at Theatre Marigny in Paris on December 15, 1934, and had a successful run for six months. In 1935, Baker decided she wanted to return to the United States. It was arranged so that she would perform with the Zeigfeld Follies. The show opened in 1936 after extensive rehearsals. The reviewers did not disguise their disapproval. Jo Bouillon, Baker’s third husband, explained the reasons for her failure in America: “Josephine left Paris rich, adored, famous throughout Europe. But in New York, in spite of the publicity that preceded her arrival, she was received as an uppity colored girl.”# White audiences were used to black performers in “Negro” roles - Mammies and blues singers. Josephine Baker was too refined for the white public in America. Unfortunately, Baker’s personal life was not doing much better than her professional one. Shortly after opening her American version of “Chez Josephine,” Baker reportedly had an argument with her business manager/lover, Pepito Abatino, which resulted in him taking the first ship back to France. He died in the spring of 1936, just before the Zeigfeld Follies ended. Before returning to France, Baker obtained a divorce from her second husband, Willie Baker, to whom she was still legally married. By 1937, Baker had married again. With this marriage to a French citizen, Jean Lion - a sugar broker, Baker was now a legal citizen of the country she loved. Unhappily, the Baker-Lion marriage was tumultuous and ended in divorce a little more than a year later. In the fall of 1939, France declared war on Germany as a result of Germany’s invasion into Poland. The French military intelligence, Deuxieme Bureau, recruited Baker as an “honorary correspondent.” Baker spent the years of World War II gathering information, and smuggling documents for the Allies. Ms. Baker used her influence, and charm, to smuggle both in...
