- What if I told you
your favorite celebrity was also a secret agent
for the government? I mean, not only that,
they single handedly saved thousands of people from certain death. I know, I know, sounds like
something out of a movie, but it really did happen. This person went from being impoverished, abused, and neglected to
an international superstar, a respected government spy,
and a civil rights icon. Today, we'll be talking about the one and only Josephine Baker. (people applauding) Yeah, I mean, her story has
so many twists and turns, we literally could not
keep this to one episode. I mean, it's outta control. (upbeat music) Hi friends, I hope you're
having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian,
and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, "Dark History." I'm handsy today. If you're new here, hi. Here, we believe history
does not have to be boring. I mean, yeah, it might be tragic, it might be sometimes happy, but either way, it's our dark history. So all you have to do is sit back, relax, and let's talk about that hot,
juicy history goss, shall we? Well, first, if you're
watching this over on YouTube, I need to acknowledge Joan, Joan and Paul are both dressed
up like Ms. Josephine Baker. But I got a phone call from Joan's people because she wants more airtime. I know, I know, like whatever. So she's moved, and then
Paul's just happy to be here. (skeleton rustling) I mean, he was in the ground, so, it's better than that. Okay, I have a confession, I have an obsession with female spies. I think it stems from, you know, being, I was a lover of like
Carmen San Diego growing up, or like Harriet the Spy. I think maybe that's where it comes from. Or even maybe my favorite
horizontal collaborator, you know, Coco Chanel. But I feel like all of
these female spy stories are just like, they're so juicy, right? Especially because no one
suspected women of being spies. I mean, they're so underestimated, so they could get away with
like all kinds of stuff. Plus, we're pretty sneaky,
I think we'd be great spies. Any hoo, so while I'm down
this like spy rabbit hole, I kept noticing this
name that kept coming up over and over again. And if you're familiar with
like makeup and beauty, you've heard this name a million times. She was a famous cabaret dancer, who basically became like an
overnight celebrity sensation for her trailblazing onstage personality. And she was so well connected
that she was eventually tapped to become a secret agent. Yeah, her name was Josephine Baker. Again, this woman had lived
so many different lives, that I kept forgetting that I was reading about the same person. She was a comedian, a
dancer, an it girl, a spy, an activist, and an all around icon. So, let me stop rambling and
just tell you about Ms. Baker. Josephine Baker was born
Frida Josephine McDonald on June 3rd, 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri. Her mother, Carrie McDonald,
was a washer woman, which means like she washed
clothes for a living. And Carrie raised Josephine,
along with her brother, as a single mother. She struggled to find work, I mean, to just be a mom running the household and earning enough money to
live and take care of everyone. So when Josephine was like just a baby, her mother ended up remarrying
and had two more kids. But sadly, it didn't work out like with her second husband either. Even at a young age, I mean, Josephine, she knew that her mom was heartbroken over the marriage not working out. At this point, ger mother had four kids to take care of on her own, and she never could depend on
anyone to help her pay rent, feed the kids, I mean, anything. And because of this, Josephine's
family had to move around a lot to wherever her mom could find work. I think it's safe to say that Josephine had a bit of a rocky relationship
with her mother, I guess. It was said that Josephine
looked just like her father, which was like really
triggering for her mom, Carrie. So she would see Josephine
and like think of her ex, and she would take out
her frustrations out on like Josephine, just
saying really horrible things to her, like she hated her or
that she wished she was dead. I know, her mom, just a very nasty woman. Things weren't much better
for Josephine at school. I mean, I guess she only had
one outfit to wear every day. But like literally though,
she only had one outfit. So, poor thing, she had
to wear this one outfit. And like, you think kids are nice? LOL, you know? No, they're gonna remind
her that she has one outfit. Like a lot of the little girls, Josephine had dreams of
being a princess one day. She used to have like this fantasy where she transformed into Cinderella, and like that same dress
that she would wear every day would turn into like
this gorgeous ballgown. She had a very active
imagination when she was a kid, and she was a natural performer. Josephine, she loved to
sing and dance, I guess. Like, she would put on little shows for the neighborhood kids where
she would sing and like act, and this was her happy place. But at school, things were different. I mean, the kids were mean, of course. I mean, they would pick on Josephine and she would have to endure
this bullying for years. I guess, one day she had
this light bulb moment and this moment would like
shape her entire life. As the kids were making fun of her, she decided to just get in on the joke. So Josephine, she would
start making goofy faces or like sticking out her
tongue, crossing her eyes, just doing anything to get the
