josephine baker's autobiography has been on my to read list ever since i i read about her in sandra cisneros' caramelo. introduced her into my life. i wikipedia'd her and discovered she was more than just a songbird in a banana skirt! baker was a civil rights activist, worked as a spy, and she was the original angelina jolie adopting kids from all over the world! (i know so exciting! i need to pick up her autobiography!)
so when i saw jazz age josephine in the scholastic book order form from my friend jess' class, i had to order it! i mean it was only $4! and what a wonderful investment.
this is a great children's book about a great woman! to start its written like a jazz song with repetition and rhyme. which makes it an entertaining read. but what makes it special is how honest it depicts the life of josephine baker.
this story isn't sugarcoated. josephine's life started out rough. she grew up poor (the rhymes about her poverty could be lyrics for the supremes' love child) but her granny inspired her with dreams of a better life and being a princess. the book presents her desire to avoid being depressed by her improverish life, she would act silly and dance.
it is then explained that josephine ran away to escape whites that burned down the black section of new orleans and joined a travelin' show. josephine ended up in nyc, sleeping on a park bench. a show director took pity on her and casted her in a show. however, josephine was doing blackface and she decided "it was an insult to her race". i thought it was great that the book mentioned how the racism of minstrel show, minstrels are a big part of america's social history and is often neglected when discussing racism in america.
josephine then escapes to paris and becomes famous and successful. of course her cheetah, "chiquita" as mentioned too.
the story ended a bittersweet note, josephine wished that racism didn't drive her away from her home but happy that she became a jazz princess!
and of course their illustrations were spectacular as well. here were some of my favorites:
this is a great book and if you have kids check it out for them because she is a great heroine not only for women but for black-americans. this book ended up being my first black history month book, though as my friend juliana said, we should read books about important black-americans all year around just not in february. but what an amazing woman, i can't wait to read her bio!
i came across kiki de monteparnasse on amazon and of course the cover inspired my man ray's famous photograph i had to check it out. i figured a book about the model for man ray had to be interesting. and it was!
as you have seen in this blog, i fell in love with the lost generation thanks to woody allen's midnight in paris. so i was excited to read and learn about kiki. prior to this i had no knowledge though i had seen her back.
my post on kiki's memoirs discussed the stories i enjoyed from her life so i will share what shocked me and some of my favorite illustrations.
i was shocked by the drug use. i always think of coke as an 80s thing but it has been around for a while. i mean i remember how shocked i was when i discovered this lyric in cole porter's i get a kick out of you:
some, they may go for cocaine.
i'm sure that if i took even one sniff
it would bore me terrifically, too.
yet i get a kick out of you.
but was still surprised when i saw it in kiki's life though not completed shocked because she was a party girl as seen in these illustrations:
i was also surprised by how many men offered to pay her for flashing them. i mean i guess its better than prostitution. i mean a peek for some money, i can understand why she did it.
of course there was a bunch of nudity and sex. she did pose nude and have alot of sex with artists. again i don't blame her if i was in paris during this time i would have been the same way!
of course the book covered her relationship with man ray. how they created beautiful art together but how their love was also destructive. it was seen how kiki wanted to be a mother yet man ray didn't want kids, showing a more softer side of kiki.
the book also covered the time in jail
she mentioned in her memoirs. it also showed her decline. it was difficult to see her abused by marcel when she seemed to be an nonsense kind of girl
her whole life. and like every too glam celeb, drugs took a hold of her and ruined her life. it was also sad to see her life end due to drugs and alcohol. if kiki was around in the 90s her life story would have made a great vh1 behind the music episode. kiki had some hard times but she still lead an exciting life and contributed so much to the art community.
being a graphic novel it was filled with wonderful illustrations. i really loved the ones of photographs i saw in her memoir:
i especially found the ending illustration beautiful:
i will add that the chronology at the end of the book left me wanting to read more about kiki. it also got me interested in man ray and i will have to pick up his bio.
kiki de monteparnasse was an interesting read to add to my knowledge of an era i love.
