Why Josephine Baker flew in and out of Croydon in a day.

Last Thursday, attendees at the Museum of Croydon were treated to an account of why Josephine Baker made a mad dash to Croydon Airport and then to London to attend a charity performance by Dr Gemma Romain. We have blogged before about the remarkable photographs of Baker that Croydon Airport Society has in its archives (one that has not previously been blogged is below). It was on the basis of these that we invited Dr Romain, curator of Spaces of Black British Modernism (Tate Britain October 2014 - 5 October 2015), to research and present a talk for us.

Our Archives

This is a new blog from Croydon Airport Society to share stories, pictures and snippets from its rich archive about people, planes and events. It is part of the Revealing the Hidden Heritage of Croydon Airport project, which has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It is called 'Croydon Calling' as the phrase and the airport was famous in the 1920s and 30s when it was Britain's only international airport.

Josephine Baker with Captain Walter Roger, 1928

Just as an example, this is a photograph from the files of a pilot, Captain Walter Rogers who flew planes for Imperial Airways and shows him with stage star and artist Josephine Baker in 1928 at Croydon Airport. There will be much more information coming up on an event around another group of photographs showing Baker shortly.  . .

Many of the images in the archive have unknown photographers or are press agency photographs: part of what we are doing is working out which images we can share online. We think this photograph was taken for Captain Rogers privately by an unknown photographer and thus is an 'orphan work'. If anyone knows any differently, please let us know!

Josephine Baker

Josephine Baker arriving at Croydon Airport in 1928.
 Photograph Croydon Airport Society archives

Our first post revealed a photograph of Josephine Baker with Captain Rogers. We know, however, that Captain Gordon P. Olley actually picked Baker up from Paris in 1928. In his autobiography A Million Miles in the Air. "Adventure is still with us" (1934), Olley recalls going to her flat in Paris and persuading Baker to accompany him to London in a plane especially chartered for the occasion. She was reluctant as she had sprained her ankle.

However, Josephine Baker agreed to go with Olley to London for the charity gala and Olley said as I flew her back to Croydon:

Miss Baker .. . made light of her sprained ankle - although I could see it was really paining her a great deal. 

Baker made it to the West End from the airport in good time and sang and danced on stage, where she got a rapturous reception due, in part according to Olley, to the audience knowing about her 'air dash and injured ankle.  

If you would like to know more, join historian Dr Gemma Romain at Croydon Clocktower on Thursday 8 October to find out why performer, singer and actor Josephine Baker made a flying visit to Croydon Airport in 1928. Croydon Airport was at the heart of the cultural world of 1920s & 30s London. The talk will explore the often unacknowledged integral part that Black artists, musicians and activists played in creating this vibrant cultural world.

Gemma Romain is a historian and researcher based at The Equiano Centre, University College London. Her work explores Caribbean and Black British history, with a particular focus on Black LGBTQ histories. Her biography of Patrick Nelson, a black gay artist model and student in interwar London will be published by Bloomsbury Academic. She is also co-curator of Spaces of Black British Modernism, which is on display at Tate Britain until 4 October 2015.

Thursday 8 October 6-7pm. Free Booking essential via eventbrite.