the chorus girls was too sick to perform. “Placed at the end of the line of dancers, she drew attention and applause by her flair for improvisation and mimicry.”# Langston Hughes, who attended a performance of Shuffle Along, recalled in the March 27th, 1964 New York Post “There was something about her rhythm, her warmth, her smile, and her impudent grace that makes her stand out.”# In one night Ms. Baker succeeded in becoming “a box office draw and was singled out for reviews. She joined the company when it went on the road, and remained with the show until it closed in January of 1924.”# Immediately after Shuffle Along, Sissle and Blake tapped Ms. Baker’s relentless energy and on-stage antics for their new production Chocolate Dandies. In spite of her effort, the show was unsuccessful and folded in 1925. Soon she was offered parts in the floorshows at both the Plantation Club and the Cotton Club. One night at the Plantation Club, a wealthy black producer, Caroline Dudley, visited with the intention of recruiting Ethel Waters, a featured performer, for a black revue Dudley wanted to take to Paris. Waters declined, so Baker took the part in La Revue Negre instead. Dudley had seen Ms. Baker in Shuffle Along and admired her abilities. For the new group being organized, Baker wanted to sing, but Dudley wanted her as a comic. After successfully persuading Dudley to raise her weekly salary from $125 to $200, Baker sailed for France on September 22, 1925. The American production opened in Paris at the Theatre des Champs-Elysses. With this revue, jazz invaded France. In the eyes of audience and critics, Josephine Baker was its personification. “Baker’s exotic dancing, uninhibited sexuality, and negligible attire - which included a skirt of feathers - suited the continent much more than America, and she became an overnight sensation.”# New Yorker corres...
