to spend 133 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:30,880 Speaker 1: a night with Josephine Baker, then Josephine Baker deserves that 134 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 1: fifty grand. Like if he's willing to pay it, more 135 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:38,960 Speaker 1: fool him. I mean, it's Josephine Baker. So I understand, 136 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 1: but like more fool him. And we have to remember 137 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 1: as well that Josephine Baker could just turn these men down. 138 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:50,680 Speaker 1: It's like here's fifty k and then she's like, mm no, 139 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:55,319 Speaker 1: I don't like you, you know, so like yeah, love 140 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:59,360 Speaker 1: your best life, Josephine. So she has fans all over 141 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:03,959 Speaker 1: the continent, and she's got all these names and titles 142 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:09,080 Speaker 1: and monikers, and they're all like a bit fetishizing. She's 143 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:15,599 Speaker 1: called the Black Pearl, the Black Venus, the Creole Goddess. 144 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:20,480 Speaker 1: She's not quite adored everywhere though. She rives in Vietnam 145 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:23,920 Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty eight. So that's in Austria now. Hitler 146 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: he's not the Fury yet. He's rising in power, and 147 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:31,319 Speaker 1: Nazism is is grown. They've got twelve seats in the Reichstag. 148 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 1: But Nazism is also growing in Austria because remember after 149 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:40,080 Speaker 1: the First World War, after the Treaty of Versailles, the 150 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:44,680 Speaker 1: Empire of Austria Hungary was dissolved. So Austria is now 151 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: like a landlocked nation. And I set up before, and 152 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:52,480 Speaker 1: I will tell you again anyone who questions how Captain 153 00:10:52,559 --> 00:10:57,520 Speaker 1: von Trapp was a navy man, a navy captain. That 154 00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:00,920 Speaker 1: is why he's called Captain von trap If anyone's like 155 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 1: how Austria is a landlocked state, yet the Empire used 156 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:08,280 Speaker 1: to be huge and then after the First World War 157 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:18,200 Speaker 1: it wasn't AnyWho back to this, So Josephine Baker gets 158 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:22,800 Speaker 1: off the stain in Vienna and says that her posters 159 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:28,720 Speaker 1: are graffited with black devil. Okay, another side bar quickly 160 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:33,880 Speaker 1: before we get into anything else. So in Irish asqualiga, 161 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:40,760 Speaker 1: the word for black people is like Danny Gorm, it's gorm, 162 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:44,920 Speaker 1: it's blue. And the reason that Irish people call black 163 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:50,559 Speaker 1: people blue is because traditionally, through Irish folklore, to call 164 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: someone black was to call them the devil. Right, so 165 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:54,880 Speaker 1: when you were saying do it was a devil? 166 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:55,680 Speaker 2: You know. 167 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:58,200 Speaker 1: Also they do kind of sound alike, you know what 168 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:02,160 Speaker 1: I mean, it's do devil? What could we do? Depending 169 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:05,640 Speaker 1: on what part of the country you're in. And so, 170 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:10,000 Speaker 1: in order to be respectful of people of color, because 171 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:14,000 Speaker 1: it's Ireland, someone somewhere here came up with the logical, 172 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:17,560 Speaker 1: the logical reasoning of it being blue. I don't know 173 00:12:17,559 --> 00:12:22,559 Speaker 1: why another color wasn't chosen. I'm not a linguist. I am, however, 174 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:28,160 Speaker 1: sometimes a cunning linguist. Because Josephine Baker is a sexy 175 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:32,080 Speaker 1: woman who owns her sexuality. She's also protested by the 176 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:37,040 Speaker 1: Catholic Church as she tours, something that was probably amplified 177 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:42,040 Speaker 1: because she was a black woman. So the original theater 178 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:44,280 Speaker 1: that she was booked to play in Vienna, she couldn't 179 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:47,960 Speaker 1: actually play at this original theater because the city council 180 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:51,679 Speaker 1: wouldn't allow it because of the protests from the Catholic Church, 181 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:56,199 Speaker 1: and so she had to perform in this smaller theater 182 00:12:56,679 --> 00:13:00,959 Speaker 1: and perform she did. She opens up the show in 183 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:07,239 Speaker 1: this beautiful floor length gown. It is stunning. She is stunning. 184 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:11,080 Speaker 1: She was singing and wearing more than she ever did 185 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:14,960 Speaker 1: at the Fay Belger And it's like this is the 186 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:19,040 Speaker 1: transition of her public image, Like she is curating this 187 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:22,839 Speaker 1: at this point because she kind of fell into her 188 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:27,120 Speaker 1: like original role, her original you know, iconography I suppose, 189 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 1: and it sort of evolved over time. Iconography is the 190 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:39,800 Speaker 1: wrong word. I don't care. She is iconic and so 191 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:45,280 Speaker 1: she's really really investing in her costumes. She's got dazzling gowns, 192 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 1: head pieces, the whole Shi bang. Things get a bit 193 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:56,280 Speaker 1: wild and prag so fans like she's so many fans, 194 00:13:56,600 --> 00:14:01,200 Speaker 1: they try to storm her and she's almost stampeded by them, 195 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:05,719 Speaker 1: like full on wildebased, like they're coming for her. So 196 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:10,319 Speaker 1: she goes from Czechoslovakia to Hungary, and when she gets 197 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:15,319 Speaker 1: to Hungary, she is protested again, this time by students 198 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:19,240 Speaker 1: in Budapest. So students are there and they are lugging 199 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:23,040 Speaker 1: ammonia bombs at the stage. I mean they did have 200 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:25,400 Speaker 1: to pay for their ticket to get in, but anyway, 201 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:29,600 Speaker 1: so they're just chucking ammonia bombs at her. Basically, their 202 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:33,880 Speaker 1: issue is that she was so rich, and they're protesting 203 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:37,840 Speaker 1: this because of the massive levels of poverty in Hungary 204 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:41,760 Speaker 1: at the time. Now again, remember as I said previously, 205 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:45,840 Speaker 1: it's the interwar period. The Austro Hungary Empire had been 206 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 1: dissolved after the Tuty of Versailles and reparations were in place. 207 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:55,359 Speaker 1: So countries like Germany, Hungary, Austria, they're all paying reparations 208 00:14:55,720 --> 00:15:02,280 Speaker 1: and they're dealing with just economic crises right now. I'm 209 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 1: not a fan of eating the rich because I think 210 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:11,160 Speaker 1: they'll taste very gamy. Yeah, by being said, I'm not 211 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 1: one to rub someone's poverty in their face. However, I 212 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:20,280 Speaker 1: do love a petty bitch. In response to the bleach bombs, 213 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:26,640 Speaker 1: Josephine Baker makes the elective decision to ride around downtown 214 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:30,760 Speaker 1: Budapest in a carriage that is pulled by, of all things, 215 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 1: I know, Strich. But that is not the only drama 216 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:42,120 Speaker 1: in Budapest, right, Count Albertino. He is challenged to a 217 00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 1: duel in a cemetery or a graveyard, and one of 218 00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:51,040 Speaker 1: those places where there are dead people in headstones. So 219 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 1: there's a jewel in a graveyard, you know. Ten paces 220 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:59,400 Speaker 1: in bang and Josephine's they're watching the whole thing, and 221 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:02,000 Speaker 1: part of its like, oh, boys, you're fighting over little 222 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:06,480 Speaker 1: old May. And then the count loses. He gets shot 223 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:08,960 Speaker 1: in the shoulder, and she's like, okay, boys, I think 224 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: that's enough. The Count is shot in the shoulder, but 225 00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 1: he survives, Okay, he's fine. Practically On top of everything else, 226 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:23,000 Speaker 1: Josephine has a stalker following her on tour, and when 227 00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:28,040 Speaker 1: she gets to Croatia, her stalker tries to end his 228 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 1: life in front of her, like he tries to kill 229 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 1: himself at her feet, which I feel like she's suffered 230 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 1: enough in life. Can we not play why are men? Sometimes? 