Josephine Baker

Josephine Baker

Born: June 3, 1906
Died: April 12, 1975
in St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald, naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French entertainer, activist, and French Resistance agent. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted France. During her early career she was renowned as a dancer, and 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 in Paris. Her costume, consisting of only a girdle of artificial bananas, became her most iconic image and a symbol of the Jazz Age and the 1920s.

Movies for Josephine Baker...

Title: Le Siècle des icônes
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: December 27, 2022
Type: TV
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Madness Remixed
Title: Madness Remixed
Character: (archive footage)
Released: June 9, 2021
Type: Movie
Madness Remixed explores the image of exoticism portrayed by Josephine Baker in a 1926 performance entitled The Madness of the Day in which Baker wore the infamous skirt, made of only bananas, that played into stereotypes of Black women as hyper-sexualised. Madness Remixed questions the conditions under which the skirt should be revived, considering that Beyonce, Miley Cyrus, and Diana Ross have all worn the same skirt more recently. 16mm film coated with latex and glitter – a fetishised medium in itself – is data-moshed with Baker in Siren of the Tropics (1927).
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Josephine Baker, la fleur au fusil
Title: Josephine Baker, la fleur au fusil
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: March 8, 2021
Type: Movie
Josephine Baker, heedless of danger - The extraordinary destiny of Josephine Baker. From her native Missouri to Paris, the artist succeeded in making her name as the queen of music hall. But Josephine Baker was also a fighter, with the French Resistance during the Second World War, and against racism.
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Modeles Noirs, Regards Blancs
Title: Modeles Noirs, Regards Blancs
Character: Self
Released: October 14, 2020
Type: Movie
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Josephine Baker: The Story of an Awakening
Title: Josephine Baker: The Story of an Awakening
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: November 22, 2018
Type: Movie
How did a poor little black girl from Missouri become the Queen of Paris, before joining the French Resistance and finally creating her dream family “The Rainbow Tribe”, adopting twelve children from four corners of the world? This is the fabulous story of the first black superstar, Josephine Baker.
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Do I Look Like a Lady? (Comedians and Singers)
Title: Do I Look Like a Lady? (Comedians and Singers)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: October 16, 2016
Type: Movie
Do I Look Like a Lady? (Comedians and Singers) presents a dynamic checkerboard of moving image footage featuring African-American actors and singers from across the 20th century: from Jackie “Moms” Mabley to Eartha Kitt, Whoopi Goldberg, Whitney Houston, and several others. The video focuses on their individual voices as they express heartbreaking roles, pointed lyrics, sharp jokes, and strong statements of resistance to the dominant culture. The work is a powerful, and often riotous, reflection on the roles of black women in the United States.
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Paris: The Luminous Years
Title: Paris: The Luminous Years
Released: December 14, 2010
Type: Movie
A storm of Modernism swept through the art worlds of the West in the early decades of the twentieth century, uprooting centuries of tradition. The epicenter of this storm was Paris, France. For an incandescent moment from 1905 to 1930, Paris was the magnetic center for radical innovation and experiment, and the Mecca for creative talents who would change the course of art throughout the Western world.
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Title: Legends
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: November 17, 2006
Type: TV
The story of the big names that have shaped the musical genres, plus an occasional stopgap for the new rock 'n' roll - comedy.
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Jornal Português (1938-1951)
Title: Jornal Português (1938-1951)
Character: Herself (archive footage)
Released: December 12, 2005
Type: Movie
The newsreel series Jornal Português (1938-1951) was produced for the Secretariat of National Propaganda (SPN/SNI) by the "Portuguese Newsreel Society" (SPAC), under the technical supervision of António Lopes Ribeiro. It was conceived and employed as part of the propaganda machinery of Salazar's regime. Screened in cinema theatres prior to the main feature film, each issue of Jornal had approximately ten minutes in length and covered a variety of official government acts, national political news, major sports events and other assorted social and cultural affairs. Jornal Português is not only an indispensable document for the history of Estado Novo's propaganda, but also an unparalleled audiovisual archive of 1940s Portugal.
