Folies Bergère in the context of "Josephine Baker"


Joséphine Baker gained significant recognition during the 1920s by performing in revues at the Folies Bergère in Paris, where her provocative banana skirt costume became a defining image of the Jazz Age and Roaring Twenties, captivating audiences and earning her acclaim from the artistic community.

⭐ In the context of Joséphine Baker’s career, the Folies Bergère is considered the venue where she first achieved widespread fame through a performance notable for its…


⭐ Core Definition: Folies Bergère

The Folies Bergère (French pronunciation: [fɔli bɛʁʒɛʁ]) is a cabaret music hall in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret. It opened on 2 May 1869 as the Folies Trévise, with light entertainment including operettas, comic opera, popular songs, and gymnastics. It became the Folies Bergère on 13 September 1872, named after nearby Rue Bergère. The house was at the height of its fame and popularity from the 1890s' Belle Époque through the 1920s.

Revues featured extravagant costumes, sets and effects, and often nude women. In 1926, Josephine Baker, an African-American expatriate singer, dancer and entertainer, caused a sensation at the Folies Bergère by dancing in a costume consisting of jewelry and a bikini bottom with rubber bananas attached.

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HINT: Baker’s 1927 performance at the Folies Bergère was sensationalized by her costume consisting of a short skirt of artificial bananas and a beaded necklace, which, combined with her energetic dancing, became an iconic image of the era.

👉 Folies Bergère in the context of Josephine Baker

Freda Josephine Baker (née McDonald; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 French silent film Siren of the Tropics, directed by Mario Nalpas and Henri Étiévant.

During her early career, Baker was among the most celebrated performers to headline the revues of the Folies Bergère in Paris. Her performance in its 1927 revue Un vent de folie caused a sensation in the city. Her costume, consisting only of a short skirt of artificial bananas and a beaded necklace, became an iconic image and a symbol both of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties. Baker was celebrated by artists and intellectuals of the era, who variously dubbed her the "Black Venus", the "Black Pearl", the "Bronze Venus", and the "Creole Goddess". Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she renounced her U.S. citizenship and became a French national after her marriage to French industrialist Jean Lion in 1937. She adopted 12 children which she referred to as the Rainbow Tribe and raised them in France.

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