kids to crack up, to laugh. And it worked, because now the bullies who were laughing at Josephine were now laughing with Josephine. You see, this is what she like, she reclaimed her presence in the room. Now, she became like the class
clown from that moment on. I mean, at least they weren't
laughing at her, you know? But Josephine's childhood
would come to a halt pretty quickly on one Sunday afternoon. I guess on this day, she
was walking home from church and she accidentally
stepped on a rusty nail that had been on the road. Now, she had been barefoot
when she was walking, so when she stepped on that nail, it just like went right
into her heel, ugh. And pretty soon after, her
foot became super infected and her leg like swelled
up to an alarming size. So naturally, Josephine had
to be taken to the hospital. And then when she got there,
I guess this bozo doctor like looked at her leg and
told her, "Look, Josephine, we have to amputate your leg
in order to save your life." And I call him a bozo because, well, hold on, I'm
getting ahead of myself... So if the doctor says they
have to amputate your leg, you're gonna be like,
oh my god, no, right? So Josephine understandably
flips out. She's like, "No." If they took her leg, she thought she'd never
be able to dance again. So this is why I call him a bozo doctor, because the doctor decides
to like drain the wound first and hold off on the amputation. And I guess, just like draining the wound made Josephine feel a lot better. But to everyone's surprise,
it ended up working and she didn't need an amputation. So it's like maybe that
should have been option one, versus like you need an amputation, but we're not here about that, I guess. It was just something I got hung up on for a hot second. So her leg is saved, thank
God, and after a few days she was able to return home to her family. But little did Josephine
know that this injury, it would become like the
abrupt ending to her childhood. (bright music) Hey, you can't have the
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code, DARKHISTORY, at signup, you'll get your first visit for only $5. A big thank you to Apostrophe for sponsoring today's episode. Now, let's get back to today's story. (bright music) As soon as her leg had fully healed, Josephine's mom told her
that she needed to pitch in to like help bring in some
money for the household. So at seven years old,
Josephine started going door to door in different neighborhoods, taking any kind of job that she could get. She mostly swept steps or like
cleaned snow from sidewalks. And then Josephine met a widow
and her name was Ms. Kaiser. So I guess, Ms. Kaiser,
she couldn't pay Josephine like a big salary or
anything, so she ended up just hiring her to do like
household cleaning work in exchange for clothes and food. And to Josephine, this was
like a great trade off. Clothes and food for a
little bit of cleaning, hell yeah, I'll do it. Now, at first, Ms. Kaiser was really, she was super nice to Josephine and kind. Like she bought her some new
dresses and some new shoes. She fed her, she was just nice. And for Josephine, it was just great, but then Ms. Kaiser started
showing her true colors. I guess after some time, she
started to treat Josephine like she was her slave. She would verbally and
physically abuse her, and give Josephine way more work than she was able to handle. And at the time, there was
a law in Missouri that said even if kids work, they
still had to go to school. So Josephine would get up at 5:00 a.m., eat her breakfast of cold potatoes, do some manual labor for
a few hours before school, and then she would have to walk a couple of miles to go to school. Then after school, she'd
walk her back to Ms. Kaiser's and go right back to work. She would like prepare
dinner, wash dishes, you know, clean, do everything. Then Ms. Kaiser would
give Josephine her dinner, which was like cold
cornbread and molasses. It was a pretty miserable situation. But one of the only things I
guess that made it a little bit more bearable for
Josephine were the animals. Josephine loved animals, and
Ms. Kaiser, she had dogs, chickens, and I guess some other animals like roaming around on the property. But Josephine's favorite was this rooster who she named Tiny Tim. (rooster croaking) So Josephine at times
would even share her dinner with this rooster, Tiny Tim. And you know, as time goes
by tiny, Tim was starting to get a little, a little plump, you know? 'Cause Josephine was feeding Tiny Tim all his cornbread and stuff. So when Ms. Kaiser sees, you know, those juicy chicken thighs, (Bailey slurping) she's like, what's that, chicken? Because she's an awful bitch, she ordered Josephine to kill Tiny Tim so she could eat him for dinner. It's not funny, it's just
like really awkward, right? That would suck. Yeah, and poor Josephine. I
mean, she didn't have a choice. So she grabbed a pair of scissors, got the, you know, (rooster croaking), and then prepared him for dinner. I mean, pretty traumatizing. And at this point, I mean,
Josephine just wanted to get away from Ms. Kaiser, but
she had nowhere to go. Joan, how would you feel
if I ate you for dinner? Would you be mad? That's why you stay so thin,
she doesn't wanna be a target. (Joan squawking) As the months went on,
Josephine was not doing well. I mean, she had been working
and worked to the bone. She was malnourished, she was exhausted, and she was just
