La Folie du jour (English: The Madness of the Day) was a revue presented at the Folies Bergère in Paris from 1926 to 1927. Written by Louis Lemarchand and produced under the direction of Paul Derval, it consisted of two acts and 45 tableaux. The production starred the American-born dancer Josephine Baker alongside Dorville, Alibert, Pépa Bonafé, and Féral Benga.
The production was an important stage in Baker's emergence as one of the best-known stars of the Parisian music-hall, following her success in . She appeared in several of 's sketches, most famously performing her Banana Dance, in which she wore her iconic costume of a short skirt made from artificial bananas, which became one of her signature costume.
A separate silent film of the same title, drawing on the Folies Bergère production and directed by Joe Francis, was released in 1927.
Production Background The revue was produced during 's long directorship of the Folies Bergère. Derval had developed a distinctive style for the theatre, combining singing, comedy, individuals dancing, elaborate scenery and costumes with large ensembles of dancers, spectacular stage effects, and "tableaux" featuring nudity. His revues were written by and were designed to present a succession of visually elaborate scenes rather than a continuous dramatic narrative.The title followed Derval's established practice of incorporating thirteen letters and the word or into the title of his revues.
After her success in Paris, Berlin and elsewhere in Continental Europe in , Derval persuaded Josephine Baker to break her contract and move to the Folies Bergère as the star of his new production, . The production's historical significance rests principally on Baker's performances. Derval's revues were among the large-scale spectacles that made the Folies Bergère one of the best-known Parisian music halls of the period.
Contemporary publicity described the production as a "hyper-revue", with Baker, , Pépa Bonafé and Alibert among its principal attractions. A programme published in March 1926, shortly before the production's first performance, identifies the production as ", hyper-revue in two acts and 45 tableaux by Louis Lemarchand" (). The revue drew on contemporary Parisian fascination with African and African-American performance. The production was inspired by Pierre Loti's novel The Romance of a Spahi (), with several of its tableaux employing representations of an imagined "Black country" (), with Black performers accompanying the scenes with drums.
Premiere and run The first performance took place at the Folies Bergère on 24 April 1926, and the revue was still being performed in early 1927, before Baker moved on to Derval's new revue . Photographs in the collection of the document several tableaux at the Folies Bergère on 1 March 1927, including , and the finale of the second act, . One of the photographs identifies Baker in the foreground of . By late March 1927 the theatre was advertising Derval's successor revue, .
Performers
Main performers The revue's performers included: Josephine Baker , leading comedian and music-hall singer , singer and comedian Pépa Bonafé, music-hall performer and actress Féral Benga, Senegalese dancer Other members of the Folies Bergère company
A photograph from the Mary Evans Picture Library also shows the Tiller Girls, the British precision-dance troupe founded by John Tiller, in connection with the production.
Josephine Baker
Photographs by Lucien Waléry published in the revue's official album show Baker dancing in one of her most famous numbers, her Banana Dance (), in which she portrayed the character "Fatou". The costume associated with her performance consisted of little more than "strings of pearls, wrist cuffs, and a skirt with 16 rubber bananas", and it remains one of the defining images of Baker's career. The costume and her performance contributed to the exoticised stage persona with which she became associated in interwar Paris.
The Banana Dance was only one element of Baker's role: the official album includes images of her in other spectacular tableaux, including "The Most Beautiful Fans" (), featuring an elaborate feather costume.
Derval's production combined Baker's dancing with elaborate stage machinery and visual effects. Another sketch, "The Ball of Flowers" () involved Baker appearing from within a large ball, lowered by stage machinery. In his account of the Folies Bergère, Derval later wrote that:
Féral Benga The production also formed part of the growing presence of Black performers in Parisian music hall during the 1920s. Among those engaged was Féral Benga, a Senegalese dancer who had been encouraged to seek work in the music halls by French-African actor Habib Benglia. Benga was engaged at the Folies Bergère in 1926 for .
Songs and music The programme and contemporary publicity mention the revue including songs and music by composers and songwriters such as Vincent Scotto, Irving Berlin, Maurice Hermite, and others.
Several numbers associated with the revue were published separately as sheet music. "Cupidon" was advertised as "The new hit from the Folies-Bergère spectacular revue , while "Madame Oukoulili" was described as a "Hawaiian song sung by M. Tirmont and the Folies-Bergère quartet".
Significance became closely identified with Baker and was an important stage in her successful transformation from a performer in to becoming one of the best-known stars of the Parisian music hall. The production's combination of jazz-age dance, elaborate stage machinery, spectacular costumes and representations of racial and sexual exoticism epitomised several of the cultural currents associated with the Années folles.
The revue also occupies an important place in the history of the Folies Bergère itself. Derval's productions of the period were distinguished by their scale: Lemarchand supplied dozens of tableaux while Derval concentrated on scenery, costumes, machinery, choreography and the presentation of the performers. was therefore not simply a vehicle for Baker but a large ensemble production in which the star's appearances were integrated into a succession of visual spectacles.
The contemporary reception was not uniformly enthusiastic. A review by A. de Montgon criticised the revue's reliance on nudity and exotic imagery. Jean Patin similarly reviewed the production in . The reviews illustrate contemporary debate over the revue's use of nudity and exotic imagery.
The production is extensively documented in surviving photographs. The Folies Bergère issued a substantial souvenir album, photographed principally by Waléry, containing images of performers and tableaux. Copies survive in institutional and private collections, while the Société française de photographie preserves photographs documenting individual scenes from the production.
Films
Film footage survives of Baker performing material from the revue. Performances were filmed in 1926 and 1927, usually with her dressed more modestly than on the Parisian stage.
A silent film titled , directed by Joe Francis, was released in 1927, drawing on the Folies Bergère production and featuring Baker. The film does not document the stage production itself: the revue premiered in April 1926 and continued into 1927, whereas the film was a separate motion-picture production made from material associated with the spectacle. The cast list for the film is different from the cast of the stage production.
The distinction is important because surviving film material showing Baker's famous Banana Dance is sometimes catalogued simply as . The dance footage is associated with the 1926 revue at the Folies Bergère, while the later feature-length film has its own production history. No complete copy of the film is known to exist.
Other surviving footage The Banana Dance The Gaumont Pathé Archives, Actuality Pathé collection holds a 1926 silent extract showing Baker performing as "Fatou" in her Banana Dance.
(1927) is a hand-coloured feature-length silent film, directed by Joe Francis, and including two Baker dances, "Plantation Dance" (at 1:03:23) and "La Meme en 1927" (at 1:14:40). The Tiller Girls also appear, credited in the film as "The John Tiller's Folies Stars" (at 1:05:35, 1:08:12 and 1:20:31).
See also Alibert Années folles Josephine Baker Féral Benga Folies Bergère La Revue nègre Tiller Girls
Notes
References
Sources
Further reading
External links Cover of souvenir brochure for La Folie du jour Photograph of Josephine Baker in La Folie du jour, by Walery in Paris Plaisirs, No. 50, August 1926 – 1 of 2 Photograph of Josephine Baker in La Folie du jour, by Walery in Paris Plaisirs, No. 50, August 1926 – 2 of 2 Tableau: "Under a Golden Bridge" from La Folie du jour