231 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:48,320 Speaker 1: So she reaches Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and her fans 232 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:53,360 Speaker 1: there like they block the streets, like they just fill 233 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:56,840 Speaker 1: the streets. Now a lot of Dutch streets they are 234 00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:59,720 Speaker 1: quite wide. Of course there are smaller avenues and things. 235 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:03,200 Speaker 1: But I'm thinking of where she would be in Amsterdam, 236 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:07,800 Speaker 1: like they are just flocking. They are just flocking streets 237 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: and blocking her like ah, Like it just shows you, 238 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:16,920 Speaker 1: like how adored she was at the time. Now when 239 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:23,240 Speaker 1: she's like midway through the tour, not quite a count Albertina, 240 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:26,439 Speaker 1: he gets her to go back to Paris, and so 241 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:30,560 Speaker 1: she takes a break. She returns to Paris and she 242 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:33,440 Speaker 1: is being interviewed by all the newspapers because like she's 243 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:35,320 Speaker 1: just gone on this big tour and she's in the 244 00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:39,320 Speaker 1: middle of it, and she announces that she has finished 245 00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:43,159 Speaker 1: with the Charleston and the banana skirt. She is evolving, 246 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:48,680 Speaker 1: and she also says that she simply cannot live without Paris, 247 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:53,200 Speaker 1: and so like they're like, oh, you are darling Josephine, 248 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:59,439 Speaker 1: We love your Josephine. So After this Parisian respect, she 249 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:03,879 Speaker 1: continue use the tour going global as she performs in 250 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:08,480 Speaker 1: South America, and they're aware, I know, you're shocked at 251 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 1: this racist demonstrations against her, which really drives home the 252 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:20,280 Speaker 1: fact that racism is everywhere to her, Like it's this 253 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:24,120 Speaker 1: sort of vitriol that she faces in all of these 254 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:28,439 Speaker 1: different locales that really really hammer the nail, you know, 255 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:31,840 Speaker 1: it really drives it home, and like she's no stranger 256 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:34,600 Speaker 1: to racism, like she grew up in it. But I 257 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:36,480 Speaker 1: guess there's always the idea that you're going to go 258 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,359 Speaker 1: somewhere and it's going to be like not a utopia, 259 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:46,080 Speaker 1: but it's going to be more understanding, more considerate, more intersectional, 260 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:51,040 Speaker 1: you know. So back in France in nineteen twenty nine, 261 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:55,800 Speaker 1: she buys Laborushin, which is her mansion, and this was 262 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:59,840 Speaker 1: like just before the Great Depression, and this mansion it's 263 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:04,879 Speaker 1: fifteen miles outside of Paris and was large enough to 264 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:11,720 Speaker 1: host her entire menagerie, Chiquida the Cheetah, the picknamed Albert 265 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:17,000 Speaker 1: Albert mon Sandwich. I love that. I love that Pugs. 266 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:25,439 Speaker 3: So she returns the toast of Paris, like she's a 267 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 3: darling now she's gone global, but she has returned to 268 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,680 Speaker 3: the city she loves, the city of Love. 269 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: So there's Josephine and this other performer and they're putting 270 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:43,720 Speaker 1: this show because like Josephin Baker, she's wildly famous, right, 271 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:48,720 Speaker 1: she is a celebate, like she's all over the place. However, 272 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:54,840 Speaker 1: racism wears its ugly head. Now, what's the show called. 273 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:58,200 Speaker 1: I think it's Swinging Paris. There's a lot of shows 274 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:01,080 Speaker 1: where it's like something Paris, this Paris. So she's in 275 00:20:01,119 --> 00:20:04,120 Speaker 1: the show anyway, and the other performer is a white woman, 276 00:20:05,119 --> 00:20:09,400 Speaker 1: and the idea is that they performed their own shows 277 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 1: on alternate nights because like, oh, well, we'll have Josephine 278 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:15,360 Speaker 1: Baker as our black performer and we'll have this other 279 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:19,280 Speaker 1: dolls as a white performer. And the assumption is that 280 00:20:19,359 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: obviously the white performer show is going to be more 281 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: popular and amazing. And the fact that I don't know 282 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:29,800 Speaker 1: her name is enough to tell you that clearly it 283 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:35,520 Speaker 1: wasn't okay. Josephine Baker's show was more popular than the 284 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:40,119 Speaker 1: White Chick, Like it outsold just time and time again, 285 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,359 Speaker 1: and like she's doing like a Tuesday show, a Thursday show, 286 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 1: you know, things like that, and again they'll just sell 287 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:50,639 Speaker 1: it out night after night. So in this show, like 288 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:53,640 Speaker 1: as part of her routine, she would do these different 289 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:58,560 Speaker 1: like scenes that represented each of the French colonies, and 290 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:01,560 Speaker 1: some officials saw that went that's a good idea, that 291 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:06,000 Speaker 1: is actually and so in nineteen thirty one, she was 292 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:10,080 Speaker 1: invited to be Queen of the Colonies for the Paris 293 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:14,960 Speaker 1: Colonial Exposition. And the officials, they were so proud of 294 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:17,879 Speaker 1: themselves for this idea, like so smug as if they 295 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:21,040 Speaker 1: didn't see her show and go, huh, let's take her 296 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 1: idea from her and make more money from it. What 297 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:31,040 Speaker 1: white men stealing ideas from women and women of color? 