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Joséphine Baker en couleur
Title: Joséphine Baker en couleur
Character: Herself
Released: April 23, 2005
Type: Movie
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Striptease: The Greatest Exotic Dancers of All Time
Title: Striptease: The Greatest Exotic Dancers of All Time
Character: Herself (archive footage)
Released: November 9, 2004
Type: Movie
Performances of the greatest exotic dancers are collected here for the first time, from Little Egypt in 1893 to the great striptease headliners of the golden age of Burlesque.
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It's Black Entertainment
Title: It's Black Entertainment
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: February 8, 2002
Type: Movie
A star-studded tribute (from the creators of That's Entertainment) to the contributions of Afro-Americans in film over the last century. Vanessa Williams traces the struggles and triumphs of the superstars of music and film. Among the many artists featured are: Whitney Houston, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr., Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Cab Calloway, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Ella Fitzgerald, and Little Richard, Also included are today's contemporary superstars: Snoop Dogg, Ice T, Quincy Jones, Spike Lee, Russell Simmons, and many, more! 80 minutes plus DVD bonus features.
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Intimate Portrait: Josephine Baker
Title: Intimate Portrait: Josephine Baker
Character: Herself (archival footage)
Released: July 20, 1999
Type: Movie
From world-renowned performer of the Jazz Age, to WWII spy, to civil rights activist – a look into the iconic life and legacy of Josephine Baker, narrated by Arsenio Hall, including rare archive footage, and interviews with Debbie Allen, Lynn Whitfield (who portrayed Baker in The Josephine Baker Story), and two of Baker’s sons.
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Hitler's Forgotten Victims
Title: Hitler's Forgotten Victims
Character: Self (achive footage)
Released: October 2, 1997
Type: Movie
The story of black and mixed race people in Nazi Germany who were sterilised, experimented upon, tortured and exterminated in the Nazi concentration camps. It also explores the history of German racism and examines the treatment of Black prisoners-of-war. The film uses interviews with survivors and their families as well as archival material to document the Black German Holocaust experience.
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Title: Intimate Portrait
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: November 14, 1993
Type: TV
Intimate Portrait is a biographical television series on the Lifetime Television cable network focusing on different celebrities, which includes interviews with each subject. Among the people profiled were Grace Kelly, Natalie Wood, Carly Simon, Jackie Kennedy, Katharine Hepburn, Carol Burnett, Tanya Tucker, and Marla Maples.
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Chasing a Rainbow: The Life of Josephine Baker
Title: Chasing a Rainbow: The Life of Josephine Baker
Character: Self (Archival Footage)
Released: March 24, 1987
Type: Movie
The story of Josephine Baker takes us on a fascinating tour of 20th-century race relations on both sides of the Atlantic, yet it leads to no conclusion, and black girls in search of a role-model tend to look elsewhere. Part of her appeal is her startlingly unique appearance. Simply nobody has ever looked or acted like her. She fits no black stereotype. Nor does she look like any recognizable strain of Afro-American. I'd always heard she was half-white, but it seems that her paternity is unknown, and her contradictory claims on the subject don't do much to enlighten us. (We are tempted to imagine quite an exotic mix.) Her origins in sharply-segregated St. Louis, where she is said to have witnessed a lynching, do not seem to have left her embittered. Perhaps she had too much to give. There is a special innocence about that smile, and when she performs her cross-eyed gag, we are lifted into a strange pixie-world, all its own.
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Zelig
Title: Zelig
Character: Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Released: July 15, 1983
Type: Movie
Fictional documentary about the life of human chameleon Leonard Zelig, a man who becomes a celebrity in the 1920s due to his ability to look and act like whoever is around him. Clever editing places Zelig in real newsreel footage of Woodrow Wilson, Babe Ruth, and others.
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Black Shadows on a Silver Screen
Title: Black Shadows on a Silver Screen
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: April 19, 1975
Type: Movie
Ossie Davis narrates a history of "race films," films made before 1950 which catered to a primarily black audience.
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Title: Système 2
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 19, 1975
Type: TV
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Title: Am laufenden Band
Character: Self - Guest
Released: April 27, 1974
Type: TV
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Title: Acht nach 8
Character: Self
Released: January 20, 1973
Type: TV
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Title: Midi trente
Character: Self
Released: March 6, 1972
Type: TV
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Title: Le Grand Échiquier
Character: Self
Released: January 12, 1972
Type: TV
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Title: Erkennen Sie die Melodie?