terrified all of the time. One day Josephine was boiling water and she forgot to watch the kettle, right? So like, accidents happen, water boiled over the
top, gets everywhere. Well, Ms. Kaiser, when she
saw that this had happened, she was pissed and she ends
up grabbing Josephine's hand and she plunged it into the boiling water. What? Yeah, she did. She burned her skin
almost all the way off, like to the bone. And that might be dramatic, but like really, really bad
though, is what I'm saying. I would say it's giving Gypsy Rose's mom, but I think that is worse
than Gypsy Rose's mom. Well, you know? But it's giving, hmm? Anyway, so this happens to
poor Josephine and she ends up waking up like at a
hospital, just traumatized. So her mom, Josephine's mom, she's like, I guess you could stay at
home for a little while. I'm laughing because it's
her mom, so you would hope, but her mom's kind of a bitch. So her mom lets Josephine stay at home, but she's like, you need
to like go back to work and start paying for shit
around here, you know? You can't just like sit
here and be a freeloader. So, not long after, Josephine,
she ends up getting a job with another family called the Masons. The Masons end up giving
Josephine like room and board for her cleaning services. And by all accounts, the
Masons treated Josephine really kindly, allegedly, I don't know, I wasn't there, you know? But it was said that they
gave her like a real bed and they gave her good food. They let her play with neighborhood kids, and they just treated her like a human. Who would've thought, you know? They even bought her clothes, ah. Josephine said that she was feeling a little bit more comfortable
there, and she had fun. Like there in the basement, she
set up like a little theater where she would have performances with the neighborhood children and it was fun, it was a lot of fun. As a kid, did you ever do performances? I remember I used to listen to the goof, what is it, "Goofy Movie?" Anyways, that soundtrack was a bop. So I used to love the
"Goofy Movie" soundtrack and I would put on like
little performances alone, I didn't wanna perform in
front of anybody, in my room. And it was just the best. Kids, huh? Being fun. Anyways, now I'm doing it now here, which is kind of interesting, without the "Goofy Movie" soundtrack. I'm getting off track here, Bailey. Okay, but she would put
on full on performances. They would dress up in like Ms. Mason's old clothes or costumes. This is when she was like
really having fun and being, yeah, you know, creative theater, fun. But then something
weird started happening. So every night, Josephine was getting like this really odd feeling. She would say that she
felt like there was a ghost who was haunting her because at night, she would hear like
scary, heavy breathing, but she would never see anybody. But then one night, she
heard the breathing again and she felt something
like climbing into her bed. And this night specifically, she screamed for Ms. Mason, you know? So when Ms. Mason comes
into Josephine's room, turns on the light, I don't
know if they have a light, but she, you know, reveals, she discovers that
Josephine hadn't been lying. I mean, there was something visiting her every single night in her room. And no, it wasn't a
ghost, it was Mr. Mason. I know, Ms. Mason was obviously horrified. And naturally you're like, oh god, good, I hope she like turned in her husband and took care of the kids, whatever. Wishful thinking, none of that happened. The next morning, she
instead fired Josephine. So, safe to say Josephine was upset. I mean, she's over here thinking that she had done something wrong. You know, she's the one that got fired. So while she was collecting
some of the clothes Ms. Mason gave her, she
even said to herself, quote, "Somewhere deep inside
me, I vowed that somehow I would grow up to be a famous star with beautiful flowing gowns," end quote. Well, by the time
Josephine left the Masons, she wasn't even eight years old. Which, bro, I was like, what, what, what? She's only eight, she's only eight and she's already seen some shit, okay? Well, at this point, Josephine
decided that she would rather do like way more difficult jobs than deal with another person being abusive towards her
in their home, you know? So she once again found jobs, she polished floors, she
babysat, she ran errands, and she shoveled snow, anything
she could to help her family and still be able to save
like a little bit for herself, again, at eight years old. At eight, I was like picking my nose and not smiling in Sears
family portraits, you know? Good for her. I mean, every time Josephine
seemed to get a little ahead, it kind of seemed like something bad in her life would happen. In 1917, there was a horrific
attack on the boxcar town Josephine and her family lived in. Boxcar towns are exactly
what they sound like, people would set up whole communities and live inside railroad box cars. Kind of like tiny homes, before tiny homes, I guess. The boxcar town that Josephine
lived in got attacked. These towns were mostly
made up of Black residents, and racial tensions were high due to a union strike in the area. So it was almost like overnight, families in this community
were now without homes. Josephine and her family were forced to move into crowded tenement buildings. And by this point, all of
Josephine's siblings were working to help pay rent and
get food on the table, and they would spend
just years scraping by. But time goes on and Josephine,
she was freaking done. She was like, I've been working my ass off since I was literally seven, okay? She was tired of being