298 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:39,640 Speaker 1: Ah no, No, So anyway, these officials, they're really proud 299 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:42,520 Speaker 1: of it. You think it's great, But there were many 300 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:47,800 Speaker 1: Parisians who were not happy with this choice. One because 301 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 1: she was not French, two she was not fluent in French, 302 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:58,280 Speaker 1: and three because she was neither of those things. Her 303 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:01,720 Speaker 1: accent would be wrong. She doesn't have the right accent, 304 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:06,240 Speaker 1: and it's like teach her one, just like my French 305 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:08,680 Speaker 1: accent doesn't belong anywhere. But I feel like I should 306 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:12,440 Speaker 1: just like get to grips of one. But sometimes when 307 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,880 Speaker 1: I'm speaking French, it's as if I have a mouthful 308 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:19,720 Speaker 1: of mashed potato, you know what I mean. So another 309 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:23,919 Speaker 1: thing they were concerned with was that Josephine Baker was 310 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:27,760 Speaker 1: too old. Oh wait, did I not mention agism in 311 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:31,240 Speaker 1: this agism as well? Because they thought she was too 312 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:35,200 Speaker 1: old to play queen of the colonies at the ripe 313 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:39,919 Speaker 1: old age of twenty five. Now I'm sure this, you know, 314 00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:44,680 Speaker 1: aggravation and upset had absolutely nothing to do with the 315 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:48,119 Speaker 1: fact that this was a black woman being queen of 316 00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:57,760 Speaker 1: the colonies. So anyway, the Paris Colonial Exposition is this 317 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:03,160 Speaker 1: big exposition of the friend colonies with the romanticized representation 318 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:08,600 Speaker 1: of these locales via a colonialist lens. And it's basically 319 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:14,080 Speaker 1: just a big show to get people to keep giving 320 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:18,320 Speaker 1: money for colonization. Really, it's like, oh, look at what 321 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:21,080 Speaker 1: a good job we're doing. No, give us more money 322 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:29,840 Speaker 1: so we can continue to do that. By the nineteen thirties, 323 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:33,399 Speaker 1: Josephine Baker is performing so much that she's done on 324 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,800 Speaker 1: the candle at both ends. Listen, the count was really 325 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:41,359 Speaker 1: good with spreadsheets. She's in her first talkie in nineteen 326 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:44,760 Speaker 1: thirty four. So a talkie is when movies went from 327 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:50,680 Speaker 1: silent films into like docking pictures, the donkeys, the moving pictures, 328 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:55,840 Speaker 1: the motion pictures, moving pictures. Anyway, she stars in her 329 00:23:55,880 --> 00:24:00,560 Speaker 1: first talkie in nineteen thirty four, Zuzu. The Count isn't 330 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:03,960 Speaker 1: missing out on any promotion. And what he does is 331 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:08,919 Speaker 1: he has stickers put on bananas in Paris. So he's like, 332 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,560 Speaker 1: come see this, and she's known for her banana skirt 333 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:16,680 Speaker 1: and it's like a really clever like marketing ploy. So 334 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:20,080 Speaker 1: the plot of Zuzu, because I know you really want 335 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:24,399 Speaker 1: to know what this is. So Uzu is the story 336 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:27,119 Speaker 1: of a lawn dress who grew up in the circus. 337 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:30,120 Speaker 1: It's kind of like they just grabbed a bunch of things, 338 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,159 Speaker 1: put them in a hatt and went this is a 339 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:36,080 Speaker 1: story idea. It's the story of a lawn dress who 340 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:37,840 Speaker 1: grew up in the circus and she's in love with 341 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:42,200 Speaker 1: her foster brother who gets falsely accused of murder a gasp. 342 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:46,400 Speaker 1: She becomes a star while saving him from the guillotine, 343 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:50,480 Speaker 1: and in response, he falls in love with a white 344 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:56,639 Speaker 1: lady instead of her. It's at this point that Josephine 345 00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:05,280 Speaker 1: Baker becomes the highest performer in the world, in the 346 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:10,080 Speaker 1: world performer, not black performer, not white performer, performer like 347 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:16,960 Speaker 1: she is a shooting star. Okay. So the same year 348 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 1: that Zuzu was released, Josephine's stepfather had been committed to 349 00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:26,840 Speaker 1: a mental institute and there he had committed suicide. Arthur 350 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:29,560 Speaker 1: had been going through like depressive state and had been 351 00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:32,320 Speaker 1: getting more violent as time goes on, and so he 352 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:35,000 Speaker 1: ended up being committed and when he was there, he 353 00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:38,320 Speaker 1: ended his life. She did not return home for the funeral. 354 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:45,080 Speaker 1: Also that year, she is in an operetta called La Creole. 355 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:48,520 Speaker 1: So she's the lead in an operetta with an all 356 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:52,760 Speaker 1: French caste, and this is like such a big deal 357 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:56,399 Speaker 1: for her. Now, in nineteen thirty five, she stars in 358 00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:59,520 Speaker 1: Princess Tam Tam and I'm sure you can't wait to 359 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:02,639 Speaker 1: hear the plot of this one. It's basically a story 360 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:06,000 Speaker 1: within a story, and the plot of this one, oh mg, 361 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:09,480 Speaker 1: it's a story within a story. And Josephine Baker plays 362 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:15,959 Speaker 1: a Tunisian barefoot shepherdess who this novelist, famous French novelist 363 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 1: who has a ghost writer. By the way, his wife 364 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:20,800 Speaker 1: apparently is flirting with the Maharaja and he's like, I'm 365 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:22,199 Speaker 1: going to get back at her. And so he's like, 366 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:25,960 Speaker 1: I'm going to turn this shepherdess into a princess and 367 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:32,160 Speaker 1: bring her to Europe and just get back at my wife. Yep, 368 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:36,359 Speaker 1: that's the plot of the movie. The year after this movie, 369 00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:38,520 Speaker 1: which I think was the last one she performed in 370 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 1: for like a decade, So the following year, in nineteen 371 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,600 Speaker 1: thirty six, she goes back to the US and performs 372 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:50,080 Speaker 1: in Zigfield Follies, so the stage show, and so these 373 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:54,959 Speaker 1: were burlesque shows, and she was the only black performer 374 00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 1: at the follies at the time, and because of segregation 375 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 1: and racism, the white dancers on stage they were not 376 00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:07,159 Speaker 1: allowed to touch her like that was a rule, and 377 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:11,440 Speaker 1: that wasn't the only issue. So she couldn't stay anywhere. 378 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,399 Speaker 1: Like her and the Count, they'd made reservations at many hotels, 379 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:21,880 Speaker 1: but they kept being rejected because the hotels were worried 380 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:28,439 Speaker 1: about offending the white patriots. Right. So it gets to 381 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:31,639 Speaker 1: the point where Josephine ends up staying with the Japanese 382 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:35,240 Speaker 1: console and his wife because she knows them. The Count 383 00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:38,199 Speaker 1: does not join her like he left her to her 384 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:41,440 Speaker 1: own devices because he's like, I'm staying in the hotel. 