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Joséphine Baker's little pantheon is hiding in the Dordogne

2021-11-26T05:11:41.447Z


The American singer raised her twelve children and armed herself for the Resistance at the Château des Milandes, a place of all her hopes transformed into a place of memory.


In this Périgord castle, Joséphine Baker hid weapons for the Resistance, received the Legion of Honor and raised a “

rainbow tribe

” of twelve children adopted all over the world. "

This is where my mother spent the longest part of her life, almost 30 years,

" Brian Bouillon-Baker told AFP in front of this late 15th century castle, overlooking the Dordogne, in Castelnaud-la-Chapelle. More than in the United States, where he was born, than in Paris, his

lifelong

love

”, and Monaco, where Princess Grace welcomed him.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the former star of the Roaring Twenties gave Milandes a strange family, twelve children of different religions and cultures adopted very young with her fourth and last husband, the conductor Jo Bouillon. , married in the chapel of the castle in 1947. "

She raised them in the idea that there is only one race, the human race

", in the direct line of the fight of her life against racism, nourished by her childhood as a black American, sums up the owner of the premises, Angélique de Labarre, who transformed the large building of blond stones and flat tiles into a Joséphine Baker museum.

Read also Josephine Baker, agent in the service of France

Mom managed to federate these 12 small entities which were not intended to live together in a tight family, despite our differences

”, underlines the elder of the Akio Bouillon tribe, 70 years old, adopted in Japan in 1954. With Brian , 65, adopted in Algeria, they describe a “

protective

”, “

caring and firm

mother

. "

She didn't want us to climb magnolias, chase peacocks or play with bows and arrows,

" Brian breathes, pointing to the long branches of the majestic trees. “

Even the bicycle was dangerous

”.

A "

mother hen

" who, during the Second World War, had the guts to cross the desert in a jeep with the Free French Forces, between Morocco and Libya, or to pass secret messages to the Allied counter-espionage.

An "Italian

mamma

" also remembers Brian as she wanders through the kitchen of the chateau.

Every Sunday evening, she prepared a large pot of spaghetti bolognese.

It was the only day she cooked

”.

American-born dancer Joséphine Baker and her husband Jo Bouillon walk with their adopted children in front of their castle in Milandes, Dordogne.

UPI / AFP

"

Bears, monkeys

"

In this corner of Périgord, the rainbow tribe was “

a curiosity

”, confides Brian, author of

Joséphine Baker Universelle

(Éditions du Rocher). “

A large, multi-ethnic family living in a castle, we quickly realized that it was special. But at school, we melted into the crowd,

”says Akio. “

When their mother came back from traveling, the children had gadgets, gifts, things we weren't used to seeing here.

», Remembers the current mayor of Castelnaud Daniel Dejean, who frequented the benches of the communal with some small Bouillon-Baker.

The tribe was not the only local attraction because Joséphine and Jo, before their separation, hatched around the castle a kind of leisure complex before its time.

Read alsoLili Reynaud Dewar, Marcel-Duchamp Prize 2021, an artist between Joséphine Baker and Pasolini

A swimming pool (in J, like Joséphine and Jo), a hotel, a restaurant, a mini-golf, a pet store, a farm of 300 hectares, lists Ms. de Labarre. Up to 120 people worked there, she said. “

Thanks to her, in this village of 150 inhabitants, there was a garden with bears, monkeys, plants ... a performance hall that still exists and has seen Bécaud, Brialy pass ... and even a station -service!

“Remembers Germinal Peiro, president of the Departmental Council from the neighboring village, Beynac.

After the war, Joséphine helped to make Périgord known for tourism, like Lascaux.

We came from all over France to see her,

”continues Mr. Peiro, referring to a woman who“

gave off something extraordinary

”.

Kids, we were very impressed when we saw her.

He was a world star

”.

Read alsoWith Joséphine Baker, six women in the Pantheon

But the “

village of the world

” wanted by this extraordinary woman did not live.

Some people abused her, cheated on the bills… Everyone here knows that.

She was an artist, not a manager,

”assures Germinal Peiro.

According to Mme de Labarre, she paid the water and electricity bills for almost the entire village, without knowing it.

In 1964, Brigitte Bardot launched a televised call and signed a big check that saved the Milandes.

But four years later, the buildings were auctioned off and the artist expelled, at age 62.

The worst time of his life,

” says Brian.

Grace of Monaco will offer him hospitality.

"

She may have seen too big,

" slips Angélique de Labarre, now keeper of memories.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-11-26

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