Josephine Baker's French Castle
Chateau features museum dedicated to American entertainer
The American singer, dancer and actress, Josephine Baker, led an extraordinary life. For a time, she settled at Les Milandes, a chateau in the French countryside.
Tucked into the French countryside near a small town called Castelnaud-la-Chapelle in southwestern part of the country, lies a magnificent castle, Les Milandes. Josephine Baker, the American singer, dancer and actress from the first half of the 20th century, discovered it while on vacation and was determined to buy it. She eventually did and now it is home to a museum dedicated to her extraordinary life.
Much like Baker’s life, getting to Les Milandes is a bit of a struggle. There is no bus to catch, no easy way there. Instead, visitors must find it on their own, using whatever tools they have at their disposal. Once there, however, visitors find a 15th century chateau built by Francois de Caumont. His family’s coat of arms can still be seen on the huge fireplace.
Baker, too, left her mark on the castle. For example, she had one of the bathrooms redecorated with sleek black, green and gold to resemble the bottle of her favorite perfume, Arpege. Baker lived in the chateau with her 12 adopted children, her Rainbow Tribe, as she called it. All the children were adopted from different countries, with differing ethnicities, religions and backgrounds.
Josephine Baker was born a black girl in an impoverished family in St. Louis in 1906. But she had an ace in the hole. Baker could sing, dance and entertain. She used her talents to pull herself up from a life of scrounging behind markets for food, Union Station for coal. By the time she was 19, she’d caught a Paris scout’s eye and was headed to the capital of France to dance in the jazz show “La Revue Negre.” She soon became a dancehall sensation and is best known for a costume with a G-string made of bananas.
But there was more to Baker than singing and dancing, and she was about to prove it. In addition to adopting the 12 children, she also wrote several books including “My Blood in Your Veins,” a look at race and injustice. During World War II, the French Resistence asked her to help in their efforts to fight invaders. She did by helping refugees escape, for which she received the Croix de Lorraine and Legion d’honneur medals, which are currently on display at the museum. In 1963, she was at the March on Washington where she talked with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Bob Dylan.
The bulk of the museum displays, however, are a tribute to Baker’s music, dancing and acting. Posters, playbills and photos of Baker are scattered throughout the chateau. Costumes, including the famous banana belt and a black outfit she wore in 1973 in New York are on display. A collection of nude photographs, which were not public during her lifetime, are also featured. Audio recordings describe the contents of each room and portions of Baker’s life. Recordings of her singing give visitors a closer peek into her world.
The museum is open April through October.