385 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:46,280 Speaker 1: What a prick, Okay, So she decides that saying that 386 00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:50,000 Speaker 1: she's in the country anyway. She travels to Chicago to 387 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:54,080 Speaker 1: meet with her second Willie and finally gets a divorce 388 00:27:54,600 --> 00:28:01,320 Speaker 1: after sixteen years. So the Zigfield follies like as an era. 389 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: It's not exactly the highlight of her career and things 390 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:09,240 Speaker 1: are not going great for her there and the County 391 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 1: ends up, you know, buggering back off to France, and 392 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:17,600 Speaker 1: he's actually swiftly followed by Josephine, Like he was very 393 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:20,600 Speaker 1: good at keeping her on budget and on schedule because 394 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:24,040 Speaker 1: she would often be late for rehearsal and performances. But 395 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:26,359 Speaker 1: then she'd be there and she'd expect people to work 396 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:31,960 Speaker 1: fourteen sixteen hour days and that's just not how bodies function, okay. 397 00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:37,639 Speaker 1: And back in Paris, the count like his health is 398 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:41,840 Speaker 1: failing and he passes away at the age of thirty 399 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:46,840 Speaker 1: eight from kidney cancer. Like back in nineteen twenty seven, 400 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:49,560 Speaker 1: the couple had told the press that they had eloped 401 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:51,560 Speaker 1: and wed because they were like, it's a scandal that 402 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:54,760 Speaker 1: they're together, and so they had this like big fake 403 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:58,760 Speaker 1: sort of scenario there. So they were like we eloped 404 00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 1: and we wed and and they had not done that. 405 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:04,960 Speaker 1: But like the thing is as well is like Willy 406 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:08,200 Speaker 1: Willy Baker. That was something he found out from the papers. 407 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:10,840 Speaker 1: He was like, she can't get married. We're still married 408 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:15,160 Speaker 1: like at the time. And so without the count, like 409 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:17,640 Speaker 1: he is the one who organized her planned for tours, 410 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:20,440 Speaker 1: like he made sure that she had her gigs, and 411 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:23,720 Speaker 1: so with him gone, like she was at a loss. 412 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:27,120 Speaker 1: And so she ends up returning to the Folly Belgeil 413 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,280 Speaker 1: because like she has nothing else planned because she doesn't 414 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:34,200 Speaker 1: do that bit, like she doesn't organize anything. So she 415 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:38,280 Speaker 1: returns to the foy Burgel and she's she's like lonely actually, 416 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,600 Speaker 1: I mean she's got this conveyor belt of lovers of 417 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:45,680 Speaker 1: both sexes, including some very famous women, which I believe 418 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:49,480 Speaker 1: I mentioned I think in the last episode. So we've 419 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:53,760 Speaker 1: got affairs with one of my favorite people in the 420 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:58,840 Speaker 1: world and also the best of the hot mess Tallula 421 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:00,520 Speaker 1: Bankhead Darling. 422 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,760 Speaker 2: I was wonderful star of stage and screen. I love 423 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:09,160 Speaker 2: her so much. She's just she's just chaos and human form. 424 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:11,960 Speaker 2: Like I swear that she took cocaine just to calm 425 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:15,680 Speaker 2: herself down. So she's got a fear of with Tulula Bankhead, 426 00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:19,400 Speaker 2: she also had a late liaison or two that was 427 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:21,680 Speaker 2: easy for me to say, a liaison or two with 428 00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:27,240 Speaker 2: Ada briktop Smith. The that's right, the collect who we 429 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:29,400 Speaker 2: will definitely be talking about in the future. 430 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:36,520 Speaker 1: And also for the record, uh Frida Calo, but love 431 00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:40,840 Speaker 1: her after lover, it's a passing flame, like nothing really sticks. 432 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,800 Speaker 1: And she's always believed that every great love affair with 433 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:47,920 Speaker 1: a man would result in marriage and that she would 434 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:53,320 Speaker 1: have a big family, because that's something that she always wanted, 435 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: like regardless of the era, like the majority of like 436 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:04,840 Speaker 1: life in the last several hundred years, there's this narrative 437 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:08,680 Speaker 1: that's being pushed. It's all patriarchal, right, It's like women 438 00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:14,480 Speaker 1: are expected to have families. What's interesting, though, is that 439 00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:19,400 Speaker 1: there is very little history in which women were solely 440 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:23,840 Speaker 1: in the home being homemakers, as if they weren't doing 441 00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:32,040 Speaker 1: other things like weaving, having like animals, and like doing labor. 442 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:37,520 Speaker 1: Like there's always labor, but it's not always presented as labor. 443 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 1: But there's always this push that women are expecting to 444 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:45,120 Speaker 1: marry and have children like that is the female role, 445 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:50,360 Speaker 1: and that is bullshit. Okay, women can do many things. 446 00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:56,560 Speaker 1: Let's see you embroider Montaignwich Albert onto a throw pillow. Okay, 447 00:31:56,720 --> 00:32:00,400 Speaker 1: let's see you do that. Boys such as a thing, 448 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:04,400 Speaker 1: such a silly thing. But like women have always worked, 449 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:07,480 Speaker 1: it's only a sort of middle class to upper class. 450 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:10,959 Speaker 1: And so this is assumption that women have always been 451 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:15,480 Speaker 1: in the home is bullshit. But the idea that women 452 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,320 Speaker 1: should marry and have children has been a continual thing 453 00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:20,960 Speaker 1: for a long time because it's sort of it's a 454 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:26,360 Speaker 1: control thing. Okay. Anyway, Josephine ends up being godmother to 455 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:30,640 Speaker 1: like fifty children at this orphanage because she she craves 456 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:33,920 Speaker 1: this affection, this connection, and it's probably something to do 457 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 1: with the relationship she had with her mother and how 458 00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:41,760 Speaker 1: she didn't have that closeness and so she feels like 459 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:47,080 Speaker 1: if she has that connection with a child, you know, 460 00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:50,920 Speaker 1: she'll get that feeling, that love that she's been yearning, 461 00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:54,920 Speaker 1: you know. But she craves this affection, this connection, and 462 00:32:54,960 --> 00:33:00,840 Speaker 1: that's that's what she wants. But professionally, she working at 463 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:04,440 Speaker 1: the Faule bourgell because again she doesn't have anything lined 464 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:07,720 Speaker 1: up without count, not actually count who was in charge 465 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:10,640 Speaker 1: of her accounts, because you know, money burned a hole 466 00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:16,280 Speaker 1: in her pocket. You spent one uh uh uh uh 467 00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:19,640 Speaker 1: uh I regret nothing. You were getting a count joke 468 00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:24,840 Speaker 1: at least once today. So Count Albertino, he planned all 469 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:27,400 Speaker 1: her tours, her gigs, and he wasn't you know, around 470 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:31,120 Speaker 1: after meeting the cold, ewnsy hands of death. But then 471 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:37,360 Speaker 1: another man enters her life, Jean Leon. I know you're shocked. 