Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Josephine Baker

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"Piast, Les Meilleures Cigarettes" ad. Click image above for 312X425 version.

From the V&A site:
"Diana Vreeland, famous editor of Harper's Bazaar and Vogue in the 1930's, has a wonderful anecdote about Josephine and Chiquita (Josephine's pet chita.) One very hot July, Diana Vreeland had gone to a Montmartre film theatre to see a film, L'Atlantique, about lost Foreign Legion soldiers in a desert oasis. The delirious soldiers dreamed of the beautiful Queen of the Lost Continent who was surrounded by a fountain of champagne with basking cheetahs. When the lights went up in the theatre, Diana Vreeland was shocked and delighted to find she was sitting next to Chiquita. Josephine had brought the beautiful animal for an outing to see the cheetahs in the film. Outside the hot theatre, an enormous white and silver Rolls Royce was waiting for Josephine Baker and Chiquita. Diana Vreeland describes how the driver opened the car door, Josephine let go of the cheetah's lead, Chiquita whooped and took one elongated leap into the back of the Rolls Royce, with Josephine Baker in her couture Vionnet dress leaping in behind. And then they were off with such speed and style; together the very zeitgeist of the Deco years."

4 comments:

jtk said...

I really like Josephine Baker's look, she was cool.

M said...

It must be cool to have a cheetah as a pet. I hear of all the wild felines they are the easiest to domesticate, and the friendliest.

Trey said...

I'm envious! It would be so cool having a giant spotty cat as a friend!

M said...

But imagine how much this kitty must eat... You'd have to get a second and a third job just to feed him.

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