trapped in this sick cycle that she felt like she
could not get out of. So she decided to look for a job that would take her out
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number one meal kit. (bright music) Josephine ended up at a place called the Old Chauffeur's
Club in St. Louis, which was like a cool hangout club from musicians in the city, you know? It was so different from
any other job she had, and she absolutely loved it. And even though it was hard
work, she was happy to do it. She met a lot of interesting people while she was working there, including a steel worker named Willie. I know, I was like Steamboat
Willie, not the same thing. Like, Tiny Tim. I mean,
whoa, this story has it all. But Josephine was smitten
right from the jump, and like not long after these two met, they decided to get married. Aw, I know, the only problem
was that Willie was 25 and Josephine was 13. So, you know? It was against the law for
them to get married, okay? But Josephine and Willie,
they still exchanged vows on December 11th, 1919,
there's that year again. But look, nothing was official, like there was no paperwork or anything. I think it was more of like a
spiritual ceremony, you know? They do that here in LA and you're like, all right, whatever. But married life, it didn't
last long for Josephine. She and Willie had financial troubles, and there was even physical violence that happened between the two of them. After one violent fight,
Willie walked out on Josephine and like she never saw him again. And that night, she vowed, you know what, I'm gonna get
the hell out of St. Louis. Like, there is nothing here for me. She knew exactly how she was gonna do it. So Josephine and her
friends sometimes would go and see this musical
variety group in town, and they were called the Dixie Steppers. And she like was obsessed
with them, and like this show. She learned every word of
dialogue and like every step of the dance and that
the chorus girls did. So she would joke around with
her friends, saying like, "What if I asked the director for a job?" "Like wouldn't that be crazy? Oh my god." And like no one took her seriously, because they thought she was joking. But you know what, she wasn't joking, and she was like, I'm gonna
do it, I'm just gonna ask. So after one of the shows, Josephine, she waited by the stage door. And she lied to security, she's like, "oh my god, I have a job
interview, it's crazy, it's over there with that guy," and I guess he just let her in. And that's how Josephine found herself in front of the director
of the Dixie Steppers. And she goes to them and she
just begs him for an audition. I guess at first, he was
just trying to ignore her, but Josephine was persistent. She showed him some of the
moves, some of her own moves, and it turned out he was like, ah, she's kind of freaking talented. She had this hypnotizing presence, and this guy decided to give her a chance. So Josephine, like talk
about luck right here, she was hired to join the
Dixie Stepper Chorus Girls the very next day. But it turns out getting the job would be the least of
Josephine's problems. Josephine, she hadn't had
any formal dance training. I mean, she'd been like dancing for her friends and stuff, you know? But it was clear, it was pretty obvious that like she had potential. Her style, different, you know? Her movements were almost
uncontrolled and experimental. And right away, you know,
the other girls noticed this. And because she's different
and doing things her own way, they start, you know, bullying her and making her feel unwelcome. I mean to them, she was weird
because she was untrained and she was just doing her own thing. And a lot of them were
just questioning like, why the hell did the
director even hire her? Like, what is this mess?
Just being bitches. Well, Josephine, it was getting to her. She was kind of expecting
to be fired, but instead, the director promoted her
to one of the starring roles in their new show, "Romeo and Juliet." So Josephine was going to play Cupid, and this would involve her
being strung up from the ceiling with like a bow and arrow, boop. And I mean Josephine's
like, all right, I'll do it. But just like when she was
dancing with the chorus girls, she stuck out like a sore thumb. She was flailing her way
through the performance, and not at all performing the
part like she was supposed to. And at first the director
was pretty pissed off, but that's when he realized, the audience, they were losing their shit. They were just cracking up
at Josephine's performance. They found her to be goofy,
but it was like a breath of fresh air, it was just different. Again, once Josephine
got off of that stage, she's like, I'm fucking fired. But instead, she was told to
keep doing what she was doing. He was like, it's working,
babe, keep doing it. Show after show, she
was making the audience laugh their asses off. And this job led her to
meeting other famous singers in the area like Clara Smith. I know, Clara, who is she? I don't know. She was like one of the biggest American blues singers on the scene, okay? And she had this amazing vocal range. She actually had the nickname
Queen of the Moaners. I know, good for you, Clara. I'd like to challenge you on that one, but I'll let you have it. One time, Josephine went
to go see Clara's show. And like while she was on stage, Clara had some kind of
wardrobe malfunction. I guess she had gotten some
food stains on her costume. Well, Josephine was there
