Tuesday April 15, 1975: Paris pays a last tribute to Joséphine Baker, who died three days earlier in the hospital where a "
severe heart disease
" complicated by a "
serious neurological attack
" tragically precipitated its "
final
".
She was 68 years old.
"
She passed away at dawn (April 12), three days after having celebrated her golden anniversary with the stage, in the new show staged in her honor at the Bobino music hall
", writes the AFP. Here is the story of the artist's last farewell to Paris, told from archive dispatches.
For the
Josephine Baker story
, a magazine devoted to her life, "
we did not skimp
" on the means: 15 sets, 40 costumes, 2,000 pairs of shoes, 40 dancers for a total of 3 million francs.
It is the big comeback of Joséphine which rejuvenates Paris by 50 years
, headlines the press.
President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing told him of "
the recognition of France whose c
œ
ur so often fought with yours
."
To read alsoSinger, resistant, spy ... The many facets of Joséphine Baker
She hadn't performed in Paris since 1959. “
You can't end your career elsewhere!
She said.
But during the gala given on April 9 for her 50 years on stage, "
her body could not resist these emotions and she was struck 24 hours later with stroke
."
"
She died after having obtained the greatest reward of her career: her triumph for her back-to-school gala
", confided Line Renaud, who remained by her side until her death.
“
She was overjoyed
”.
Princess Grace of Monaco attends the funeral of Joséphine Baker in the Church of the Madeleine in Paris.
AFP
"
Bobino illuminated with all his fires
"
On this morning of April 15, the “
Bobino
” theater
is lit up with all its lights. Several hundred unknown friends - mostly elderly people - moved, with red eyes, gathered there, in the little rue de la Gaîté. It may be this morning in front of the music hall, on the pediment of which the name of Joséphine still shines in immense letters, the most moving farewell in Paris
”.
Previously, in the fiery chapel erected for two days at the Salpêtrière hospital, the staff but also friends such as Tino Rossi or Michel Simon had paid him a last tribute.
A huge cross of white roses and lilacs rested on the mahogany coffin.
It bore this single inscription: "
Dad and the children
".
Two huge floats of flowers precede the mortuary van in which Joséphine's two children, her ex-husband Jo Bouillon and her sister Margarette, have taken their seats.
Read also The Eye of INA: Dare to Joséphine Baker!
“
True national funerals
”
After a symbolic stop in front of Bobino, the procession arrives at noon in front of the Church of the Madeleine whose steps are black with people. Several thousand Parisians are waiting. Some personalities enter the church behind the coffin including Princess Grace of Monaco, Sophia Loren and actor Jean-Claude Brialy.
“
More than 1,500 people take place in the church.
Not only the great nave but the aisles, the ambulatory are full and yet thousands of admirers of the great artist had to remain throughout the service on the steps of the church and the neighboring sidewalks.
(...) The catafalque, framed by a double hedge of tricolor flags to which an American flag has been added, disappears under the flowers: huge crosses of white roses, wreaths of lilacs, pink roses, lilies, delphiniums, orchids, among which was placed a cushion bearing the three decorations of the war cross and the resistance of the deceased
”.
Read also Josephine Baker, agent in the service of France
Under the projectors of the television and the flashes of the photographers who have invaded the pulpit, the mass is said by the canon Thorel, parish priest. "
Paris was to Josephine suddenly c
œ
heart
," he says, citing "
his extraordinary adventure since its birth in misery, in St Louis, Missouri, to his triumph, just a few days
»And paying homage to« the
courage which made her join the free French forces
».
“
On leaving, the priest confided to one of his co-celebrants:
“
It was a real national funeral.
The m
œ
urs and
E
church have changed since the funeral of Molière on the sly
. ' "
It is in the privacy that she is buried four days later in the cemetery of sailor of Monaco.