472 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:40,600 Speaker 1: He wasn't called Willy and neither of those names are 473 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:46,360 Speaker 1: French for Willie. You're welcome. So Jean Leon was no 474 00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:49,960 Speaker 1: run of the mill guy. No, no, he was a 475 00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:53,880 Speaker 1: sugar man. And not to say sugar daddy. He was 476 00:33:53,920 --> 00:34:00,000 Speaker 1: younger than her so sugar boy. No, no, his family 477 00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:03,400 Speaker 1: made money in sugar like he was the heir to 478 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:07,840 Speaker 1: a sugar fortune. Now, I don't really have the time 479 00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:12,880 Speaker 1: because I've already gone on many sidebars thus far. I 480 00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:15,360 Speaker 1: don't really have the time to delve into the many 481 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:21,279 Speaker 1: layers as to why that specifically is problematic. So he's 482 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:23,640 Speaker 1: the heir to a sugar fortune, so he's got money 483 00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:29,480 Speaker 1: behind him, he's athletic, and he's smoking hot. He's also 484 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:34,400 Speaker 1: Jewish and that is a relevant fact. And his family 485 00:34:34,640 --> 00:34:38,880 Speaker 1: they are absolutely freaking out because again this is a 486 00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:42,000 Speaker 1: family involved in sugar cane, so we can guess what 487 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:45,120 Speaker 1: their opinions were of their son marrying a black woman. 488 00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:51,360 Speaker 1: Like they object strongly to this union. And gen Leon 489 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:55,360 Speaker 1: like he was the one that pursued Josephine like he 490 00:34:55,480 --> 00:35:00,520 Speaker 1: thought that he would gain popularity biosmosis like being with 491 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:04,560 Speaker 1: her would benefit his career, and so they get married 492 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:10,319 Speaker 1: in his family village in nineteen thirty seven, and two 493 00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:14,080 Speaker 1: things happen because of this. Because she's married a Frenchman, 494 00:35:14,719 --> 00:35:21,279 Speaker 1: Josephine Baker now has the ability to get French citizenship, 495 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:27,160 Speaker 1: which she does, and Jean Leon and his family it 496 00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:32,200 Speaker 1: gave them access to the US because again they were Jewish, 497 00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:35,160 Speaker 1: and they emigrated to the States in nineteen thirty eight, 498 00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:38,880 Speaker 1: saving them from the Nazi invasion that was on the horizon. 499 00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:44,720 Speaker 1: So the couple didn't actually see each other that much. 500 00:35:45,239 --> 00:35:48,640 Speaker 1: I mean they saw each other enough though, because Josephine 501 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:53,840 Speaker 1: was able to become pregnant and Josephine Baker is overjoyed, 502 00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:56,839 Speaker 1: like they were together I think just over a year 503 00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:01,800 Speaker 1: and she discovers she's pregnant and she is full on nesting. 504 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:05,400 Speaker 1: She's getting a nursery ready, she's at least trying to 505 00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:10,080 Speaker 1: knit baby clothes because this is something that she's always wanted. 506 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:18,320 Speaker 1: But like many things in Josephine's life, whenever there was joy, 507 00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:24,960 Speaker 1: there was tragedy. And Josephine suffered a miscarriage and it 508 00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:29,799 Speaker 1: really hit her heart. And after this happened, she and 509 00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:33,759 Speaker 1: Jean they separate, like they don't actually get divorced until 510 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:37,640 Speaker 1: nineteen forty one, like three years later, but they separate 511 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:43,200 Speaker 1: and he emigrates with his family to the US. The 512 00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:48,239 Speaker 1: following year, another scandal enters Josephine's life because it's in 513 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:51,919 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty nine that she meets artist Fredra Callo, who 514 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:55,920 Speaker 1: had come to Paris for an art exhibition, an exhibition 515 00:36:55,960 --> 00:37:01,120 Speaker 1: of her art. So they meet and spark fly and 516 00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:04,279 Speaker 1: the two of them they are just enameled by each other, 517 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:11,160 Speaker 1: and unsurprisingly they become lovers. Like the two of them, 518 00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:14,040 Speaker 1: they like straight up like lock themselves in a room. 519 00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:16,560 Speaker 1: They hold up in a room for a week, a 520 00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:20,640 Speaker 1: solid week. Oh you know how it is just a 521 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:25,960 Speaker 1: week of passion between two artistic enigmatic bisexuals. Now that 522 00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:29,080 Speaker 1: was happening in nineteen thirty nine, And another thing that 523 00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:32,600 Speaker 1: was happening in nineteen thirty nine was that the entire 524 00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:36,680 Speaker 1: world was on the verge of war. Okay, the majority 525 00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:40,960 Speaker 1: of the world was on the verge of war, because 526 00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:45,600 Speaker 1: Germany would invade Poland in September of nineteen thirty nine, 527 00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:49,040 Speaker 1: an active aggression and the first of a series of 528 00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:52,480 Speaker 1: short campaigns in Europe that would trigger the start of 529 00:37:52,560 --> 00:37:57,840 Speaker 1: the Second World War. After invading Poland in September nineteen 530 00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:01,440 Speaker 1: thirty nine, Nazi Germany would go on to invade Denmark 531 00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:07,440 Speaker 1: and Norway in April nineteen forty, and then Belgium, the Netherlands, 532 00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:19,440 Speaker 1: Luxembourg and France. In May of that year, Josephine Baker 533 00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:23,239 Speaker 1: was performing in a show called Paris London, and she 534 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:26,759 Speaker 1: performed for British and French troops and of course the 535 00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:31,480 Speaker 1: adoring public. Josephine had managed to acquire a new agent. 536 00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:34,399 Speaker 1: I mean they were probably just like Clambourne over each 537 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:37,160 Speaker 1: other to get out, you know. So she gets a 538 00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:40,440 Speaker 1: new agent after the count kicked the bucket and a 539 00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:45,640 Speaker 1: contact of her agent mentioned her to Jacques Abdey of 540 00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:50,759 Speaker 1: the French military intelligence service. In fact, Jacques was the 541 00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:54,680 Speaker 1: head of military counter intelligence, and he was keeping his 542 00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:58,480 Speaker 1: eyes peeled for someone who could travel froughly throughout Europe 543 00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:04,120 Speaker 1: and Africa without tracting suspicion, someone who could attend events 544 00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:08,960 Speaker 1: and soirees and gather intel and information. And also this 545 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:11,560 Speaker 1: was someone who wanted to do it for France, because 546 00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:14,839 Speaker 1: this was not a job that paid well. I mean, 547 00:39:14,880 --> 00:39:17,719 Speaker 1: you couldn't exactly hand in receipts for expenses on a 548 00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:21,600 Speaker 1: super secret spy mission. Oh it's this. You're buying an 549 00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:24,919 Speaker 1: awful lot of lemon juice. By the way, Josephine, am 550 00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:29,520 Speaker 1: I am? I? So yeah? I mean I should have 551 00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:35,800 Speaker 1: mentioned that Jacques Abdy was looking for a spy. Josephine 552 00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:38,640 Speaker 1: Baker was wise enough to leave Paris as the Nazis 553 00:39:38,719 --> 00:39:43,480 Speaker 1: moved closer, because they're like edging into northern France. So 554 00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:47,320 Speaker 1: she rents lem Rende, a massive chateau three hundred miles 555 00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:50,520 Speaker 1: south of Paris, a city she would not see for 556 00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:54,880 Speaker 1: the next four years of her life. Jacques Abdy visits 557 00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:58,000 Speaker 1: Josephine at the Chateau Le Malende. Well, she is in 558 00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:02,080 Speaker 1: the garden feeding snail to her ducks. Oh if you 559 00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:05,399 Speaker 1: thought she was moving and not taking her menagerie with her, 560 00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:09,440 Speaker 1: will more fill you. So he shows up and he's like, 561 00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:17,240 Speaker 1: Josephine be a spy and she's like, okay, I mean wait, syboh, 562 00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:21,920 Speaker 1: so Josephine again. Like I said earlier, she grew up 563 00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:24,799 Speaker 1: with racism. She knows a racist when she sees one, 564 00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:27,799 Speaker 1: and it's clear