and she was able to just rush right in and she was able
to get the stains out. I mean, she had a lot
of experience cleaning, so she just was able to help. Well, Clara, she was like,
oh my god, I'm impressed. So she ends up offering
Josephine a job on the spot as her professional dresser while she performed across America. Josephine's like, oh my god, hell yes. Like this is finally my
ticket out of St. Louis. And she agreed, off she went. Now, mind you, Josephine was
only 13 at this point, okay? She's killing it, kids,
obviously they were not allowed to up and leave school. And they definitely were not
allowed to work on the road if they were underage,
but Josephine was tall, she was a little lanky, and she had a very mature,
bubbly personality. So she easily passed for someone
of an older age, you know? So I would say, I don't think she lied, it was more like, you know, she didn't tell anyone
how old she was, you know? She boarded a train out of
St. Louis and said, quote, "I'm leaving here a nobody, but someday I'm gonna be
a somebody," end quote. Good for her. (bright music) I'll tell you what, the dry
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T-H-E-O-U-A-I.com/darkhistory for 15% off. (bright music) So on the tour, Josephine
would occasionally fill in for any of like the
chorus girls who got sick. I mean, she knew the dances already. So they're like, you go. And every time she got on stage, she would completely steal the show. It was said, quote, "Josephine enjoyed making people laugh and began a clown like performance." "She acted clumsy, stuck out her tongue, and crossed her eyes while a stupid grin
spread across her face. It was kind of like when she
was getting bullied at school and she would flip the
narrative, you know? So she was the one in control. Or it's like if you kind of are raised as like the middle child or something, you kind of always had to be the loud one, the performer to get attention, you know? I'm a middle child. Outting myself, okay? The audience, they loved it. They had never seen anyone
like Josephine perform before. She's just different, she's cool. What is she doing? I don't
know, but I wanna watch. So eventually she stopped
filling in for chorus girls, and started getting leading roles herself. And Josephine always did one
of her like goofy routines, and the shows were always a hit. Josephine finally felt
like she was appreciated for like who she was. And on the road, Clara became somewhat of a mentor to Josephine. It was on the road that
Josephine was also said to be openly bisexual. But to be fair, Josephine
was only 15 years old, and Clara was a full grown adult. So I mean, yeah. So it didn't last between the two of them, but, you know, they were doing things. Not long after her
relationship with Clara, Josephine met a man named William Baker. Now, the two of them, they fell in love and they got married so quick. It was like, girl, calm
down a little bit, you know? But she loves love. Unlike her other husband, Willie 1.0, this William 2.0 had a steady job and was like very
supportive of her career. And just, you know, a good guy I guess. But sadly, again, the
marriage, it didn't last. But she did get her
iconic last name from him, and she also left that marriage
with a very clear mindset. She did not wanna end up
as a housewife, uh-uh. She was like, this is so boring, I wanna be a famous
performer, and I don't know, like that's it, point blank, period. Josephine spent the next few years singing and performing at different clubs, in different shows where
she would do, again, her signature goofy act. But, you know, after some time, she felt like she was kind
of like a broken record, doing the same thing
every night, you know? Plus at the time, if you were
performer of color in America, your career couldn't really be brought to this next level, you know? Then Josephine got the
opportunity of a lifetime. In 1925, Josephine is
now 19 years old, okay? She's already been through
a lot of shit, right? She gets offered her dream job, in Paris as a dancer. (cheerful music) In Paris, I know, what? Me, small town, like the dream. Now, naturally, Josephine is terrified. She doesn't wanna leave America, but she couldn't say
no and she took a risk and she tapped danced her
way right over to Paris. (Bailey tap dancing) That's me tap dancing. Once she got there,
Josephine said she knew she made the right decision. In Paris, everything was different. I mean, people were like
way more fashionable. They were a lot more open, accepting, they were more sexual
and just cool, you know? Plus, they were a lot more
open-minded about race. It was everything Josephine wanted. And she instantly knew she belonged. And this was like a very
glamorous time in Paris. I mean, Josephine was
performing at a famous club right down the street from Mulan Rouge. She went from performing
cutesy little flapper dances to nearly nude, completely
experimental dances. And this is where she was able
to really own her sexuality. Unlike any of her other
jobs, she was given complete creative
control by the producers. So Josephine would take the
stage in her famous costume, big earrings, long pearl necklace. She had something to cover her chest, but it looks like it was
made out of diamonds, or like, you know, shiny stuff. And then she had a short skirt that was made out of rubber bananas. If you're over on YouTube watching, you can see that we have Joan here, she's wearing the nice