as i was reading the graphic novel, kiki de monteparnasse, i began to wonder where the stories told came from. so i searched the library catalog and came across kiki's memoirs, written by kiki with an introduction by ernest hemingway!
when i picked kiki's memoirs up, i was surprised by how thin it was, i wanted all the juicy details from her life and wasn't sure if the memoirs would give them all to me.
the first half of the memoirs are kiki or her actual name alice prin's actual memoirs . she explained how her grandmother raised her along with her five other cousins, all who were bastards (for lack of a better word). when she was 12, she moved to paris to be with her mother. she worked odd jobs and longed for love. then due to an argument with the baker she worked for kiki ended up with her first art job, posing for a sculptor. she then began modeling for various artists and even painted her own art. her biggest contribute to the art world was a result of her she meeting american surrealist man ray. she became his muse and together they created beautiful art specifically photography. here are some of my favorites and of course their most famous photograph:
kiki's memoirs were a bit confusing to read, it jumped around and she shared odd details but they were interesting since she was quite the character.
one interesting story kiki discussed was the time that she was in jail for assaulting an officer but luckily man ray came to help her and she was released.
the later half of the memoirs is an interview from a paris newspaper. i enjoyed this portion more because kiki was older, 50, and wiser.
there was one story, kiki shared about her grandmother that caused my admiration of her grandmother for raising the grandchildren. kiki shared how the neighbors told her to turn to public assistance for helping raising the kids to which she responded "i will raise my bastard, its nobody else's business. it's the jerks their fathers who should be blamed." everyone likes to blame the woman for bastard children but people forget that they have fathers too.
i loved how kiki was not ashamed of her bastard status. she shared how she would run into her half sister and the sister would tell her, "i am going to tell my father" to which kiki responded "i don't give a damn, he's my father too."
however, kiki's father was horrible, she shared a story of him trying to poison to kill her but her grandmother saved her. being abandoned by both parents caused much pain for kiki, as she sadly shared "no one knows what sorrow fills the heart of a child who doesn't have a father, whose mother is far away and whose only tenderness in life comes from a grandmother."
kiki's childhood was filled with sadness and misery. she shared words of wisdom as she reflected on her sad memories. she explained "when you meet an ugly and neglected little girl with her head shaved like an egg, don't laugh: pitiful hair makes grown-ups loath but little ones cry." from when her grandfather died, "death among poor people is not a catastrophe as it is among the rich, and when you have slaved all your life and barely succeeded in feeding yourself, the final departure is considered a deliverance." kiki also shared about her mother's cold indifference towards her. she discussed how she would become embarassed when other kids called their mothers, "mama dear." she explained that she "would have let all [her] pain and [her] desire to be able say 'mama', since i was never permitted to say papa . . ." how sad to feel unloved as a child. however though her childhood was tragic, her life improved because of art. it wasn't all glamour but when it was it was, it was glam!
the interview was not all sad stories. kiki shared stories that demonstrated her colorful and vivacious spirit. one of my favorite stories was how she took lace samples from a catalog and pinned them to her coat so that they looked like a beautiful blouse which people would compliment! i also delighted in her stories about peré libion, who supported artists by feeding them at his restaurant. i loved how at the one opening he brought champagne explaining he had provided everything else he might as well provide that (the artist had stolen place settings from his restaurant. lol)
it was an interesting read and nice to see kiki discuss herself in her own words. since it was brief, it left me wanting to know more which i will hopefully discover in the graphic novel.
ps i have to add kiki shared how her mother told her "country bumpkin you are and country bumpkin you shall be." i am country bumpkin that loves the city but feel that regardless of how far away i may move away, i am still a little bit country!
i normally hate oprah but i have to admit i owe her one. auntie tracey has a subscription to her magazine and while reading the june issue in the water closet, i came across a recommendation for rosecrans baldwin's "paris, i love you but you're bringing me down." i normally would not trust oprah but my love for lcd soundsystem is stronger than my hatred of oprah, so i decided to judge a book by a title and give it a go.