Character: Self
Released: May 23, 1970
Type: TV
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Title: Night-Club
Character: self
Released: September 13, 1968
Type: TV
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Title: Meine Melodie
Character: Self
Released: May 24, 1965
Type: TV
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Title: Hotel Victoria
Character: Self
Released: March 12, 1961
Type: TV
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Title: Discorama
Character: Self
Released: February 4, 1959
Type: TV
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Variety carousel
Title: Variety carousel
Released: February 8, 1955
Type: Movie
A painter gives his daughter a television set for her 18th birthday. On the evening of the party, the family sits in the living room and watches a series of variety shows taken from the sets of theatrical performances and various films recited by the famous Totò,
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Ten on Every Finger
Title: Ten on Every Finger
Character: Sängerin
Released: October 27, 1954
Type: Movie
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The French Way
Title: The French Way
Character: Zazu Clarion
Released: June 27, 1945
Type: Movie
Cabaret star Zazu intervenes when young lovers are sundered by their parents' feud.
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Moulin Rouge
Title: Moulin Rouge
Character: Princess Tam-Tam
Released: December 8, 1940
Type: Movie
A poor wretch, who has just been hired as a music-hall artist, in spite of himself becomes the tenant of a particular Parisian building.
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Princess Tam Tam
Title: Princess Tam Tam
Character: Alwina
Released: November 2, 1935
Type: Movie
A French novelist passes off an African shepherdess as a princess.
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Zouzou
Title: Zouzou
Character: Zouzou
Released: December 21, 1934
Type: Movie
Zou Zou tries to help her childhood friend prove his innocence after he's accused of murder.
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The Fireman of the Folies-Bergere
Title: The Fireman of the Folies-Bergere
Released: March 1, 1928
Type: Movie
After a lengthy period of watching the dancers at the Folies Bergères, a fireman stops in for a drink. As he becomes intoxicated, his thoughts return to the dancers, and he begins to see images of nude dancers all around him. Whether he goes into the subway, rides on a streetcar, or returns to the fire station, he continues to see the same imaginary sights.
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Siren of the Tropics
Title: Siren of the Tropics
Character: Papitou
Released: December 30, 1927
Type: Movie
Marquis Sévéro, a rich, lazy Parisian, wants to divorce his wife so that he can marry his own goddaughter Denise. But Denise herself loves André Berval, an engineer employed by the marquis. Filled with jealousy, the marquis sends André to the Antilles, to prospect some land he has just acquired. He promises André that he can marry Denise if he is successful in the tropics, but he then writes to Alvarez, his manager at the site, asking him to prevent André from ever returning to France. The brutal Alvarez forms an instant hatred for André when the engineer breaks up Alvarez's attempt to rape Papitou, a beautiful native girl. Papitou becomes devoted to André, and protects him against Alvarez's schemes. But she faces a crisis herself when she learns that André plans to marry Denise.
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Parisian Pleasures
Title: Parisian Pleasures
Character: Herself
Released: November 29, 1927
Type: Movie
Gabrielle (Helene Hallier), an ambitious but innocent would-be young chorine, trumps a music hall publicity stunt to become the new Parisian nightclub Cinderella. But this lighter-than-champagne-bubbles story is only a pretext for LA REVUE DES REVUES's white-hot, non-stop procession of outrageously and scantily attired exotic dancers, showgirls, and acrobats.
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La folie du jour
Title: La folie du jour
Released: February 25, 1927
Type: Movie
This is a Folies Bergère show with Josephine Baker in the spotlight.
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Die Frauen von Folies Bergères
Title: Die Frauen von Folies Bergères
Released: February 1, 1927
Type: Movie
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Ways to Strength and Beauty
Title: Ways to Strength and Beauty
Released: March 16, 1925
Type: Movie
The perfect body as an object of cult worship. Based on the mass sports and body worship movement of the 1920s, the film propagates physical training and shows in stylized documentary scenes aspects of physical hygiene, gymnastics, sports and dancing as well as scenes in which supposed sportsmen of antiquity pose naked.
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Palace Music Hall
Title: Palace Music Hall
Released: January 1, 1925
Type: Movie