to her that one of the core 565 00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:35,640 Speaker 1: fundamentals of Nazism is racism. That's how fascism works. In 566 00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:40,360 Speaker 1: a move that surprises absolutely no one, Josephine and Jacques 567 00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:45,319 Speaker 1: become lovers, like she is like all in from the 568 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:48,280 Speaker 1: get go, like she does so much, like she works 569 00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:52,200 Speaker 1: at a refugee center for people fleeing Nazis. She attends 570 00:40:52,239 --> 00:40:55,560 Speaker 1: these big, swanky parties and writes on her skin and 571 00:40:55,640 --> 00:40:58,880 Speaker 1: invisible ink, like she's writing on her arms, in her hands, 572 00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:02,640 Speaker 1: like stuff that she owne hears, like active Nazi troop 573 00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:07,959 Speaker 1: activity and movements like like it's like the whole dumb 574 00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:11,759 Speaker 1: blonde scenario, except she's not dumb or blonde. It's like 575 00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:14,799 Speaker 1: when you're talking about word in front of me, I 576 00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:20,719 Speaker 1: wouldn't know that. I'm just a girl, you know. So 577 00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:25,080 Speaker 1: she is smuggling secret codes and messages, also an invisible 578 00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:29,040 Speaker 1: link on sheet music on notes pinned to the inside 579 00:41:29,080 --> 00:41:33,359 Speaker 1: of her brassier like she is she's like doing it 580 00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:37,040 Speaker 1: all right. She joins the Free French movement with a 581 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:41,840 Speaker 1: Jacques Abtey, who had abandoned his previous post because the 582 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:45,760 Speaker 1: Vush government had just like allowed Germany to occupy in France. 583 00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:49,440 Speaker 1: Now it is not that simple, I will admit it's 584 00:41:49,480 --> 00:41:54,120 Speaker 1: not that simple. But also from Jacques's perspective, he's like 585 00:41:55,520 --> 00:41:59,319 Speaker 1: the Nazis, why did you let the Nazis in? Like 586 00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:03,200 Speaker 1: don't do this? Like I mean, I guess for them, 587 00:42:03,239 --> 00:42:08,440 Speaker 1: they saw it as the path of least resistance. But yeah, no, France, 588 00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:12,279 Speaker 1: come on, come on, like we know what you did 589 00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:16,719 Speaker 1: to your monarchy, Like you can you can do stuff, right, okay. 590 00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:22,960 Speaker 1: So anyway, she is involved in the Shall Do Go 591 00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:28,640 Speaker 1: resistance and she learned to fight and shoot. So I've 592 00:42:28,680 --> 00:42:33,040 Speaker 1: noticed I was saying Charles Dugau, but that's not his name, 593 00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:36,200 Speaker 1: like it shall shall do go? Like why am I 594 00:42:36,239 --> 00:42:38,560 Speaker 1: not pronouncing it the French air? Like why am I 595 00:42:38,600 --> 00:42:41,360 Speaker 1: doing that? Like he's the leader of the French resistance, 596 00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:44,600 Speaker 1: I should be saying his name correctly, like I know, 597 00:42:44,719 --> 00:42:48,000 Speaker 1: I didn't do it. In the in the episode of 598 00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:51,000 Speaker 1: the Battle of Castle ET's all like I didn't. I 599 00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:54,640 Speaker 1: didn't do that, but it shall do? Go, shall do? Go? Yeah. 600 00:42:54,760 --> 00:43:00,320 Speaker 4: So she let the French Air Force use her plane, 601 00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:04,959 Speaker 4: and she even hid French resistance fighters in her house, in. 602 00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:10,279 Speaker 1: Her limiso her chateau. Nazi soldiers come looking right, but 603 00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:15,960 Speaker 1: she somehow somehow charmed them into leaving the chateau without 604 00:43:16,080 --> 00:43:20,120 Speaker 1: actually searching it, which is all the more impressive when 605 00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:24,719 Speaker 1: you remember that Josephine Baker is a black woman who 606 00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:30,719 Speaker 1: managed to charm Nazis. Okay, So Jacques g Abdy he 607 00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:34,919 Speaker 1: posed as Josephine's ballet master, and they have this whole 608 00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:36,960 Speaker 1: ruse that she's going on tour and he's like, I 609 00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:40,800 Speaker 1: am training her for ballet. So I'm going to hope 610 00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:44,359 Speaker 1: that Jacques Abde had some sort of I'm gonna call 611 00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:50,080 Speaker 1: it rhythm style, like good control of his body, and 612 00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:54,399 Speaker 1: I need that for Shacques right now. So they were 613 00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:58,880 Speaker 1: instructed to travel to Lisbon in Portugal, which was neutral, 614 00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:03,160 Speaker 1: and because it was neutral, it was full of spies 615 00:44:03,320 --> 00:44:06,600 Speaker 1: from both sides, like this is where you've got this 616 00:44:06,640 --> 00:44:12,680 Speaker 1: whole intelligence counterintelligence scenario, right, So she's got all these 617 00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:18,040 Speaker 1: like this info about German military secrets on sheet music 618 00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:22,680 Speaker 1: and invisible ink, and she's like that's how she's getting 619 00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:26,400 Speaker 1: it about because it's like I'm performing I'm Josephine Baker 620 00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:32,160 Speaker 1: in Portugal. She is the toast of the town, like 621 00:44:32,239 --> 00:44:37,279 Speaker 1: she is going from party to party gathering intelligence. But 622 00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:42,760 Speaker 1: like again, she's doing this for France. She's not earning money, right, 623 00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:46,200 Speaker 1: So she decides to get a cast together and perform 624 00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:52,200 Speaker 1: a revival of her operetta La Criol and Marseille. Josephine 625 00:44:52,200 --> 00:44:57,600 Speaker 1: Baker decided to put on an operetta for two weeks 626 00:44:58,239 --> 00:45:03,840 Speaker 1: in the middle of a war. Like it's here that 627 00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:07,000 Speaker 1: she gets the news that Germany is about to occupy 628 00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:11,800 Speaker 1: all of France, not just northern France, and so Jacques 629 00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:15,520 Speaker 1: and Josephine make the executive decision to get the heck 630 00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:21,400 Speaker 1: out a dodge and flee to Northern Africa. Now, Josephine, 631 00:45:21,719 --> 00:45:24,359 Speaker 1: she isn't able to bring her entire menagerie like on 632 00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:30,200 Speaker 1: this escapade, and she is so upset about it, and 633 00:45:30,239 --> 00:45:33,640 Speaker 1: so she gets a major panic as well when she 634 00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:37,480 Speaker 1: arrives in Algier. So she arrives in Algier and she 635 00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:43,040 Speaker 1: gets arrested, and she's thinking, shit, I'm done. It's terrible. 636 00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:46,680 Speaker 1: I'm a goner, right, because she thinks she's been arrested for, 637 00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:52,040 Speaker 1: you know, spying on Nazis, when in fact, she was 638 00:45:52,280 --> 00:45:56,920 Speaker 1: arrested for breach of contract for the messile Operetta because 639 00:45:56,960 --> 00:45:59,560 Speaker 1: she was like, I gotta go, and she just left right, 640 00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:02,520 Speaker 1: But it all gets sorted out and smoothed out and 641 00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:05,800 Speaker 1: it's fine, and you know, she pays a fine. Everything's fine, 642 00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:10,120 Speaker 1: everything's fine. So she continues to tour. So she's touring 643 00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:15,800 Speaker 1: around Casablanca, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, and she's all around that 644 00:46:15,960 --> 00:46:21,080 Speaker 1: area collecting intel. She's hobnobbing. She may or may not 645 00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:25,480 Speaker 1: have been shagging officials and royals, you know, in Morocco, 646 00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:30,720 Speaker 1: including the Pasha of Marrakesh. It will be important later. 