and yes the title is an lcd soundsystem reference. how could it not be? for you purists, it was confirmed when baldwin mentioned running to "north american scum" and thanked the band in the acknowledgements. also here's the video for the inspiration for the title "new york, i love you but your bringing me down":
so i was a little hesitant about the book. though i have never been to paris, i am in love with it. thanks to "midnight in paris" (and of course cole porter, hemingway, the fitzgeralds, and gertrude stein), "an american in paris" (the gershwin definitely helped), "funny face" (i want to do a fashion shoot with balloons), "amelie" (and maybe bring a gnome with me), "je'taime paris" (i want to visit oscar wilde's grave) and of course "sex and the city" (though carrie did realize paris was not all it was cracked up to be), i am nostalgic for a paris that i have never experienced. so when i saw the title i was worried it might crush my love. but it didn't. i mean an lcd reference and sloan crosley (love her book "i was told there'd be cake") gave an endorsement quote for the back. it couldn't bring me down.
though baldwin did not have the easiest time in paris, it still filled me with a desire to go. for every shitty experience he had, there was an amazing one. and even he admitted that, a bad day in paris is still kinda great because you are in paris. it seemed like the worse part about his life there was the langauge barrier. but i think i could deal with that, i mean the french would hate my bad accent and my inability to speak french but everything else would make up for it.
his book actually made me wish i was married. well more like married to someone who would have an opportunity to find work in paris, so i could move with them. or maybe just to married to a french. oh and before i go on, i'm glad that baldwin discussed how his friend charlie's gaydar was thrown off by the french. i have the same issue. i always wonder, is he gay or is he french?!?!? lol glad to see that i'm not the only one with that issue. but back to marrying a french, in a perfect world, he would be a french chef, i mean reading about the food baldwin ate was driving me insane. every italicized macaron mention made me sad that i was not eating one. i mean i was jealous of his description of french air economy food! but back to this imaginary french chef, he would also have to be childless. the book discussed that every french man has a child, so i must magically find one that is childless. so aside from dreams of going to paris, it also gave me this lofty goal in life. lol
random sidenote. not really because marriage would be the link. but i enjoyed how baldwin included stories of sarkozy and carla bruni. it reminded me about a discussion i had with a friend's cousin from france one night. i alluded to bruni, who i had just discovered on the "(500) days of summer" soundtrack. he told me the french hated her, but i didn't understand because i liked her music (kinda like baldwin's co-worker) but after reading this book i got it.
actually, marrying a parisian or living there would not be enough. after reading this novel, i kinda wish i had been born a parisian. i always tell people that i'm extremely grateful to have been born in california. i believe that we do have a sunnier look out on life. i mean imagine growing up in the midwest. gag me with a spoon. (that reference was intended). but to have been parisian would have been exciting. i want to to be a coquette by blood like little adele from jane eyre (who was described as "coquetry runs in her blood, blends with her brains and seasons the marrow of her bones.") to have a french look on love, to be have wild love affairs, and be crazy. it all seems so romantic and a little neurotic. and at the risk of sounding insane, i would also be french since it is apparently acceptable to make black jokes, jew jokes and comments about penis size. i hate how americans are so pc. i like dave chapelle, am a equal opportunist when it comes to make fun of people. also i would want to be french for the work day. i mean how often did baldwin's day end in a random potluck with drinks? though that could be an advertising thing.
but enough of my odd dreams and back to the book. i thorougly enjoyed this book. i had to interrupt my reading of "war and peace" because i was unable to renew it, so started after reading part 1 of "war and peace." i found it interesting how both works have a french theme. but baldwin's work was a nice break. it was a great read and i couldn't put it down. i finished it in a weekend. baldwin is a great story and i would totally be friends with him in real life. i share stories here but you should really read it for yourself. my only regret is reading this after "eat pray love" cos now i want to add paris to my list of places to travel. i also plan on putting in a request for a "how to speak french" book. and last but not least, seriously, when is picard coming stateside?
