Dietrich Icon, and: Josephine Baker in Art and Life: The Icon and the Image (review)

The use of the word "icon" in the titles of both of these absorbing new books of cultural anthropology alludes to the familiarity and recognition commonly associated with that rare celebrity, recognized even by just one name. To this day, the names of both Marlene Dietrich and Josephine Baker evoke images they made famous over decades as performers and celebrities. So much so that one might wonder: when a considerable number of biographical publications already exist, including memoir and documentary films on the lives and art of each of these two stars, is more work, including scholarly studies, useful? The answer is an unequivocal "yes." Benetta Jules-Rosette's Josephine Baker in Art and Life: The Icon and the Image is a thoroughly researched and thoughtfully, expertly written study that merits attention. It offers new ways of thinking about a woman in our history whose identity and life as a uniquely talented female beauty with a lasting public career led to her becoming a cultural icon. Germünden and Desjardins's book is a collection of essays presented at the international conference, "Dietrich at 100," held at Dartmouth College in 2001. Including multiple authors and themes and encompassing memoir, theory, and cultural studies, the essays in the Dietrich anthology cohere in their analysis of constructs of femaleness and femininity adjutant to women's history via their examination of Dietrich's thoroughly captivating personal and professional story.

One of the surprising revelations that comes from reading these two books together is the extent to which the career trajectories of these two icons resemble each other. Both were enormously accomplished in building and maintaining their success. Each reflects a combination of innate talent and beauty, personal wisdom, unyielding perseverance tethered to good luck, and a highly structured ability to control her individual destiny. That each succeeded, in spite of numerous obstacles that came her way, is remarkable.

Both women were born in the first decade of the twentieth century, Dietrich in 1901 and Baker in 1906. They came of age in the vibrant American Jazz era when options for women were expanding. Both found success in foreign countries—Baker fleeing American racism and seeking opportunity in France and Dietrich breaking away from German rigidity and politics to make her career in the United States. Both crossed gender categories through various personal and performance practices, such as cross-dressing, that can be seen as a source of feminine empowerment through their "shock value" (illustrations are included in both books). Both had successful stage and film careers, published their writings, managed their family lives, and kept their images alive for the public. Dietrich, like Baker, began her career as a cabaret singer and danced as a chorus girl; Dietrich, of course, became famous as a film star while Baker remained a stage performer for most of her career. Undoubtedly, Baker's film career floundered on racial terms as the dominant Hollywood industry showed little interest in her. Both kept their stage careers going well into the later decades of life, as images of Baker and Dietrich on stage in their later years attest.

Baker and Dietrich both made their home in France, albeit at different stages in their careers. Dietrich, who spoke French from the age of four and always loved France, moved to Paris for the last twelve years of her life, where she lived in seclusion. Baker's former home, the Château des Milandes, is open to tourists and attracts Baker's fans who honor her for her achievements and activism. The city of Paris has honored each performer by dedicating the Place Marlene Dietrich as well as the Place Josephine Baker.

Even as their careers faded away, the two stars' personal falls from security intersected...