647 00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:36,120 Speaker 1: So a rumor goes around that Jacques Amptey's cover is blown, 648 00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:39,719 Speaker 1: and so he stays in Casablanca while Josephine goes back 649 00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:44,120 Speaker 1: to like travel and perform. She's hosting soirees and dinner 650 00:46:44,200 --> 00:46:48,479 Speaker 1: parties whenever intelligence is needed, like we need to find 651 00:46:48,520 --> 00:46:53,560 Speaker 1: out stuff. Let's send Josephine in. So she's doing all 652 00:46:53,560 --> 00:46:57,760 Speaker 1: this jass and then back in Northern Africa, the Twelve 653 00:46:57,880 --> 00:47:03,040 Speaker 1: Apostles show up. So the Twelve Apostles are Robert Murphy's 654 00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:06,759 Speaker 1: American spies, and they are from like a range of 655 00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:12,000 Speaker 1: different backgrounds and they were all admittedly wildly out of 656 00:47:12,040 --> 00:47:17,280 Speaker 1: their depth. So like these were the first overseas spies 657 00:47:17,760 --> 00:47:21,839 Speaker 1: by the US during the Second World War, and they 658 00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:26,920 Speaker 1: were working alongside like the OSS and they desperately needed 659 00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:32,480 Speaker 1: Josephine and Jacques's help. So they really needed their help 660 00:47:32,480 --> 00:47:35,280 Speaker 1: because they were at this point, like they were local, 661 00:47:35,320 --> 00:47:37,239 Speaker 1: they knew the area, they knew all the stuff. Like 662 00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:39,640 Speaker 1: they needed their help to do a bunch of stuff. 663 00:47:40,600 --> 00:47:45,480 Speaker 1: And so in order for information to go back and forth, 664 00:47:46,040 --> 00:47:51,239 Speaker 1: Josephine would have to like bring it and so like 665 00:47:51,400 --> 00:47:53,000 Speaker 1: at one point they were like, we need to get 666 00:47:53,040 --> 00:47:57,799 Speaker 1: this through. We keep being searched, and she's like, I'm 667 00:47:57,800 --> 00:48:00,920 Speaker 1: gonna put it in my underwear and they're like I'm sorry, what, 668 00:48:02,160 --> 00:48:05,480 Speaker 1: And like her reasoning is she never gets stripserched because 669 00:48:05,520 --> 00:48:09,200 Speaker 1: the world has already seen her naked. Anyway, She's like 670 00:48:09,440 --> 00:48:12,400 Speaker 1: they've all seen me naked. No one's going to stripsart me. 671 00:48:12,840 --> 00:48:16,440 Speaker 1: And so this is where she's pinning just like spy 672 00:48:17,080 --> 00:48:22,600 Speaker 1: intel espionage secrets to the inside of her bra because 673 00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:29,480 Speaker 1: she's like, nobody's going there, and they didn't. Now Josephine 674 00:48:29,520 --> 00:48:32,160 Speaker 1: wasn't going to let something like an entire world war 675 00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:36,400 Speaker 1: stop her family plans. And so she ended up visiting 676 00:48:36,440 --> 00:48:42,480 Speaker 1: these doctors in Morocco for some guynacological fertility tests because 677 00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:46,239 Speaker 1: she wants to see if she can conceive, like she 678 00:48:46,239 --> 00:48:50,000 Speaker 1: would suffered like many miscarriages over the years, and she 679 00:48:50,239 --> 00:48:53,959 Speaker 1: wanted to have children. Now, I think there's probably some 680 00:48:54,120 --> 00:48:56,719 Speaker 1: correlation to do with the fact of her growing up 681 00:48:56,760 --> 00:49:01,480 Speaker 1: in abject poverty and suffering malnutrition for years, Like I 682 00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:03,960 Speaker 1: think that definitely plays a part in it, but there 683 00:49:03,960 --> 00:49:07,640 Speaker 1: are probably other other reasons that are affecting it. And 684 00:49:07,680 --> 00:49:11,239 Speaker 1: there are a lot of medical issues regarding women that 685 00:49:11,360 --> 00:49:15,640 Speaker 1: we still don't understand because we're too busy funding fucking biagra. 686 00:49:16,320 --> 00:49:18,640 Speaker 1: But I'm not I'm not gonna run. I'm not gonna run. 687 00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:23,560 Speaker 1: So she wants to have kids, and so she travels 688 00:49:23,560 --> 00:49:26,759 Speaker 1: to Marrakesh and she becomes ill with this like this 689 00:49:26,840 --> 00:49:31,240 Speaker 1: really high fever. She's got severe pain, severe abdominal pain, 690 00:49:32,040 --> 00:49:38,960 Speaker 1: and she is like very seriously ill, and so obviously 691 00:49:39,520 --> 00:49:42,680 Speaker 1: the rumor mill starts chunning out stuff, right, and the 692 00:49:42,760 --> 00:49:46,480 Speaker 1: rumor is that she was poisoned by the passion of 693 00:49:46,560 --> 00:49:50,839 Speaker 1: Marrakesh's Harem of Wives. Another rumor was that she had 694 00:49:50,880 --> 00:49:54,640 Speaker 1: had an abortion, which is like the opposite of the 695 00:49:54,640 --> 00:50:00,239 Speaker 1: thing that she wanted. So no, she was not poisoned 696 00:50:00,280 --> 00:50:03,440 Speaker 1: by a harem of wives, and she did not have 697 00:50:03,480 --> 00:50:09,040 Speaker 1: an abortion. She had an infection caused by the gynecological 698 00:50:09,120 --> 00:50:13,600 Speaker 1: and fertility tests, and so she was rushed to a 699 00:50:13,600 --> 00:50:19,000 Speaker 1: private clinic and the infection spread to pertinitis, then sepsis. 700 00:50:20,040 --> 00:50:23,240 Speaker 1: The infection on her abdominal walls led to scar tissue, 701 00:50:23,239 --> 00:50:27,600 Speaker 1: which caused blockages, and then she needed more surgery and 702 00:50:27,680 --> 00:50:32,120 Speaker 1: at one point she actually has to undergo a hysterectomy. Now, 703 00:50:32,239 --> 00:50:34,879 Speaker 1: josephin Baker joked that she was cut open so many 704 00:50:34,960 --> 00:50:37,320 Speaker 1: times that they should have just put in a zipper. 705 00:50:39,120 --> 00:50:43,400 Speaker 1: Not obviously, when she's recovering, she's not seen. And so 706 00:50:44,040 --> 00:50:50,560 Speaker 1: yet another rumor goes out, this time that she's dead. So, like, 707 00:50:50,640 --> 00:50:52,919 Speaker 1: I think the direct quote is that she is too 708 00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:58,440 Speaker 1: busy to die. She's like, no, I'm too busy to die. 709 00:50:59,040 --> 00:51:03,600 Speaker 1: The best part of this it was the United Press International, 710 00:51:03,880 --> 00:51:07,319 Speaker 1: which released the news that Josephine Baker had died in 711 00:51:07,440 --> 00:51:12,880 Speaker 1: nineteen forty two. I'm not quite dead. But she ends 712 00:51:12,960 --> 00:51:16,000 Speaker 1: up saying that she's you know, she's just unweill. And 713 00:51:16,040 --> 00:51:19,920 Speaker 1: she is recuperating at her friend's palace like on the 714 00:51:19,960 --> 00:51:24,600 Speaker 1: outskirts of the Sahara. Now while she's in recovery, like 715 00:51:24,719 --> 00:51:29,000 Speaker 1: her recovery room becomes like an unofficial headquarters for the 716 00:51:29,080 --> 00:51:34,359 Speaker 1: French resistance. Right, people are coming like in and out 717 00:51:34,680 --> 00:51:40,640 Speaker 1: all of the time, and she's like, she's still doing stuff, 718 00:51:40,640 --> 00:51:45,239 Speaker 1: like she's recovering from surgery and bought surgery and other infections, 719 00:51:45,719 --> 00:51:51,400 Speaker 1: and yeah, she's still doing her bit. She's arranging for 720 00:51:51,480 --> 00:51:56,839 Speaker 1: Jewish people to get Moroccan passports to escape Nazis, right, 721 00:51:57,640 --> 00:52:00,160 Speaker 1: and she's getting stuff coming in and out of her room. 722 00:52:00,920 --> 00:52:05,359 Speaker 1: And Jacques he's there through all of the surgeries, Like 723 00:52:05,600 --> 00:52:11,520 Speaker 1: he doesn't even go to sleep until he hears Josephine speak. 724 00:52:11,600 --> 00:52:14,719 Speaker 1: So like when she's like recovering from like one of 725 00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:19,520 Speaker 1: one of the bad surgeries, like she complains about the 726 00:52:19,560 --> 00:52:23,320 Speaker 1: compress on her tummy that it's too heavy, and he's like, okay, 727 00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:28,000 Speaker 1: now you're complaining, that's good, I can rest now. So anyway, 728 00:52:28,680 --> 00:52:31,240 Speaker 1: a year and a half after this, like she's still 729 00:52:31,280 --> 00:52:36,000 Speaker 1: recuperating because of how bad the damage was, and so 730 00:52:36,120 --> 00:52:42,799 Speaker 1: she ends up developing a parathyroid disease and so like 731 00:52:42,920 --> 00:52:46,640 Speaker 1: she's not getting better and for her, this is really 732 00:52:46,680 --> 00:52:51,680 Speaker 1: really upsetting because like you think that like healing is linear, 733 00:52:52,360 --> 00:52:59,239 Speaker 1: it is absolutely not. Meanwhile, Nazis had some camps in 734 00:52:59,280 --> 00:53:02,759 Speaker 1: North Africa, and so the Allies decide to send a 735 00:53:02,800 --> 00:53:07,880 Speaker 1: bunch of troops there in preparation. But there's not a 736 00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:12,040 Speaker 1: lot of action happening, and American gis are bored, which 737 00:53:12,360 --> 00:53:18,440 Speaker 1: is never good. And remember, like again, segregation still very 738 00:53:18,520 --> 00:53:22,360 Speaker 1: much a thing in the US at this time. Meanwhile, 739 00:53:22,920 --> 00:53:26,600 Speaker 1: the director of the Red Cross Liberty Club invicted Josephine 740 00:53:26,640 --> 00:53:31,560 Speaker 1: to perform, and being a club that hosted American gis, 741 00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:36,239 Speaker 1: the club was segregated. It had been organized in such 742 00:53:36,280 --> 00:53:39,040 Speaker 1: a way that black and white gis would use the 743 00:53:39,040 --> 00:53:43,000 Speaker 1: club at different times. And so Josephine Baker said, fuck 744 00:53:43,120 --> 00:53:45,880 Speaker 1: this for a game of soldiers and straight up refused 745 00:53:45,880 --> 00:53:50,680 Speaker 1: to perform to a segregated crowd. She's like, how are 746 00:53:50,719 --> 00:53:54,719 Speaker 1: you going to fight a racist regime if you're out 747 00:53:54,760 --> 00:53:59,520 Speaker 1: here being racist yourselves. You know, bear in mind as 748 00:53:59,560 --> 00:54:04,840 Speaker 1: well that Josephine Baker was still in recovery. She was weak, 749 00:54:05,200 --> 00:54:09,080 Speaker 1: she had unhealed surgery scars, and she really shouldn't have 750 00:54:09,080 --> 00:54:13,880 Speaker 1: been on a stage at all. However, she said she 751 00:54:13,960 --> 00:54:22,560 Speaker 1: would only perform for an integrated audience, and she did like, 752 00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:27,839 Speaker 1: she's still recuperating, she's still healing. And she traveled and 753 00:54:27,920 --> 00:54:32,960 Speaker 1: performed for British, American and French troops all over Northern 754 00:54:33,040 --> 00:54:37,520 Speaker 1: Africa for two and a half years. And she wasn't 755 00:54:37,560 --> 00:54:41,680 Speaker 1: exactly living a high life, right. She was eating army rations. 