Josephine inspired outfit. How do you feel Joan? (Joan squawking) Like a banana, a Chiquita banana girl? (Joan squawking) I think Paul did it better,
sorry, don't come at me, okay? But look at that hair,
girl. Look at those titties. I just wish you could dance, Paul. Her performance was called Dance Sauvage, and it was an experimental take on African dance themes and styles. She said, quote, "I came on stage and a frenzy took possession of me." Anyways, the way that she was performing was like breaking down stereotypes in a really important way. At the time, there were
hardly any performers of color from America in Paris. So people were absolutely
fascinated by her. Josephine had a great,
like a positive reception, and she really got like rave reviews. But, of course, like there's
always gonna be those critics. Lots of them would show up to
her show, just reviewing them and they would use a lot of like racially charged descriptions of her. They tried to stereotype
her and her shows, and just write off all of her success. But joke was on them, because
Josephine, she didn't give up. She was like, I'm gonna do
my thing, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, and she still drew in large audiences, I mean, celebrities in Paris
started flocking to her show. And one of the most famous
writers at the time, Ernest Hemingway, came and saw her show. And he even described Josephine as, quote, "The most sensational woman
anybody ever saw," end quote. If I were her, I'd put that on a T-shirt. I'd be like, Ernest Hemingway told me, get outta my way, the most sensational woman, thank you. So within just a few months, she was the hottest celebrity on stage. And within a year, Josephine
was a goddess in Paris society. Her name was everywhere. She had cocktails named after her, perfumes, hair products,
et cetera, et cetera. Now, her hair product actually, she had this pomade,
it was called Baker Fix and it helped women get Josephine's signature hairstyle down. And Josephine, she had a
very signature hairstyle. It was like sleek, shiny. It had this gorgeous
shine to it, slicked back. It was called the Eton Crop. I've never heard of that, but
it was called the Eton Crop. She had a few curls on her
forehead and her cheek, and they almost looked to painted on, it was really beautiful. And so she came out with this
product called Baker Fix, which was so smart, way
ahead of its time, right? Like, she knew to profit off of this, and was a bestseller for like 30 years. And Josephine, she made more
money than anything else with this one product, which is really crazy
to think about, right? But she had this look that people wanted, and nobody had seen before. And still to this day, like her hair alone is just everything. And it wasn't just beauty
products, she had a bunch of shit. Like, stores had sold
dolls that were dressed in little banana skirts. She also literally
changed fashion in Paris. Like, women would start wearing skirts just as short as she wore them on stage. Everyone wanted to be her, and everyone wanted to get with her, get next to her, be around
her, she was everything. Josephine was a lover, you could say. I mean, she had lots of different lovers, you could barely keep track. They all would shower her
with elaborate presents, including a pair of like gold shoes, fur coats, jewels on jewels on jewels. And a pair of 150 year old earrings that once belonged to a duchess. And the press was just
like obsessed with her. One theater critic, who name's
Henry Jeanson, wrote, quote, "As beautiful as the night,
Josephine Baker is the dream, the clown, the great
sensation of the evening." I would get all this embroidered on stuff just around my house. 'cause
everyone is just loving her. She's like, oh my god, you know? Could you imagine going from
like her upbringing to this? It's such a 180. She was still working her butt off. I mean, she was working like 18 hour days. She also had a side job, where she would perform like smaller gigs. And then on top of that, I guess, on the weekends she would party hard. And, you know, so Josephine's
really feeling herself. She's on top of the world and she's just, ah, she's here, she's
arrived, she's made it, right? And you know when things
are like going really great for yourself and you're
like, oh my god, I'm amazing, I don't need anybody? Sometimes all it takes
is one little fuckboy to throw off your whole game, ah! (bright music) Hey, you know who can be hard
to shop for? Your Aunt Bertha. I mean, you see her on holidays, you see her a couple times a year, and you love her to death, but it's like, damn, she is hard to shop for. Like, what do you get that
person for the holidays? I mean, it can be a challenge, you know? Well, look, it doesn't have
to be this holiday season, because let me tell you about the Skylight digital picture frame. It makes the best gift
on god, as the kids say. Okay, if you don't know, Skylight frames are digital picture frames that you can load with photos from wherever you are in the world. It's so cute, they are also very intuitive and it's user-friendly. You can upload family
photos, special letters, inspiring images, like
all through the app. So when your app goes to
like look at the Skylight digital picture frame, it's
guaranteed to make her say, "Aw, so cute, you know, it's so nice." Especially if you don't
see each other that often, it makes a great gift. The good people at
Skylight are so confident you will love the frame, they
offer free 120 day returns. That's four full months.
