EXPERT
was feted mostly everywhere, except Zagreb where some shows were cancelled due to opposition from local clergy and morality police. I wonder if they first went to see and enjoy the show before condemning it? At the beginning of the
Thirties she released her most successful song J’ai Deux Amours, her two loves being her country and Paris. She also starred in a number of films and it was during this period when both her persona and singing voice were transformed. Before taking the lead in
Offenbach’s opera La Créole in Paris, she undertook months of training with a vocal coach. Shirley Bassey says she was inspired by how Baker was transformed from a petite danseuse with a decent voice to la grande diva magnifique! While adored in France,
she was never acclaimed in the same way in the US due to her colour – this led to her becoming a French citizen, cemented when she married the industrialist Jean Lion in 1937.
WAR GAMES Then the war came. Recruited by the Deuxième Bureau, she worked with counter- intelligence in Paris. With her fame and status, she was able to socialise with Germans as well as Japanese officials and Italian and Vichy bureaucrats, charming them while obtaining information and reporting back what she heard. When the Germans invaded
France, she left Paris and went to her Dordogne home, the Château des Milandes, on the French side of the Vichy Line. Here she housed those wanting to help the Free French, supplying them with visas. As an entertainer she was able to visit neutral nations such as Portugal and South America, all the while gathering information to send to England about airfields, harbours and troop concentrations, passing messages written in invisible ink on her sheet music. She also assisted Lion’s Jewish family escape Europe. The château remains open to this day showcasing her amazing life.
€588,000
STARRING ROLE In Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, just above the River Dordogne, close to the Josephine’s beloved Château des Milandes, this gorgeous golden stone Perigordine-style home sits basking in the sunshine waiting for applause. The main residence with large living areas has four bedrooms and a large independent B&B room, there’s a two- bedroom gîte and large swimming pool set in pretty gardens near the river close to the Valley of the Five Châteaux in this wonderful part of France.
€84,500
CHORUS LINE SPECIAL Just outside Sarlat-le-Canéda, not far from Milandes, lies the small village of Salignac-Eyvigues where, on a nice sunny square with children’s playground and no traffic, this large village house awaits renovation. Above three large cellars and a terrace, the two main reception rooms include a living room with large fireplace. Upstairs there is space for three large bedrooms and bathrooms, with room in the attic for more. Water and electricity are connected, there’s a small garden and the nursery and primary school are just 50 metres away. This could make a fabulous family home.
Moving to North Africa in
late 1941, ostensibly for health reasons, she continued to help the Resistance visiting Spain – pinning notes with vital information hidden inside her underwear. She also toured to entertain British, French and Americans soldiers serving in North Africa. She was awarded the Resistance Medal, the Croix de Guerre and the Legion d’Honneur by de Gaulle. After the war she resumed
A waxwork of Josephine wearing her infamous pearls and banana skin skirt
her career, returning in Triumph to the Folies Bergère. She also toured the States but
refused to perform in front of segregated audiences. Living in the Dordogne at
Millandes, by now married to her fourth husband, she adopted 12 children of different ethnic backgrounds calling them her Rainbow Tribe. However, high ideals and grand ambitions are an expensive combination and she had to return to the stage to save her estate, helped by icons including Brigitte Bardot and Princess Grace, the latter of whom helped her to settle on the French Riviera in 1969.
FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS:March/April 2023 35
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© SHUTTERSTOCK
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