756 00:54:41,719 --> 00:54:44,920 Speaker 1: Like one thing she brings up a lot is the 757 00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:48,640 Speaker 1: amount of tinned tuna that she consumed. I have a 758 00:54:48,640 --> 00:54:51,400 Speaker 1: feeling that tuna was just something she didn't touch. After 759 00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:53,879 Speaker 1: this time period, she was like, no, no, no, no, 760 00:54:53,960 --> 00:54:58,800 Speaker 1: I'm getting flashbacks. So she's sleeping next to her jeep 761 00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:03,160 Speaker 1: convoys at night, she's avoiding landmines and the like, and 762 00:55:03,200 --> 00:55:08,000 Speaker 1: she was performing several times a day, and she's touring 763 00:55:08,040 --> 00:55:11,040 Speaker 1: around two continents at this point. And this leads me 764 00:55:11,480 --> 00:55:16,240 Speaker 1: to one of my favorite stories about her. So one night, 765 00:55:16,560 --> 00:55:23,040 Speaker 1: she's performing for US soldiers in Algeria, right, and then 766 00:55:23,080 --> 00:55:27,719 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, German planes fly overhead and start shooting, 767 00:55:28,360 --> 00:55:30,480 Speaker 1: and the troops they all take cover like they are 768 00:55:30,560 --> 00:55:36,000 Speaker 1: hitting the deck. Meanwhile, Josephine Baker helps herself to the 769 00:55:36,040 --> 00:55:41,759 Speaker 1: buffet and it's only when the shooting gets worse that 770 00:55:41,880 --> 00:55:45,680 Speaker 1: she ends up like huddling down on the ground in 771 00:55:45,719 --> 00:55:50,040 Speaker 1: this expensive gown eating an ice cream. I like that. 772 00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:52,319 Speaker 1: She was like, I'm I'm not letting go of the 773 00:55:52,360 --> 00:55:56,799 Speaker 1: ice cream, okay. Like like she would go on to 774 00:55:56,840 --> 00:55:59,719 Speaker 1: say like about this event that it was such a 775 00:56:00,040 --> 00:56:05,120 Speaker 1: ridiculous moment because there she is and a gown on 776 00:56:05,160 --> 00:56:08,200 Speaker 1: the dirt eating an ice cream. Because she's like, if 777 00:56:08,200 --> 00:56:10,560 Speaker 1: I'm I'm going with ice cream in my mouth, like 778 00:56:10,600 --> 00:56:15,040 Speaker 1: that's happening, and I get it. I get it. So 779 00:56:16,000 --> 00:56:19,120 Speaker 1: another important thing she does is she connects with black 780 00:56:19,200 --> 00:56:23,840 Speaker 1: military personnel and she vows to return to the States 781 00:56:24,160 --> 00:56:28,799 Speaker 1: to fight racial discrimination. She's like, no, We're gonna deal 782 00:56:28,840 --> 00:56:34,680 Speaker 1: with this. Then in nineteen forty three, the Shaaldgo of 783 00:56:34,840 --> 00:56:38,799 Speaker 1: Resistance and Airport Fame awards her with the Cross of 784 00:56:38,960 --> 00:56:43,160 Speaker 1: lurin the emblem of the Free French Forces or the 785 00:56:43,160 --> 00:56:49,080 Speaker 1: Free France Forces, one of those. She ends up actually 786 00:56:49,400 --> 00:56:52,680 Speaker 1: auctioning it off, like she loved this thing. She loved 787 00:56:53,360 --> 00:56:56,919 Speaker 1: this more than her diamonds and her drools and her 788 00:56:57,080 --> 00:57:02,120 Speaker 1: diamond collars for her cheetah. Like she ended up auctioning 789 00:57:02,120 --> 00:57:05,640 Speaker 1: it off to raise money for Free France, along with 790 00:57:05,719 --> 00:57:08,239 Speaker 1: a heape ton of other like fundraising efforts for the 791 00:57:08,280 --> 00:57:12,480 Speaker 1: French resistance, and so like she's raising money for the 792 00:57:12,520 --> 00:57:16,880 Speaker 1: resistance and flogging her stuff because she's like, this is 793 00:57:16,960 --> 00:57:22,000 Speaker 1: more important, you know. And she ends up being awarded 794 00:57:22,120 --> 00:57:25,360 Speaker 1: with the honorary rank of lieutenant in the Ladies' Auxiliary 795 00:57:25,400 --> 00:57:31,600 Speaker 1: of the French Air Force. Next day happens on the 796 00:57:31,680 --> 00:57:36,160 Speaker 1: sixth of June nineteen forty four. Thank you to Maureen 797 00:57:36,280 --> 00:57:41,760 Speaker 1: Vlavin Sweeney, right, you're welcome. The liberation of powers happened 798 00:57:41,800 --> 00:57:44,640 Speaker 1: between like the nineteenth and twenty fifth of August and 799 00:57:44,760 --> 00:57:49,440 Speaker 1: nineteen forty four. And after this, she returns to her 800 00:57:49,480 --> 00:57:54,320 Speaker 1: beloved Paris in her French military uniform and she takes 801 00:57:54,360 --> 00:57:58,600 Speaker 1: part in a parade and everyone adores her. She is 802 00:57:58,680 --> 00:58:01,840 Speaker 1: celebrated by the French people and they're like chucking flowers 803 00:58:01,880 --> 00:58:04,000 Speaker 1: at her feet on the rue and the boulevard and 804 00:58:04,040 --> 00:58:09,600 Speaker 1: the blast like they're just doing it. Now. One thing 805 00:58:10,640 --> 00:58:14,120 Speaker 1: is weird about this, right, So this parade that Charldogall 806 00:58:14,240 --> 00:58:17,280 Speaker 1: that he has go through France, right that go through Paris, 807 00:58:18,400 --> 00:58:23,280 Speaker 1: and he has soldiers march like what he does, it's 808 00:58:23,360 --> 00:58:26,480 Speaker 1: he removes like a lot of the African forces, a 809 00:58:26,520 --> 00:58:32,000 Speaker 1: lot of the colonial forces. He removes like the darker 810 00:58:32,120 --> 00:58:37,280 Speaker 1: skinned soldiers and replaces them with white soldiers from other 811 00:58:37,480 --> 00:58:41,400 Speaker 1: areas or lighter skinned even And it's a thing that 812 00:58:41,480 --> 00:58:45,480 Speaker 1: Charles Deogauld does. And I don't like that, and I 813 00:58:45,640 --> 00:58:50,440 Speaker 1: thought it was Welco mentioned it. Anyway, Josephine Baker doesn't 814 00:58:50,480 --> 00:58:53,840 Speaker 1: have time to like revel in this because she becomes 815 00:58:53,920 --> 00:58:57,560 Speaker 1: acutely aware of the substandard living situations of her navels, 816 00:58:57,920 --> 00:59:02,720 Speaker 1: who are too poor, weak, infirm, or elderly to evacuate 817 00:59:02,800 --> 00:59:07,040 Speaker 1: the Nazi occupation, and so she auctions off a chunk 818 00:59:07,120 --> 00:59:11,160 Speaker 1: more of her finery and jills to provide necessities for 819 00:59:11,280 --> 00:59:16,640 Speaker 1: those who needed it. She also discovered that Nazis had 820 00:59:16,680 --> 00:59:21,560 Speaker 1: been staying in her home, Maison Labourshin, and she was 821 00:59:21,800 --> 00:59:26,600 Speaker 1: pissed about that, but she had a plan to right 822 00:59:26,680 --> 00:59:31,440 Speaker 1: wrongs and fight injustice, which will be coming up in 823 00:59:31,480 --> 00:59:35,080 Speaker 1: the next episode. Because this woman did so much, I 824 00:59:35,120 --> 00:59:37,400 Speaker 1: couldn't fit it into one. I did fit it into 825 00:59:37,400 --> 00:59:40,000 Speaker 1: one at one point, but I was literally bullet pointing 826 00:59:40,040 --> 00:59:45,200 Speaker 1: stuff at one point, like we're gonna do pat Toois 827 00:59:45,800 --> 00:59:48,959 Speaker 1: of the Josephine Beaker story. That was a really bad 828 00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:53,400 Speaker 1: French accent. But if you liked the actual telling of 829 00:59:53,400 --> 00:59:55,640 Speaker 1: the story that you can hear the French of, or 830 00:59:55,640 --> 00:59:59,919 Speaker 1: the English of, or me speaking shit. It's clearly late. 831 01:00:00,880 --> 01:00:03,280 Speaker 1: So if you liked that, please writ in review five stars. 832 01:00:03,360 --> 01:00:05,680 Speaker 1: If you don't have anything nice to say, you can 833 01:00:05,760 --> 01:00:08,160 Speaker 1: just shut the fuck up. I'm in a mid now, 834 01:00:08,200 --> 01:00:13,000 Speaker 1: aren't I. I'm so fueled by it. And yeah, that 835 01:00:13,120 --> 01:00:16,640 Speaker 1: is That is the second part of Josephine's Baker's story. 836 01:00:17,840 --> 01:00:24,120 Speaker 1: And yeah, I guess it's as recommendation time. So for listening, 837 01:00:24,680 --> 01:00:29,000 Speaker 1: I am putting Danny Padilla's music Kiss Like Your Sorry, 838 01:00:29,040 --> 01:00:31,040 Speaker 1: Kiss Me like You're Sorry. It's in the link, It's 839 01:00:31,040 --> 01:00:33,120 Speaker 1: in the description down below. Listen to it. It's really 840 01:00:33,160 --> 01:00:36,640 Speaker 1: really good. If you haven't bought your dig out to 841 01:00:36,720 --> 01:00:39,040 Speaker 1: my live show. Buy your ticket to my live show. 842 01:00:39,080 --> 01:00:41,120 Speaker 1: What are you waiting for? Come to London. It'll be 843 01:00:41,160 --> 01:00:44,520 Speaker 1: a great time. It's in November. It's gonna be fun. 844 01:00:44,960 --> 01:00:47,200 Speaker 1: It's the only London show I think I've got for 845 01:00:47,200 --> 01:00:51,720 Speaker 1: the next two years. More to information coming soon. That's 846 01:00:51,760 --> 01:00:56,200 Speaker 1: coming out soon. So yes, listening Danny Padilla, kiss like 847 01:00:56,200 --> 01:00:59,400 Speaker 1: you're sorry, Kiss me like you're sorry. Danny, don't kiss 848 01:00:59,400 --> 01:01:02,920 Speaker 1: me like you're sorry. I don't want to kiss you. 849 01:01:02,920 --> 01:01:07,040 Speaker 1: No vents, Danny, you are a lovely man who doesn't 850 01:01:07,040 --> 01:01:11,040 Speaker 1: listen to this podcast like it sounds weird. Danny doesn't 851 01:01:11,040 --> 01:01:13,240 Speaker 1: want to kiss me either. By the way, Danny is 852 01:01:13,360 --> 01:01:18,520 Speaker 1: very happy with his amazing girlfriend, who is so fucking cool. 853 01:01:18,560 --> 01:01:20,480 Speaker 1: By the way, anyway, that's never hear a Norther there. 854 01:01:21,200 --> 01:01:23,880 Speaker 1: Listen to Danny's song stream it. It's really good. Listen 855 01:01:23,920 --> 01:01:26,080 Speaker 1: to it all the way through. Okay, he deserves this. 856 01:01:26,680 --> 01:01:28,360 Speaker 1: It's a good song and it's a little ear warm 857 01:01:28,520 --> 01:01:31,320 Speaker 1: for me and I think it's perfect sort of autumn music. 858 01:01:31,640 --> 01:01:33,920 Speaker 1: It is like fall. Sorry for those of you on 859 01:01:33,920 --> 01:01:37,000 Speaker 1: the other side of the pond, it's also fall music 860 01:01:38,080 --> 01:01:42,280 Speaker 1: for watching you know what, y'all should watch Sinners, Go 861 01:01:42,360 --> 01:01:47,920 Speaker 1: watch sinners. That's my choice for today and for reading. 862 01:01:48,480 --> 01:01:51,080 Speaker 1: You know what you should read Queen of the Skies 863 01:01:51,320 --> 01:01:54,960 Speaker 1: by Beth Pill and gig Coleman. Yes, I did talk 864 01:01:55,000 --> 01:01:57,600 Speaker 1: about Bessie Coleman before, and I got a copy of 865 01:01:57,640 --> 01:02:01,240 Speaker 1: the book from my lovely friend Sahar. I'm so excited. 866 01:02:01,680 --> 01:02:05,160 Speaker 1: But yes, those are your recommendations for this week. I 867 01:02:05,280 --> 01:02:09,720 Speaker 1: love you, have a great time. Adios au revoir vetaz 868 01:02:09,960 --> 01:02:11,600 Speaker 1: my friends, Bye bye,