Yeah, that's a long time. I mean, you got nothing to lose. Gift it, it's a great
gift, I'm telling you. I gifted a couple of these to my siblings who live out of state, and I
just upload pictures of myself in different like sweaters and stuff. It's so fun. I don't have
family, it's just me, okay? As a special limited time
offer for our listeners, you can get $15 off your
purchase of a Skylight frame when you go to skylightframe.com/dark. Again, to get $15 off your
purchase of a Skylight frame, just go to skylightframe.com/dark. That's skylight frame, S-K-Y-L-I-G-H-T- F-R-A-M-E .com/dark. Shout out to Aunt Bertha, hey girl. This is when Josephine
meets Giuseppe Abatino. I know, Giuseppe, I was like
Pinocchio's dad, I know him. It's not, so naturally,
at first, you know. Josephine loves love and
she's like, oh my god. What's his name? Giuseppe, hi. It's like love at first sight. This guy seemed perfect,
he was Italian stallion, he was a Count, in other
words, he was Italian royalty. He was 37 years old, and on
top of that, he wore a monocle. So you know he was fancy, because only fancy people wear monocles. Mr. Peanut, need I say more? Thank you. So Josephine, smitten,
she decides, you know, this is her partner now, right? He's starting to give
her advice, he's a Count, he's smart, he's older,
she decides to like, you know, listen and maybe
let him be her manager. So they decided work together, right? And now he's in charge of her
money and all her stage deals. And again, why wouldn't she? He's a Count. You think of the Sesame Street guy, 'cause that's who I'm thinking of. So I guess this guy, he
like showered Josephine with love notes during the day. And then at night he would take her out to like bougie clubs, cabarets in Paris. But Josephine's girlfriends,
they all hated this guy. I don't know, you know as a friend, you know when something
is not right with their, you're like, mm, mm, mm. And they knew there was something
suspicious about this guy. He was hiding something,
but Josephine is stubborn, she's gonna date him anyway, so who cares? She was just dickmatized, she didn't give a care in the
world, nobody liked this guy. Giuseppe had this way of like
getting Josephine to trust him because he knew how to get to her. He would like feed into
her greatest fears. You know, like, hey,
telling her like your career is gonna end one day, and then you're gonna go
be completely forgotten. Just classic toxic boyfriend behavior. And he ends up using this to convince her to open up her own nightclub, which I really don't think
this is a bad idea at all. I kinda think this was
great advice he gave her. He told Josephine that she
was letting other people profit off her success by
dancing at their clubs. If she really wanted to
capitalize on the moment she was having, she should only be dancing at her own establishment. Smart, hello? I thought that was smart. I was like, okay, that's not bad. So on December 14th, 1926,
Josephine and her man, her mancy, they open up Chez Josephine. Josephine was also making
headlines at this point, performing on stage with
her very special guest. And this is my favorite
part, 'cause again, remember she loved animals? So she eventually got her own
pet, who she named Chiquita. Yeah, so this pet was a pet cheetah. Yeah, it was a cheetah, a literal cheetah. How she got the cheetah, we don't know. I'm gonna assume that my personal opinion, it was drugged and like
dragged around, right? But anyways, Chiquita would sit on stage in her diamond encrusted collar
while Josephine performed. Now, you wanna talk about glamour? You're over here with this
little fake plastic stuff. (Joan squawking) Be better, be like Chiquita, okay? Anyways, she loved Chiquita so much, she even released a song named after her. And I read this article
that was saying like, Josephine would take Chiquita on walks. Again, it's a cheetah, so I
don't know how that worked. But people love cheetah,
this cheetah, Chiquita. And then I heard, this is another rumor 'cause I can't find the
article where I read this, but I heard that the Chiquita banana girl, Chiquita banana was inspired
by Josephine and her cat. Banana for her skirt,
Chiquita for the cat. You're welcome, I don't
know if that's true though, but I think it is. 'cause
at the same time... Anyways, okay, so things are going well at Josephine's, her club. Then outta nowhere, Josephine
makes a surprise announcement. She's like, "Everybody listen up, I just wanna let you all know that me and the Count are married." And baby, it was the talk of the town. Josephine goes to the press
and she tells them that, you know, they were
married and they did it on her 21st birthday over
at the American Embassy. And everyone was just
reporting on it like, oh my god, Josephine. I mean, even in America
they reported on it. It is like the front page of
"The Milwaukee Journal," so. Okay, but they said
like, "Josephine Baker, Black Dancer, Weds a Real Count." They really didn't have
an appreciation for her like they did in Paris
because that headline sucks ass, but whatever. Well, get this, 'cause this is when people start coming for Josephine's lover. They wanna know a little
bit more about this guy. Something was not what
it was supposed to be. This man was a little
different, a little strange, but nobody knew what it was, you know? Poor Josephine, she got
gooped, she got gajed, she got snatched, she got bamboozled. Because slowly, the truth
started to reveal itself. This guy Giuseppe, he
wasn't Pinocchio's dad, he wasn't even a Count. And on top of that, he
wasn't actually even rich. Nah, it turns out, this guy, he was just a brick layer from Italy who was just really good
at lying and he was tan. (stirring music) I know Josephine didn't know, I know. And I was like, oh my god, is this like the very first catfish? He made up like this whole
elaborate family history, like he had so much time, he
just thought of everything. Fake name, fake job, fake life. I mean, it was 1927 and
people weren't gonna google, that was not a thing, right? Everyone just believed him,
and I guess he carried himself like royalty and he
pretended he had money. And that was good enough for everybody. God, it must have been so much easier to be slimy back then, huh? You said why? French reporters, they
smelled something cat fishy. Turns out the wedding was
as fake as the Count, huh. Which is kind of a good thing though, because like reporters, they
couldn't find a marriage record at all between Josephine and the Count. And I guess the whole marriage
actually had turned out to be just a publicity stunt. And then they exposed the Count's real identity in the press. But I think they did it to
bring attention to her club, which, again, kinda fucking smart. But not smart that he
bamboozled everyone, you know? It didn't matter, okay? Because Josephine used the
press to her advantage. I mean, with or without the Count, Josephine's new club was a huge success. Customers, they were willing to pay for overpriced foods and
drinks, just to get a chance to be in the same room as her and maybe even Chiquita, you know? Maybe even talk to her, shit. So Josephine decided it's time to like start writing her memoir. I mean, she's literally 21 years old and you're like, okay girl, calm down. But between you and I,
I think it's safe to say she's lived more life
than a lot of people. So you write that memoir, girl. Now, rumor has it, it
was quite a spicy read. In the book, which is called "The Memoirs of Josephine Baker," Josephine gets pretty
deep and says, quote, "I am tired of this artificial life, weary of being spurred
on by the footlights, the work of a star disgusts
me now," end quote. So Josephine essentially has burnout. I mean she's been working
since she was seven years old. Geez, I know, it's like, how much PTO does she have racked up she
hasn't even used yet, okay? She's overworked, she's tired, and being at the top of her
game, I mean, it's awesome, but she's ready for that new chapter, a new challenge, she's just ready. But then the world descends into chaos. During World War II, Josephine goes through a bit of a rebrand. She discovers that like all
the skills she's acquired over her long career are perfectly suited to help her save the
country from the Nazis. And friends, this is just
the tip of the iceberg for what was in store for
the rest of Josephine's life. Tune in next week for our part
two on Ms. Josephine Baker, when Josephine takes on the Nazi party. It's random, but damn, this
woman, she sure was something. Join me over on my YouTube,
where you can watch these episodes on Thursday
after the podcast airs. And while you're there, you can also catch my "Murder, Mystery, and Makeup." I'd love to hear your guys'
reactions to today's story, so make sure to use
the hashtag darkhistory over on social media so I can follow along and see what you're saying. Now, let's read a couple of
comments you guys left me. Tammy Burnett left me a comment saying, quote, "Bailey, I'm allergic to silver." "Me, of course, Bailey is a vampire." I would like to take this
moment to acknowledge that, yes, I am indeed a vampire. Please respect my privacy at
this time, thank you so much. 211cake left us a comment saying, quote, "My dad always says, if something is free, you're the product," end quote. Tell your dad, what's up? I mean, he knows what's up, okay? And also, it's very classic dad. They say nothing for like six months, and then they say something like that and it hits so deep and you're like, wow, dad, yeah, see you in six months. Kim Procarione left us an
episode suggestion, quote, "Oleo, or margarine, has a pretty gross history all by itself." "I would love to learn
more about the facts in that dark history." "It started out as a lubricant
made by the military, it sounds perfect for you." "Like to use, yes, no, maybe, hopefully, pretty please," end quote. Okay, it's so funny that you bring this up because I literally like,
I have knowledge on this. I have built up knowledge
on like government butter and government cheese, and
I really want an episode to talk about it. And I think this might be it. We should talk about it, that's a great idea and I love you for it. Thank you guys so much
for leaving comments. I love you for watching and I
love you for engaging with me. I love reading them every week, so just keep them coming, okay? And maybe you'll get featured here, or you maybe won't, I don't know. Any hoo, Dark History is
an Audioboom original. This podcast is executive
produced by Bailey Sarian, Junior McNeily from
Free Arts, Kevin Grosch, and Matt Enlow from Maiden Network. Writers, Joey Scavuzzo, Katie Burris, Allison Philobos, and me, Bailey Sarian. Production lead, Brian Jaggers. Research provided by Xander Elmore. A special thank you to
our expert, Sloan Crosley. And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. Thank you so much, I hope you
have a good rest of your week. Don't forget to make good
choices and shake it out, baby. See you next week, I said
that already. Okay, bye. (pleasant music) (pleasant music) continues
